Welwyn Garden City: 'More police on the streets, please,' say Hertfordshire town centre traders

Welwyn Garden City business owners have said the next police and crime commissioner must put more officers on the streets (File picture)
Welwyn Garden City business owners have said the next police and crime commissioner must put more officers on the streets (File picture) -Credit:Will Durrant/LDRS


Welwyn Garden City business owners have said the next police and crime commissioner must put more officers on the streets. Hertfordshire Constabulary received more crime reports from the town's shopping streets than in any other area on its patch, according to UK police data.

Voters will elect a new county PCC on Thursday, May 2. The candidate who secures the £78,400-a-year role will set Hertfordshire Constabulary's priorities and balance the force's budget.

Incumbent Conservative PCC David Lloyd will stand down after 12 years in the role. Four candidates will appear on ballot papers: Jonathan Ash-Edwards (Con), Matt Fisher (G), Tom Plater (Lab), and Sean Prendergast (LD).

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Nicola Gibson, co-owner of Lambert's Flower Company in Howardsgate, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "I can't say I've witnessed anything horrendous, but has there been more petty crime? Yes."

Nicola said: "We've had some stuff stolen in recent times. The police were pretty good. They were straight on it."

She added: "It's like with most town centres - you just need more police on the beat. If there's no money in the budget for police on the beat, then what do you do? But if they were constantly patrolling around, it's going to deter all of that. It's just petty crime. They're taking a plant from us, what are they going to do with a plant? But that's just from us. We don't know what they're doing elsewhere."

Window shoppers admire springtime displays at Lambert's Flower Company in Howardsgate, Welwyn Garden City
Window shoppers admire springtime displays at Lambert's Flower Company in Howardsgate, Welwyn Garden City -Credit:Will Durrant/LDRS

Gercek Yasa, of Café Trio in Wigmores South, said public drug use and public nuisance have "damaged" Welwyn Garden City's reputation. He said: "I used to see a lot of Police Community Support Officers, but since the pandemic, I haven't seen them as much."

According to official figures, there were 1,213 crimes reported in the area known as 'Welwyn Hatfield 006C' in 2023. This data capture area includes The Campus, Howardsgate and The Howard Centre.

The figures cover crime logs, including incidents where officers were unable to identify suspects or where "local resolutions" were found. Police recorded 364 shoplifting offences in the area, plus 331 antisocial behaviour offences.

Retail crime has hit headlines after a 31 per cent year-on-year rise in shoplifting across England and Wales, across the year to December 2023. Office for National Statistics shows a 32 per cent rise in shoplifting in Hertfordshire.

There were 7.1 shoplifting offences per 1,000 residents last year - more than anywhere else in the East of England and London. But Hertfordshire Constabulary has more officers than it had at the start of the last decade. According to Home Office figures, around 2,083 officers were employed in frontline roles across the county on March 31 last year, up from 1,891 in 2010 and 1,667 in 2015.

Paul Gerrard, campaign and public affairs chief at retail giant Co-op, has made a direct appeal to PCC candidates across the country. He said: "Retail crime impacts shop workers both physically and mentally, with many communities blighted by the unacceptable levels of persistent and prolific offending.

"Newly elected PCCs have the opportunity to crack down on this crime through the implementation of the Retail Crime Action Plan and by enforcing the new standalone offence of assaulting a shop worker - we are calling on the next PCCs to deliver the protection that those working in retail and, serving communities in towns, villages and cities across the region deserve."

The Sir Ebenezer Howard statue in Welwyn Garden City
The Sir Ebenezer Howard statue in Welwyn Garden City -Credit:Will Durrant/LDRS

Mr Gerrard added the cooperative has invested more than £200 million into staff and store safety, including new body-worn cameras.

Conservative and Labour candidates Jonathan Ash-Edwards and Councillor Tom Plater have signed a British Retail Consortium pledge to make retail crime a priority in their police and crime plans if they are elected. Mr Ash-Edwards has promised to "disrupt criminality and invest in 'hotspot' policing to tackle persistent offending" in his plan. Cllr Plater has said he would "put more bobbies on the beat, who know our local communities inside out, with their policing led by the intelligence they gather".

Lib Dem candidate Cllr Sean Prendergast has pledged to "develop and grow neighbourhood policing with an emphasis on finding long-term solutions to ongoing crime and anti-social behaviour, and will foster strong multi-agency partnerships to develop a coordinated approach to protect victims and prevent crime".

Green Party candidate Cllr Matt Fisher said policing "emanates" from the concept of community policing, and that "if you can do that, lots of crimes get prevented and you get people actually being proactive with their police force".