Overall, Penarth's policing statistics showed that crime had slightly fallen in the December period of 2019 compared to that of 2018.

In 2018, 92 crimes were recorded. This December saw 90 incidents.

Crimes recorded under criminal damage has increased slightly from 11 to 14 incidents.

This is in line with the incidents of vandalism toward Penarth's Christmas trees and the destruction in Windsor Arcade over the festive break.

Traders had expressed concerns over this behaviour in the run-up to Christmas with many having their Penarth in Bloom trees knocked over and damaged.

Sgt Sam Johnson who attended the Penarth Town Council (PTC) meeting yesterday evening updated councillors on the figures as well as answering any questions.

Possession of drugs also saw a significant rise in the figures with none being recorded in December in 2018 in comparison to seven in 2019.

Sgt Johnson explained that this was due to an operation which had allocated funding for a crackdown on drugs rather than an actual increase.

She also confirmed that the funding for the operation had recently been extended for four months so it would be ongoing.

From those recorded, five were arrested for possession of cocaine with intent to supply.

Councillors Mark Wilson and Gary Allman asked Sgt Johnson whether anything would be done about cars parking fully on the pavement and restricting access to prams and wheelchairs.

They stated their concerns over pupil safety outside primary schools when parents were doing this to avoid walking into the schools.

Sgt Johnson confirmed that police officers were attending problem areas and ticketing cars and accepted it was a concern.

An idea was proposed by Cllr Gary Allman that residents could potentially send in images to the police when they saw cars parked like this but Sgt Johnson confirmed that police officers were unable to ticket people retrospectively.

Her hope was that new PCSO's would join the Penarth force allowing them to spread resources to more areas around the town to tackle these issues. She also said the force was looking into ways that the community could work with police to tackle the problem.

The council later agreed to contact the Vale Council to ask for an increased presence and communication with traffic officers in the area.