POLICE in Chepstow say they are stamping down on any repeats of anti-social behaviour seen in the area earlier this month.

On March 1 and March 8 about 60 young people between 12 and 18 who were drinking and smoking were found by Community Support Officers (CSO) under the A48 bridge.

After being moved on, some went to the Wye Bridge while most went to the town centre.

And on March 8, an ambulance had to be called for a 16-year-old girl who was found unconscious after she had consumed too much alcohol.

Now Inspector Nick Hayes and CSOs Laura Price and Julian Phillips, who are based at the Chepstow police station on Moor Street, are leading a fight back so such events do not happen again as the weather improves over the spring and the summer. Insp Hayes said: “It’s hard to gauge. But we do things with Trading Standards and they are positive.”

He said the last time Chepstow Trading Standards undertook checks on shops that could have been selling alcohol to underage drinkers in December, the response was “good” and no shops were found to have broken the law. And a meeting was held with CSOs Price and Phillips and county councillors Peter Farley and David Dovey on Saturday.

Cllr Farley said the meeting was “very helpful” and that the police’s operations were designed to “keep people on side”. “We have said, as councillors, that we’ll look at things to improve the site.”

Network Rail own the land under the A48 bridge but the police are still waiting to hear on proposals they put forward about fencing off the area.

CSO Price said there was no trouble or evidence of underage drinking last Saturday: “Frequent patrols will continue and we will deal with anti-social behaviour robustly. The past two weekends have been quiet, with no youths seen at the location, suggesting the hard work we have put in has been successful.”

Gwent Police spokeswoman said: “Anti social behaviour is PACT priority for Chepstow police and officers are working very closely with local schools and partner agencies in order to minimise this.”