The anti-social use of Quad Bikes has been a problem plaguing areas of Acocks Green, in particular the Gospel Estate, for some time. It causes significant distress and annoyance to a large number of local residents. A couple of weeks ago I met with PC Wallace and PCSO Coxhead for a discussion on how to tackle the problem. It was good to hear the determination of our local police team to get on top of the issue.

They now some positive news to report. They ran a traffic operation on Sunday on the Gospel Estate. This involved two police off road bikes and two traffic cars. They successfully recovered a stolen bike (unfortunately the riders got away) and also a number of fixed penalties were issued to quad bike riders. Following the operation they only had one phone call in relation to antisocial bike riding as opposed to sometimes 6 or 7, so it definitely made a difference in the community.

I have no doubt that further operations will be needed, but it is good to be able to report that action is being taken to address residents’ concerns about this important issue.