Drug related anti-social behaviour, speeding and fly tipping are the key areas that the Hitchin Rural Safer Neighbourhood Teams (SNT) will be focusing on over the coming months, following feedback from the local community. 

The Hitchin Rural SNT - which covers the wards of Knebworth, Codicote, Hitchwood, Offa, Hoo, Kimpton and Chesfield - are tasked with fixing short and long-term neighbourhood issues such as anti-social behaviour. The officers work closely with local partners including the council and schools to achieve this. 

The team regularly sets out priorities to focus on and these are reviewed throughout the year. 

A new set of priorities have recently been decided, based partly on the information residents have been submitting on echo, the constabulary's community voice platform. 

The priorities for the coming months are to tackle:  

Anti-social behaviour related to drug use in open spaces  

Fly-tipping  

Speeding through the villages of the Hitchin Rural area 

Hitchin Rural SNT Sergeant Taz Gill, said: "I'd like to thank the community for submitting their recommendations for our policing priorities in Hitchin Rural and for their continued support through participation in the OWL and echo surveys. 

"These priorities have been set following the public's feedback and we will work with them and the local council to address the issues that matter most to them." 

Neighbourhood priorities are the local issues of most concern to the community that residents let us know about through echo and OWL feedback as well as information passed on to the local team. Following action by the neighbourhood team, the priorities will be reviewed in six months' time.