Concerns about anti-social behaviour at war memorial

A Warminster man has suggested that CCTV coverage could help protect the town’s war memorial from anti-social behaviour.

Roland Astin, who lives at Crescent Place, often walks down Portway past the iconic structure.

Recently, he noticed a Good Samaritan cleaning up broken glass in front of the war memorial, which pays tribute to the 115 Warminster men who died in the First World War.

Roland said, “I go into town each day and pass the war memorial. I recently saw broken glass there, which could be dangerous to children.

“There was a chap behind the memorial cleaning it all up, which was really amazing. I’m not sure who he was, but I’d love to find out, as he deserves to be thanked.

“He’d taken on the task himself – I think he had done it after someone from the Royal British Legion had mentioned the glass.”

Roland doesn’t want to see any more rubbish at the war memorial and has come up with a potential solution to protect the area.

He added, “I think it would be great to have a CCTV camera in operation here to avoid potential danger. I’ve also heard about drug dealing and anti-social behaviour at the war memorial, so it could help prevent that.”

When contacted, Mark at the Westbury and Warminster CCTV Hub confirmed that a camera on Portway does partially cover the war memorial area and that it would be possible to have one closer, but there are no plans in place to do this at the moment.