Violence, criminal damage and intimidation in High Wycombe town centre among groups of young people has been successfully reduced as part of a special partnership to tackle anti-social behaviour. 

In the last few months of 2021, Eden Shopping Centre and High Wycombe town centre were the destinations of choice for groups of youths to gather on Friday and Saturday nights - with more than 54 incidents of disorder recorded in just three months. 

The incidents involved drunken behaviour, violence, criminal damage and nuisance and intimidation of Eden Shopping Centre shoppers.

The town centre has suffered for many years with bad behaviour. 
One of the most serious incidents happened back in May last year, when a teenage boy was stabbed in the leg in a fight outside Sports Direct in White Hart Street and a 14-year-old boy was arrested. 

To tackle the problem, Thames Valley Police, Buckinghamshire Council, the town's street wardens, Eden Shopping Centre and Action4Youth rallied together - and have managed to reduce the disorder among youths to zero in the last two months. 

An extra youth security worker was funded for six months by the council's community safety team and youths causing problems were identified from CCTV - with an Action4Youth outreach youth worker offering them alternatives to hanging around and causing a nuisance. 

The alternatives included playing table tennis and participating in music and lyric writing sessions amongst other activities at The Junction youth club.

In the cases where the offer of support was refused, visits were made to their home address to make their parents aware and measures were also put in place to support the young people and to help divert them from causing anti-social behaviour in the future.

Cllr Steve Bowles, Cabinet Member for Communities, said: “This is a great example of how Buckinghamshire Council, Action4Youth, Thames Valley Police and other partners work together to make our towns safer and help turn young people away from crime and disorder.

“It’s also good to see that this particular partnership activity will be ongoing – helping to ensure that ASB issues do not return to the area.”