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Re: HBC have taken away the benches from outside the market
This is an issue that has been brought up several times recently and came to a head on Tuesday when there was a brawl outside the Market Hall which put the wind up both the traders and the shoppers. Complaints are continually raised about drunkards peeing up the Market Hall walls and even just where they are sitting on the benches and the council and market staff are fully aware that there is a problem.
Clare Pritchard is responsible for all town centres in the borough but this decision cannot be levelled at her entirely. Discussions are ongoing between HBC and the police and one of the ideas put forward was removing the benches for a trial period to try and move the drunks out of the town centre. The experiment will be reviewed shortly but part of the problem is that many of the vagrants actually enjoy being arrested as it means they get a brew and a butty and quite often a bed for the night.
I hope this answers some of your questions but please bear in mind that we are trying to improve things in whatever way we can. Sometimes we will get it right, other times we will get it wrong but at least we're having a go and to my mind there is little shame in admitting when something doesn't work.
We're never going to please everyone but we do have the borough's best interests at heart.
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