PEOPLE begging aggressively, being drunk, being found asleep or unconscious and fighting in the town centre are just some of the incidents reported to Barnsley MP Dan Jarvis, who says he has seen a surge in complaints.
Mr Jarvis said there were 'significant concerns' about antisocial behaviour in the town centre, and he is conducting a review which he will present to the police to say more needs to be done to combat the problem.
He told the Chronicle: "There has been a real upturn in the number of people coming to me to say they have seen things in the town centre, they had their children with them and were terrified.
"It is not acceptable. I'm going to be raising concerns with the police and the council about antisocial behaviour in the town centre. As a consequence of that, I'm pulling together a number of case studies which I will present to the police to say some good work is being done and some progress has been made but if you venture into the town centre at any time of day, you will see things that frankly shouldn't be seen in a town centre."
He said there had also been problems in County Way car park, with people 'screeching about' in cars and on motorbikes and behaving unacceptably. "If you go down there on a Thursday night, it's like something out of Mad Max," he said.
Mr Jarvis said Barnsley should be a place people want to visit, given the ongoing £120m redevelopment of the town centre by Barnsley Council. "We have got to make sure the complex is a safe space where people feel completely relaxed about bringing their elderly relatives and young children.
"Nobody should feel like they don't want to come to Barnsley town centre because of antisocial behaviour. We did make some progress and things were getting better but there has been a bit of a slip in recent months.
"The police do a really good job but they have got constrained resources. I just want to satisfy myself that they have got the adequate resources to keep the town centre secure and make sure it is a safe place for people to come and do their shopping and spend time with their family and friends."
