Villagers in Pewsey have been asked to act as the eyes and ears of the police and to shop anyone they see causing criminal damage or behaving anti-socially.

The plea came from parish council chairman Bob Woodward to a packed annual parish meeting last Tuesday.

Few at the meeting were aware that earlier in the day it had been discovered that vandals had stripped the bark from a tree on the Way’s Way footpath, which will cause it to die.

Vandalism and anti-social behaviour have been on the increase in the village in recent months and at the meeting Coun Woodward, a retired magistrate, said he would be using the parish meeting to criticise the lack of police success in catching the offenders.

Police responded by saying that only a month earlier Pewsey’s neighbourhood police team had been praised for catching vandals red-handed at the village soccer club where there has been a spate of criminal damage over the last two years.

In his chairman’s report he told the meeting, at which the police were represented by Sgt Vincent Logue, that there had been “low levels of policing”

recently following the loss of a PC and a PCSO for personal reasons.

“Unfortunately this coincided with further anti-social behaviour leading to criminal damage at the Broomcroft Road play field, at the recreation ground and elsewhere around the village.

“Many of these events remain unsolved and progress to identify the perpetrators appears frustratingly slow. Putting right all damage to public property costs us and you money from our annual precept.”

Coun Woodward went on to say that police numbers were now back up to strength with the arrival of PC Therese Herbert and PCSO Joe Sadd and a third PCSO was to join the Pewsey team soon.

“The main point I want to leave with you is our overriding commitment to the police and, where we are able, to help them and there are two ways this can be done.

“Firstly the police need good intelligence from within the community; shielding known bad boys will not protect our community and I would urge those who know to pass on information.

“I think we could also make a difference in stopping this current run of damaging behaviour by doing our own park watch patrols,” said Coun Woodward, adding that they work well elsewhere.

He called for volunteers from the village to take part in park watch and asked those interested to contact parish council clerk Alison Keers.