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Harrogate’s Lib Dem spokesperson has hit out at the Government after his party said new figures showed that more than half of the 11,751 reported incidents of anti-social behaviour in North Yorkshire were unattended by the police in 2022.

Harrogate and Knaresborough Liberal Democrat Spokesperson Tom Gordon accused the Government of “losing control” of the problem.

Mr Gordon said: “It’s clear the Conservatives have lost control of anti-social behaviour - and their response isn’t good enough.

“Our communities deserve to feel safe walking down their own streets.

Harrogate and Knaresborough Liberal Democrat Spokesperson Tom Gordon.

"People should be able to feel that if they fall victim to anti-social behaviour, it will be taken seriously and police will attend.

“Instead of more empty promises, it’s time for the Government to finally commit to proper community policing - where offices are visible, trusted, and able to tackle neighbourhood crime.”

In July 2019, the Government announced plans to recruit an additional 20,000 police officers in England and Wales by the end of March 2023.

Each police force was given a target based on current workforce and local population.

North Yorkshire’s Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Zoe Metcalfe said recently a number of recruitment campaigns had boosted the county’s operational teams with 457 student officers and 209 transferees from other forces.

“I’m so pleased that North Yorkshire Police is on track to exceed its uplift target set by the Home Office and that the efforts put into recruitment campaigns and partnership working is proving successful,” she said.

“I know that police visibility and presence in communities is important to the public and so to be able to say that the police force has the largest number of officers they have had in a decade makes me incredibly proud.”

But Lib Dems remain unconvinced, saying their data shows that 63% of cases of anti-social behaviour in England and Wales in 2022 went unattended and that 56% of all anti-social behaviour reports in 2022 were unattended by a Police Officer in North Yorkshire.

All figures were obtained by the Liberal Democrats through Freedom of Information requests to all police forces, to which 38 responded.

Harrogate and Knaresborough’s Liberal Democrats hit out at anti-social behaviour figures for North Yorkshire