Traders in Cleckheaton are to enlist the police and fire service to help them stamp out problems of drugs, vandalism and petty arson in the town.

At a meeting of Spenborough Chamber of Trade, president Keith Joplin, pictured, heard concerns from shopkeepers who claimed to have seen drugs being sold openly in the street.

They fear crime has increased since the departure of their community bobby, PC Penny Ayers, who left the force in August. An officer is due to fill her post in the near future.

One trader, who did not wish to be named, said: "The area to the rear of Central Arcade is going from bad to awful and is now trashed on a daily basis. There's broken glass, needles and vodka bottles lying about and it is absolutely filthy."

He said his staff had seen drug dealing going on in a nearby snicket.

Another trader added: "There are cars pulling up, people meeting, quickly shaking hands and then disappearing down the snicket. One woman actually saw a man walk up the road dealing drugs - she saw it with her own eyes. It's as though they are laughing in our faces because they are so bold about it."

Over the Christmas period, several premises were targeted by thieves and vandals. Sparks bakers, Just Ivan's, Watson's bakery, Pizza Base and Rothereys Solicitors were all broken into.

According to traders, locked bins behind shops were being forced open and overturned every couple of nights. "It is a health, safety and fire hazard and it looks appalling," said one man.

Mr Joplin said: "This is a situation we are going to tackle with a clean-up campaign involving the police and fire service. We want to show Cleckheaton as being somewhere you want to come and shop. We don't want to scare customers away and fortunately most of these incidents happen at night. We would urge traders who may not be in the Chamber to keep an eye out for any crime and report it to the police. We all need to work together to stamp this out."

Suggestions that traders took their rubbish home with them at the end of each day were put forward, as was the idea of putting lockable gates at either end of the snicket.

Sergeant Russell Kaye, of Dewsbury Police, said he would be pleased to meet Mr Joplin to look at the ways forward.

"We will in the near future be looking at the roots of the problem," he said.