CRACKING down on crime in Dudley and Brierley Hill should be a top priority to improve the future of both towns, members of a People's Panel have urged council chiefs.

A group of 40 people from the two towns were selected to form the first ever Dudley People’s Panel where they shared ideas on what needs to be done to make the town centres more welcoming and vibrant places.

The panel, which was one of only three to take place in the country, met over November and December where they discussed the issues and heard evidence from experts on a range of subjects relevant to the future of Dudley and Brierley Hill’s future development.

Safer streets, town centre regeneration, public health and leisure featured in their top concerns.

Less crime; more public squares for people to meet, eat, relax and for the town to be a home for first rate entertainment were the top three proposals for boosting Dudley town centre.

To improve Brierley Hill, the top three proposals were to involve local people in creating community events and participation; for the creation of more open public spaces for people to sit and congregate and for crime to be reduced.

Councillor Patrick Harley, leader of Dudley Council, said the council is already taking measures to tackle crime by upgrading CCTV and funding more PCSOs.

He said: "It has not come as any great surprise to us that fear of crime is high up on people’s priorities. It is one of our key priorities as well, reflected in the fact we are spending nearly £2 million on boosting CCTV coverage in the borough and £750,000 on new PCSOs. We are also in talks with the police about utilising land we own in Dudley town centre to build a new police station.

"As a council we will use the information provided by the People’s Panel to help us decide what further we can do in the short, medium and long-term to make the borough’s town centres vibrant and welcoming."

The findings of the People’s Panel, which was a citizens’ assembly run by independent facilitators from The Democratic Society, will be go before Dudley Council’s ruling cabinet for consideration at a meeting on February 12.