Tara Murray
Increased illegal and anti-social behaviour in Alfrieda Street, St Albans, has left residents fearing for their safety.
Residents have contacted both police and council expressing their concerns about illegal behaviour that has got worse as the lockdowns have continued.
Long time St Albans resident said she had never seen the street like this before.
“It’s not great,” she said.
“In 30 years I’ve never seen anything like this. There’s people selling things on the footpath. We need to be looking at and seeing if we can get organisations in to help in the area.
“We need to try and make it a safe street now. The businesses there can only do so much.”
The resident said the council had some positive things planned for the street, but something needed to be done now before the poor behaviour worsened.
Keilor Downs Senior Sergeant Adam Beauliv said local police were aware of concerns in the area.
“We’ve had complaints about people selling goods in the street,” he said.
“We’ve run a couple of small ops and arrested a few people. We have tasked our officers to patrol when they have the opportunity.”
Brimbank mayor Ranka Rasic said the council would look to support the local community and businesses along that strip.
“The council wants the community to feel safe wherever they are in Brimbank,” she said.
“Council will continue to work closely with Victoria Police, trader associations and local service providers to ensure a coordinated approach to addressing safety concerns and keeping the area safe for the whole community.”
The council recently engaged with the community to create a longer term vision for the future design of Alfrieda Street to help establish the draft Alfrieda Street master plan.
Upgrades to the Alfrieda Street Civic Plaza were completed last year. It involved converting the former bus interchange into a gathering space for the community with improved safety, colourful public art, more shade trees, landscaping and plenty of seating.
