JOHNSTOWN residents have the opportunity to have their say on community issues such as policing next week.
Following the establishment of a focus group and a neighbourhood policing scheme, people are now being asked what needs to improve in the locality.
The consultation is being led by Cllr Dave Bithell and will take the form of Community Comment leaflets. These leaflets will be left in shops and will ask for feedback on the initiatives and where improvements can be made.
'This is not just about policing issues,' said Cllr Bithell. 'It is also about dog fouling, street cleaning, traffic calming, anti-social behaviour, providing better facilities, anything that affects the community.
'Despite recent reports, neighbourhood wardens are not the only answer in solving the problems of anti-social behaviour.
'We need to listen and learn from previous mistakes and ask residents what they want and how we can improve. We need to solve the basic problems first.'
To do this, he believes community involvement is the key and urges residents to play their part. Anti-social behaviour in Johnstown has been high recently, and he said he hoped that reported incidents this year will be lower by building a better community.
