Warden firm chosen

Sector Crime Prevention Europe will be paid 50,500 by the town council to employ five part-time wardens to patrol the streets of Hailsham seven days a week, and provide a 24-hour call-out facility for emergencies.

Only two wardens will patrol at any one time, but Sector has agreed that, if there is a major incident in Hailsham at any time, a team of wardens will be deployed.

The wardens will deal with petty crime and vandalism (so-called 'anti-social behaviour'), which police say occurs quite frequently in the town. The wardens will have a marked vehicle with a permanent surveillance camera fitted and will be able to give evidence in court.

A telephone number will be set up at the company's headquarters in Polegate for people to ring in the event of an emergency. Cards will be printed with this number and distributed to all Hailsham residents.

The decision to employ Sector was made by a town council working party on Wednesday night. Three companies had put themselves forward for the contract, but members eventually awarded it to the cheapest bidder.

At the last budget, the town council raised 51,000 to pay for a street wardens project through extra taxation. The money is 'ring-fenced', and cannot be spent on anything else.

The scheme was originally masterminded by town councillor Nick Ellwood. He said yesterday: 'I think this is going to have quite an impact for the people of Hailsham I'm very excited about it.

'We have various "problem areas" in Hailsham where problems tend to occur at particular times. We want the wardens to patrol these areas and respond to any problems as soon as possible, so there has to be a certain amount of flexibility.

'We don't want the people of Hailsham to know where the wardens will be or at what time. The fact that they will be able to take the troublemakers by surprise is half the battle won.'

The wardens will become operational in the first week of February. Recruitment and training will be undertaken by Sector, but the town council will also have a say when candidates are interviewed.

'Having a pool of wardens at our disposal means that we will not have to worry about sickness or time-off issues,' said Cllr Ellwood.