Anti-social behaviour hotspots identified by the police and the borough council, will see new wardens patrolling at least once every day.

Swindon Borough Council has been given the use of five community safety wardens funded by Wiltshire’s Police & Crime Commissioner Philip Wilkinson.

And they will be patrolling, at least once a day the identified trouble spots of Park North and South, Walcot East, Faringdon Road and Old Town.

Mr Wilkinson said: “We are all very concerned about anti-social behaviour, both in Swindon and the rest of the county.

We were able to secure £1m extra funding from the previous government and  we made a joint assessment of what the need was, and I’m glad to be able to fund five officers to help patrol in Swindon.”

Those officers will cost £180,000.

Councillor Jim Grant, Swindon Borough Council’s cabinet member for communities and joint working expressed gratitude to the PCC for the help: “Anti-social behaviour is one of the council’s top priorities and it’s very important to the people of Swindon, as they told us recently. But like all public authorities there are significant financial constraints, so we are very grateful to the PCC for the help.”

Cllr Grant explained that officers must patrol the five identified hotspots at least once a day – but would also be able to patrol other areas as well.

Rees Titcombe and Brad Ellis are two of the PCC-funded community safety wardens who have already started patrols in their distinctive purple high-vis waistcoats.

Mr Titcombe said: “We have a good reaction, a surp4isngly good reaction from people when they see us out on patrol.

“I think people are glad to see that we are out , and we’ve had some good feedback, especially in this area.”

Mr Ellis added: “We’re looking to prevent public disorder and problems caused by people using drugs or alcohol, or  knife crime. We can, carry out checks to see if people are carrying knives.

“A lot of people appreciate a visible presence and a deterrent to anti-social behaviour. And we don’t want to be aggressive with people – we want to help and advise them, perhaps to make a better choice.

“Most of the people we’ve dealt with understand we’re doing our job, and if we weren’t out here, then it would have to be the police or someone else. We’re going to be able to issue fines soon – and I say to people, I don’t really want to fine them – and they don’t want to have to pay a fine.”

Inspector David Tippetts the commanding officer of the Central Swindon neighbourhood policing team welcomed the extra support. He said: “These officers help, they help to keep up a visible presence and they can help to provide intelligence on possible crime or anti-social behaviour.