A multi-agency crackdown on drug dealing and anti-social behaviour has been stepped up.

An action plan has been launched by West Yorkshire Police, Bradford Council and partner agencies after residents complained about persistent night-time crime in the Ivegate area.

Under the new plan: - a larger vehicle exclusion zone will be created around Ivegate on Friday and Saturday nights to prevent people using or dealing drugs in vehicles.

- plain-clothed officers will operate in Ivegate at weekends.

- the visible police presence will be increased to prevent and respond to potential trouble.

- more resources will be channelled into the CCTV centre so problems can be identified quickly and officers directed to the scene.

City centre Inspector Steve Baker said the measures were a response to recent problems in Ivegate relating to drug dealing and anti-social behaviour.

He said police were working with various partners, including Bradford Council, its licensing department and the licensees at the Unicorn nightclub to tackle the issues.

Insp Baker said: "We are going to have high-visibility policing and extra resources for the area, but we also want to have plain-clothes officers coming down stopping vehicles and searching them.

"We are aware that there are a number of vehicles turning up at the bottom of Ivegate and parking there on a Friday and Saturday night.

"We have got evidence from CCTV cameras about alleged drug dealing and drug use. We are going to barrier off a bigger sterile area to lessen the opportunity for these people using drugs to park cars in an inconspicuous place.

"They will now be more visible if they bring their cars along because they will have to park on the main road."

Insp Baker said crime in the city centre had gone down by 40 per cent in the last four years, with further reductions in violent crime following the launch of Operation Gridiron two years ago.

Previously, barriers were put up at the top of Ivegate and halfway down the street, but the plans will extend the vehicle exclusion zone further down Ivegate to its junction with Market Street.

Councillor Martin Smith, co-chairman of the Safer Communities Partnership, said: "There are many attractions to city centre living and the more people that live in the centre the safer it tends to be.

"We accept there have been some problems recently, and in this respect Bradford is no different to any other large city.

"Unfortunately a minority try to spoil life for the majority of law abiding citizens.

"Surveillance has been stepped up and we are working closely with the police to stamp out anti-social behaviour in Bradford. Extra weekend police patrols have been introduced and a sergeant is now based in the Council's CCTV monitoring station to speed up response times and arrests.

"Our licensing department is clamping down on pubs and clubs that flout their terms and conditions.

"The Council is working with the police, private investors, Bradford Vision and all our partners to regenerate the whole district and we hope these isolated incidents will not deter people from enjoying the benefits of living and working in the city centre.

"On the whole, city centre crime is down as a result of a large scale ongoing police operation."

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