Nearly half of all antisocial behaviour incidents reported in East Lothian last year came from the Musselburgh area, a new report has revealed.
The county’s biggest town was the source of 48% of complaints made to East Lothian Council which saw a small rise in overall incidents of 3% taking them to 1,863 for the year.
Last summer it was reported that a third of antisocial behaviour incidents occurred in Musselburgh over a six month period as police and community teams faced issues with a spate of youth-related trouble including fire-raising and shoplifting.
The latest report from the council’s community protection team said that in the last year only 272 of the total reports were related to youth behaviour with the majority – 804 – relating to noise complaints.
It said 787 incidents involved ‘other things’ including shouting, swearing, neighbour disputes, drugs related complaints, harassment and verbal abuse.
While nearly half of the reports came from Musselburgh, only 5% came from North Berwick.
Across the other towns 20% of reports came from Tranent, 12% from Prestonpans, 8% from Haddington and 7% from Dunbar.
The report, which was presented to the council’s police, fire and community safety board, said a multi agency antisocial behaviour group had met throughout the reporting period overseeing the deployment of police officers, neighbourhood outreach youth workers and mobile CCTV cameras.
It said six cameras had been sent to identified ‘hotspots’ with data collected and intelligence received analysed/
It added: “During the reporting period, membership of the group was extended to include representatives from the Health and Social
Care and Midlothian and East Lothian Drugs and Alcohol Partnerships to help inform discussions pertaining to individuals who have come to the attention of Police Scotland and other agencies and who are affected by mental health and substance and alcohol issues.”
