Innovative Levenmouth antisocial biking project gets funding for second year

Councillors gave the green light for the project to be given £24,515, which will be used to support two full-time police officers who will be dedicated solely to the project between April and October.

Another £3000 will be spent on ancillary work with the approach, working with partners including Kingdom Off-Road Motorcycle Club and Truth nightclub.

Police Scotland is matching the funding for the project.

The project ran for seven months in 2019 and was a huge success, with 60 vehicles being seized, 222 charges made, three formal ASB warnings issued, a 60 per cent reduction in calls related to antisocial behaviour and a 61 per cent reduction in deliberate fire setting.

The 2020 project will include a higher level of focus on drug and alcohol issues, and a violence reduction approach.

David Paterson, community manager, said the impact of the project in the area had been “very, very positive”, and that it had given residents more confidence in reporting incidents to the police.

While councillors praised the project and approved funding for this year, Cllr Colin Davidson said it was “not a long term solution”.

Cllr David Alexander said the issue of antisocial behaviour had been “intolerable” for some people in the area, adding: “People can be killed. We have to be serious. Anything we missed last year, we will get this year.

“I think this year will be better.”

Cllr Ryan Smart said the project had “broken the mould” and that Levenmouth was “leading the charge”.