THE proposal by Newport City Council to allow its citizens to consult with the authority on a raft of measures to curb begging and anti social activity generally would seem sensible on the face of it; except; what ever input they receive will be of  no consequence. 

One only has to visit the 51 comments below the article to understand the level of frustration that exists in the community making such a gesture meaningless.

We already have sufficient laws under the vagrancy and public order legislation to deal with these problems but we also know that without adequate resources to enforce these laws they will not be effective.

I do not intend to debate the efficacy of the homeless nor drug dependency that is endemic of our society because the reasons are many and varied however, I do challenge our politicians both nationally and provincially to effect the social changes that are necessary to greatly improve the current situation found in our inner cities; in short; more police, more social care. 

Malcolm M Richards
Aberthaw Road
Newport