DUDLEY is to get it's 'fair share' of the extra 200 police officers added to West Midlands Police, the Police and Crime Commissioner has assured councillors.

Upper Gornal and Woodsetton councillors Kieran Casey and Adam Aston met with David Jamieson, the Police and Crime Commissioner, to lobby for more police in response to resident's worries about crime.

A recent survey in the ward found that residents were extremely concerned about the rise in crime and the pressure faced by West Midlands Police.

Councillor Adam Aston said: "We take these issues very seriously and we know how worried local residents are about this.

"That's why, following our recent survey, we arranged this meeting with David Jamieson to raise these concerns and see what more can be done to address these and to lobby for further resources for our local area.

"We have been working very closely with our local police team, particularly on getting them to deploy the drones over our local parks to deal with the nuisance of off-road motorbikes, so we will continue to support the work they are doing to ensure that any problems are dealt with straight away."

Councillor Keiran Casey added: "We are very grateful to David Jamieson for taking the time to meet with us and we wanted to raise these issues directly with him in addition to our local Chief Superintendent and police team.

"Lots of residents have contacted us recently with concerns about increases in crime and problems that they have had, so we completely understand how worrying this situation is.

"We were very happy to hear that despite West Midlands Police having their budget cut by over £175 million since 2010, that through the work David Jamieson has done, West Midlands Police is actually taking on 200 new officers, so we wanted to take this opportunity to lobby for some of these additional officers for our local area.

"Myself and Adam will continue to do everything we can to raise these issues and to work with local residents, organisations and the local police team to make our area a safer place to live."

West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson said: "Adam and Keiran are active local councillors who work night and day to sort out local issues in their ward. In particular they’ve focused on anti-social behaviour and have worked closely with myself and the police to get things sorted.

"They have also strongly campaigned for more local police officers. I will make sure that Dudley gets it fair share of the extra 200 officers I am delivering for the region."