OLDHAM residents are at risk of losing confidence in the police due to the "dire" state of the 101 service and the force’s inability to respond to the crime that affects people day-to-day, a councillor has claimed.

A motion was put forward at a meeting of the full council calling for the creation of a "memorandum of understanding" between the police and elected councillors so they can raise the concerns of residents.

It proposed that they continue to press Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham to "resolve the difficulties" faced by the 101 service.

Speaking in support of the motion, many councillors told of the problems their constituents were facing with rising anti-social behaviour, thefts, burglaries and vandalism.

Most highlighted victims’ frustrations that they were not being dealt with properly, with some not even able to get an answer when calling 101, despite being on hold for more than an hour.

Labour councillor Steven Bashforth, who put forward the motion alongside colleague Marie Bashforth said members were being inundated with complaints about what police deem low-level crime.

“If your car window gets put through that isn’t petty, if somebody breaks into your house that isn’t petty, somebody throws a brick through your front window, that isn’t petty either,” he said.

“But these are crimes that are not being given priority by the police. The police will openly admit that to you that these crimes are not being given priority.”

"Aggressive" sites on social media were springing up in response to the lack of police action, he added, but despite the tone of these the supporters "had a point", he added.

“Down on the streets, down in our wards, even on the street that I’m on, crime is up and it’s up significantly.

“And unfortunately for us it’s the kind of crime the police are not taking seriously,” Cllr Bashforth said.

He said the motion was not an attack on the police and he had "nothing but praise for the officers" that he had dealt with on a personal basis.

“The only way we’re going to solve the problems we have is more police and that means more money. We’re not going to replace 2,000 officers overnight,” he continued.

The 101 service "cannot cope", Cllr Bashforth said, and if you are lucky enough to get through to a phone operator it is a 'conveyor’ approach, and action is almost never taken.

“It’s just not acceptable in a civilised society like ours, we just cannot keep putting up with this,” he said.

“We’ve got to keep the pressure on and this is one way we can do that for our residents. Ask the mayor to try and do something about the way the 101 calls are taken and how they’re responded to.

“When residents can’t get through to the police on 101, who do they ring next? It isn’t ghostbusters, it’s us. And they ring us because we’re always there.

“But there’s an expectation that we have a special route into the police and we haven’t, I think we need to have that through one means or another.”

Cllr Marie Bashforth said there had been an increase in residents who had been the victims of crime getting in touch with councillors.

“For residents who are victims of this type of crime it is intimidating and they do feel under threat in their own homes,” she said.

Chadderton North representative Mohon Ali described the service as a "shambles".

“For me it’s difficult to comprehend why this essential service is so poor,” he said.

He told members they were witnessing a "sharp rise" in anti-social behaviour, and had received a letter highlighting serious incidents involving youths in Fitton Park and Burnley Lane.

“Youths are mixing vodka with high energy drinks, smashing bottles and causing havoc for residents,” he said.

“When residents approach them they become extremely aggressive. Residents feel helpless and try contacting the police 101 number.”

After an hour and seven minutes on hold to a 101 operator, the resident wrote that they finally gave up without it being answered.

Cllr Ateeque Ur-Rehman explained that work was already underway with Chief Supt Neil Evans, the territorial commander for Oldham, Rochdale and Tameside, to create a "local memorandum understanding" between the council and the Oldham division of GMP.

This would contribute to "improved communication" about policing issues, he said.

“This could include for example ensuring the councillors have contact details for key officers in neighbourhood policing teams and agreements on the timeliness of responses and how the police and councillors can work together to address local concerns about crime and anti-social behaviour,” he added.

But leader of Liberal Democrat opposition, Cllr Howard Sykes said the police had to stop being "in denial" and not being "honest" with politicians and the public about what it "will and won’t do".

Cllr Sykes said: “The great danger for me is I think we’re quite near a substantial amount of our public losing confidence in our police force and I can remember what that used to be like 20, 30 years ago, and I have no wish to go back to that now.

“And I think the 101 number typifies it. The number of times that has been raised in this chamber, the number of promises we have had, off mayors, police committee, from people who are going to resource it and fix it, 'just give us six months'. And it’s still as c-r-a-p as it was when it was brought in."

Conservative Saddleworth South Cllr Graham Sheldon agreed that people were turning to councillors when they became "fed up" waiting on the 101 service.

Council members from all parties unanimously supported the motion.