Greater Manchester’s transport network is set to become Greater Manchester Police’s ‘11th district’ under plans to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour.

Oldham has been highlighted as a hotspot for anti-social behaviour on its tram line, with a Metrolink report earlier this year stating there was more criminal damage there than other areas.

The announcement was made at an event plotting out the future of Mayor Andy Burnham’s ‘Bee Network’ – a plan to integrate public transport throughout the city-region that will see buses come under public control in a ‘London-style’ system.

The new plans were detailed by the Mayor alongside new transport commissioner Vernon Everitt, who has previous experience working on London’s public transport system.

At the event, the Mayor announced the public transport system and active travel network in Greater Manchester would ‘in effect, become the 11th district’ of Greater Manchester Police, to increase the sense of safety and confidence for travellers.

ALSO READ: Social workers tackling anti-social behaviour with ‘young person friendly’ trams.

Speaking at the event Mayor Andy Burnham said: “We recognise that is an issue that perhaps we haven’t been able to resolve in the way we’d like to.

“We’ve reached an agreement with Greater Manchester Police to consider the system in the same way that we consider one of the divisions, for policing purposes.”

The Mayor said the change will lead to Operation Avro crackdowns taking place across the entire transport network – a force-wide initiative which sees a high concentration of police descend on a different borough each month in a surge of officers.

ALSO READ: Operation Avro in Oldham: Full list as more charged and sentenced.

Transport commissioner Vernon Everitt said: “The overwhelming majority of people that use our services do so in a law-abiding way and respect the system, but there are a small minority that don’t.

“We have that experience on transport systems across the UK, but, as the Mayor said, one of the key things is we need to make sure that people not only are safe, but feel safe as well.

“We already have in place the TravelSafe partnership, which brings together GMP and other agencies to perform exercises across the transport network – but we’re seeking to extend that.

“What that means with Avro exercises is the police do concentrated work over a couple of days in every part of the network – so on buses, interchanges, on trams, on trains, and in locations where there are bike hire stations and that sort of thing.”

As part of the operations, some traffic enforcement will also take place on Greater Manchester roads, according to the transport commissioner.

The transport commissioner added that a ‘concentrated burst’ of police in these operations would increase confidence and visibility, as well as help identify vulnerable people on the network so they can get help.