FEARS have been raised for the safety of young people who are climbing onto shop roofs in Workington town centre.

The problem has become such a worry that police have joined forces with business owners and Allerdale council to tackle anti-social behaviour.

Traders in the town centre have raised concerns and are determined to stamp out the problem.

Allerdale Council’s business engagement manager Toni Magean said: “This is about not just the damage and nuisance, but safety.

“No business or police want to see young people fall from the roof. We have been walking around the town centre and looking at how the youngsters are getting up there and what we can do to mitigate the problem.”

In a step to deter the youths, the county council has used anti-climbing paint on some buildings which makes access points too slippery to climb up.

Some shop owners have even installed barriers to stop youngsters getting access to the roof.

Groups of teenagers are also causing other problems in the town.

There have been recent reports of stones being dropped from the bridge near the Opera Bingo on to cars passing underneath, and cars in the town have also been vandalised.

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FEARS have been raised that young people could suffer serious injuries as they scale

fall from shop roofs in Workington town centre.

PCSO Alison Renney, PC Leesa Edwards and crime prevention officer David Thompson have met with local businesses and Allerdale Borough Council’s business engagement manager Toni Magean to tackle anti-social behaviour issues in the town.

Business owners have raised concerns to the Allerdale Local Focus Hub of young people climbing on roofs and the partners involved have been looking at solutions.

The Allerdale Local Focus Hub is based at Allerdale House in Workington and is made up of partners including Cumbria Police, council and housing associations.

A spokesperson for Allerdale council said: “The aim of the Hub is to have a multi-agency response on issues, such as anti-social behaviour, which are affecting the local communities we serve.”

Mr Magean said: “This is about, not just the damage and nuisance but safety.

“No business or police want to see young people fall from the roof.”

He said: “We have been walking around the town centre and looking at how the youngsters are getting up there and what we can do to mitigate the problem.”

Mr Magean added that Cumbria County Council have used anti-climbing paint on some of the buildings which makes access points too slippy to climb up.

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SOME shop owners have been forced to install barriers to stop youths getting access to the roof.

Councillor for St John’s Ward, Patrick McCarthy believes that anti-social behaviour is a general issue in the town.

Coun McCarthy said: “The Opera Bingo, there’s always children kicking around up there, dropping stones off the bridge onto the cars coming through. Cars have been vandalised outside the Opera Bingo.”

But he believes there is no easy fix.

“It’s a big issue in this town, it’s a case of low aspirations, it’s social degradation.

“There are a lot of intersecting issues.”

A report was made to Cumbria Police on Monday February 17 of four cars near to the bingo having been vandalised by four or five youths.

The group were a mix of males and females.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police referencing incident 243 on 0800 555 111.

St John’s ward resident Olwen Lintott also believes that there is a problem with low aspirations in the town.

She said: “There seems to be a younger group of people and it’s like they are out on a Saturday and can’t think of anything else to do.”

Olwen said that a mesh fence has been pulled down near Wilkinsons and thrown over a drop.

She said: “It could have landed on someone or a car. It is an issue that needs to be dealt with.”

She added that youths have been standing on a wall throwing stones at her building.