Where are our police?

Antisocial behaviour in Bournemouth is so prevalent now that even when reporting it to police, it is received with little interest!

I recently witnessed a young man throw a woman to the ground where she lay unconscious for several minutes.

I called 999 and by the time they had asked me a 101 irrelevant questions, the group had dispersed and the perpetrators were long gone.

Supposedly the crime rate is down in Bournemouth but in reality, people have just stopped reporting incidents, because there is little point.

This results in supposed improved crime numbers for Dorset Police, when in truth, as we all know, crime is on the rise in our town.

We keep hearing from BCP and Dorset Police that there will be more police presence on our streets, and yet when we need their help, they are nowhere to be seen.

No wonder no-one other than students want to live in this town centre.

And yet BCP continue granting permission for ugly high rise town centre buildings that belong in Dubai, not Bournemouth, whereby the only buyers are overseas investors, and the only occupants are transitory tenants with no real long term commitment to the town.

It's completely delusional for BCP to claim that these buildings help them meet their housing targets.

Locals cannot afford to buy them, and the inflated initial price means that on resale they sit on the market for months, if not years.

BCP should take a town wide audit of flats that fall into this category.

Buyers from overseas have little knowledge of our dirty streets, rat infestations, street brawls, drug deals on every street corner, litter strewn beaches, boarded up shops, rough sleepers, lack of police presence, etc.

They just know that they can get a decent rental return on their investment, probably from wealthy overseas students, and that when one tenant moves on, there's another wealthy overseas student waiting in the wings.

The only way to encourage full time town centre residents is to offer things that locals want and need.

Proper supermarkets, not a small Tesco Express, good independent shops, local events of interest, clean and safe streets, a good strong police presence and a return to the high quality of beachfront that was once the envy of England.

Wake up BCP and smell the stench of weed!

It's time to start thinking the way that someone who wants to live in Bournemouth would think, and then make the necessary changes to provide that lifestyle.

Who knows, once you've achieved those improvements, maybe you'll buy one of those overpriced high rises yourself!

Carol Gantner

Bournemouth