A joint effort is underway to tackle a spike in anti-social behaviour outside a town library, including an incident that left a staff member "intimidated and scared". 

Wallingford Town Council, Oxfordshire County Council and police are working to eliminate incidents of ASB, which have been reported outside the town library.

The manager of Wallingford Library brought the issue to the council of ongoing anti-social behaviour she and other staff members were experiencing just outside the library building in the evenings.

The manager informed the council that the ASB incidents included the depositing of drug paraphernalia. 

The anti-social behaviour reportedly left at least one member of the library staff 'intimidated,' who was employed to work at the facility in the evenings.

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Town councillors responded by thanking the library for being a positive influence and resource within the community, and the mayor, councillor Dan Beauchamp, explained some of the partnership work that was being currently developed for young people in Wallingford.

Mr Beauchamp said: “Wallingford Town Council is working really hard with partners to reduce anti-social behaviour within Wallingford.

"We’re extremely disappointed to hear about the situation the library finds itself in, and we look to our partners at Oxfordshire County Council to increase their security measures to support their staff.

“There is some really positive work going on in town to increase youth provision in Wallingford.

"Youth provision has been my main priority as mayor, and I am 100 per cent on board with this.

“We’re working to continue developing an umbrella of youth provision with partners including Wigod Way Family Centre, charity Oxfordshire Youth and the railway centre in Didcot.”

A spokesperson for Oxfordshire County Council said: “Antisocial behaviour is a generally rare occurrence in and around our libraries, and staff are experienced in dealing with such issues.

“We take the safety of staff and customers very seriously, and have various measures in place to report and manage such situations. This includes calling the police if needs be.

“The library is a warm and welcoming place, open to everyone in the community, and we work hard to maintain and develop that environment.”

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A spokesperson for Thames Valley Police said: “Neighbourhood Teams continue to carry out preventative work in order to minimise anti-social behaviour in the area including targeted patrols in areas that have previously had high levels of anti-social behaviour. 

“We continue to encourage the public to report ASB incidents to police as it helps to build up a picture of what is happening in our local communities and we can take appropriate action.

“If you’ve witnessed antisocial behaviour, please report it to us reports can be made via 101 or our online reporting service.”