As the school holidays begin it’s important that residents and visitors feel safe when visiting our wonderful coast.

I met with Police recently as they launched Operation Impact – the largest activity ever carried out by the Northumbria Force.

Policing resources were deployed from mounted units to road safety officers, and neighbourhood and response teams to valued volunteers to see dozens of suspects detained, seizure of illicit drugs and counterfeit goods, and wide-spread engagement amongst local communities from door-to-door visits to patrols and partnership work with local agencies.

In our area, Operation Impact will work alongside Operation Coastwatch and Maple which will see targeted patrols, proactive work within transport hubs to disrupt and stop any anti-social behaviour before it reaches the coastline, as well as community engagement tools such as the touring CCTV van.

There were almost 2.5 million visits to Tynemouth, Cullercoats, Whitley Bay, and North Shields between April and September 2022 and we are lucky to have some of the best coastal areas in the country on our doorstep.

I’m clear that residents and visitors should be able to come to the area and enjoy themselves without their experience being tarnished by the behaviour of a small minority.