Claims that off-road bike nuisance ‘growing’ in Leeds

Coun Jonathan Bentley, who is deputy leader of Leeds City Council’s Liberal Democrats group, said that joy-riding on “quad-bikes, motorbikes and off-road bikes” was a growing problem around the city.

His comments came during a meeting of the Leeds City Council environment scrutiny board, which discussed what issues the committee should focus on in the coming years.

Coun Bentley, who represents the Weetwood ward, said: “An issue that is raising its head, certainly in my ward and across the city, is anti-social behaviour and people on quad bikes, motorbikes and off-road bikes.

“They are stolen or borrowed with no insurance and cause a specific nuisance in terms of noise and also people’s safety in the streets.

“I know there has been some work done on this, but the resources of the police are very stretched. When the off-road bike team does come out, they are very effective, but there are just too few of them.

“I think we might need to look at how we can work with police on this.”

A report which went before councillors stated there were 17,684 incidents of antisocial behaviour recorded by police in Leeds during the last year.

It added that 1,646 antisocial behaviour cases were resolved by the multi-agency Leeds Anti-social Behaviour team.

A council officer working with the team responded to Coun Bentley: “That is an observation that has been made before and it is one we all recognise.

“The anti-social behaviour team has wide-ranging responsibilities, but we recognise that some of the anti-social behaviour issues are playing out in the city, and that is definitely one of them.

“We need to make sure that we are using our resources in the most appropriate way. The off-road motorcycle capability is a tremendous asset to this issue.”