People who '˜hang around' Mansfield town centre need tackling says councillor

Coun Nick Bennett added his support to the proposed market alterations - including moving all the stalls off Westgate into Market Place - which were rubber stamped on Friday.

But Coun Bennett says the council needs to go further if they have any hope of cleaning up the town’s image.

Speaking to the Chad he said there are too many people who spend their days in the town centre with “nothing better to do”.

He says they are people who do not work and spend their days drinking, swearing, spitting and intimidating shoppers.

“We can gloss it up as much as possible, but you’ve got to do something about the people who hang around the town centre,” he added.

“They hang around doing nothing all day, it seriously needs looking at.

“It’s not so much teenagers, it’s more middle-aged people who have nothing better to do.

“I think Mansfield District Council’ wardens need to be more proactive and the council has got to stand up and look at it.

“If we are revamping the market and if we want to attract families to a nice shopping environment, we’ve got to enforce this.”

Coun Bennett says tighter restrictions also need to be brought in for those drinking in town centre pubs, some of which stand outside and smoke.

He suggests that pubs need to take steps to stop drinkers from taking their beer outside.

He added: “Some are smoking outside of pubs with a pint in their hand.

“I don’t think there should be drinking and smoking outside the pubs, it’s putting people off, they feel intimidated.”