£125k-a-year bill for private city centre security services

'34% fall in crime' - but critics ask why council has spent it

- Phil Corrigan Local Democracy Reporter

MORE than £125,000 of taxpayers' money was spent on private security patrols in Hanley last year.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council spent the cash on security guards in car parks such as the Smithfield multi-storey and other areas of the city centre.

But council leaders insist that partnership work to make Hanley safer is having an effect, with crime and antisocial behaviour down according to the authority's latest figures.

These show that antisocial behaviour in Hanley fell by 33.97 per cent and overall crime by 6.66 per cent between October 2024 and October 2025.