Head teachers joined shop staff, security guards and police to discuss Motherwell Town Centre safety fears

Councillor Agnes Magowan confirmed that she had attended a meeting which had involved parties as varied as police shop owners, security guards plus the head teachers of Dalziel Academy, Our Lady's High School and Braidhurst Academy

The meeting was chaired by the town centre manager Geraldine El Masrour and Councillor Magowan said:“ The meeting was very positive and after reports from all the partners and discussion an action plan was formed.

"Some ideas are to have more activities on a Friday afternoon, more police on duty police sending parental letters home and taking children home. We also discussed police going in to schools, offering work experience on a Friday afternoon and making town centre security more visible. These strategies will be tried and another meeting arranged in two months to ascertain progress.

“I hope these will make a difference and the population of Motherwell can enjoy the town centre again for the socialising and shopping”

Our earlier report put the focus on weeks worth of bad behaviour which had seen thousands of pounds worth of damage done to the area, with youths smashing shop doors and windows.

Shoplifting had also featured and items like glass bottles had been thrown from a height. Verbal abuse and ‘pranks’ which have seen shop staff and customers covered with flour eggs and milkshakes are also an issue.

However it’s been acknowledged that more youth activities are needed to keep problems with anti-social behaviour in check within North Lanarkshire.

And a popular sport-related scheme aimed at nine to 16 year olds is now back on to address this in part, as well as providing an outlet for youngsters to improve their fitness and meet new friends.

Street Soccer which is staffed by the council's youth workers and flagged up by the Lanarkshire division of Police Scotland will be taking place from 7pm to 9pm on the pitches at Dornoch Road in Holytown every Thursday.

And on Fridays it will be Newarthill’s turn when the same activities will be rolled out at the facilities in Lochlea Way at the same time.