THE mayor of Oswestry has spoke of how the region needs better policing following an increase in anti-social behaviour (ASB) incidents.

Councillor Sandy Best said she believes the number and nature of ASB incidents has become “increasingly worse”.

Her comments come after sculptures at the Cae Glas Safari Trail were targeted for the second time in a matter of weeks.

She has urged concerned Oswestry residents to attend a public meeting with the police and crime commissioner at the Wynnstay Hotel on Monday, February 18.

Cllr Best said: “Incidents like this have been happening a lot more recently and are becoming increasingly worse.

“The statues were targeted a few weeks ago and they were damaged – and on Monday evening people have caused more damage to them after getting to them over night.

“It’s another example of deliberate damage caused overnight.

“The underlying problem is that there are people here in our town who think they are above the law.”

Cllr Best, who stressed that this was her personal view and not that of the town council, also said she is concerned that the failure to deal with those responsible for these incidents may mean they re-offend with worse crimes in the future.

“One of the issues we have as a country is that we no longer have the legislation to be able to tackle anti-social behaviour,” she said.

“That coupled with the reduction in police numbers means the justice system is failing to deal with young people who could be serious problems in 10 years time or less.

“We’ve already seen examples of this with a recent slashing and an attack near the church a few months back.”

The mayor went on to label the policing in the town “ghostly” and hopes this is something that can be addressed and resolved.

She added: “We need an effective programme to tackle this issue – it’s a really big issue.

“I’m concerned that when we have public meetings, people’s frustrations might spill over. Another concern of mine is that we may have meeting after meeting and not get a resolution.

“We need decent public services all round – but incidents like this highlight the fact that we need decent legislation and police service.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg of a major problem in the country.”

The meeting will start at 6.30pm.