Weston Community Action Meeting

Cheshire police held their latest Weston community action meeting last night.

And whilst a gang of kids banged on the windows trying to get our attention, everyone present agreed that gangs of kids were the biggest problem on the estate, closely followed by drug dealers.

It's great to hear the views of the community and I think these meetings are a great idea. It also gave me the chance to engage with a few more people about the development of the Weston playing fields. A discussion that turned out to be a little heated.

After the meeting I spoke to one of the coppers about the kids and possible solutions - and the truth is that solutions are a little hard to come by. We've already had some success with the softly, softly approach - but it's not enough. I was shocked to hear that when the police take some of these kids home, after being caught throwing stones at windows etc, the parents don't want to know.

If the parents aren't interested, then we need to serious consider the reach and responsibility social parenting for these children. If they have been abandoned in all aspects except food and shelter then should their parents be allowed to get away with it?