THE manager of a housing management group has spoken of his delight after receiving a reward for its help to tackle county lines drug dealing and cuckooing.

Shropshire Towns and Rural Housing (STAR) received the Best Project 2019 award for Operation Whistle.

STAR has been working alongside West Mercia Police to tackle county lines drug dealing and cuckooing - a method used by drug dealers in which they forcefully inhabit homes of vulnerable people to use it as a base for drug dealing.

Martin Whitelegg, manager of STAR attended the awards evening held on Wednesday.

He said: “I am delighted that STAR housing has won the award for 'Best Project' at the Resolve Anti-Social Behaviour Awards 2019.

“This recognises our commitment to work with our partners to deal with the drug problems blighting our communities and the quality of life of our tenants.”

Officers from Shropshire's Local Organised Crime Team and Oswestry Safer Neighbourhood Team work closely with the housing group as part of Operation Whistle to review ten properties each month that are considered to be most vulnerable to cuckooing.

The residents of the identified properties are visited by STAR Housing and or police and receive guidance about how to make the property less attractive to county lines drug dealers.

As part of Operation Whistle, Shropshire Recovery Partnership also offers help to anyone suffering with drug addiction.

Shropshire Superintendent Mo Lansdale added: "I'm really pleased with the work our teams are doing across Shropshire to tackle county lines and associated cuckooing.

"In particular in Oswestry where our local organised crime team and the local safer neighbourhood team has worked very closely with STAR Housing to safeguard some of our most vulnerable residents and it is great this work has been recognised.

"This partnership work is a fantastic example of how police are working together with other agencies to take action against those involved in serious and organised crime as part of our Protect campaign."