A senior Brent councillor has called on the community to come together to help tackle crime, insisting that there is “no one solution” to the issue.

Cllr Tom Miller, responsible for community safety at Brent Council, led a public meeting last week addressing the subject of crime in the borough.

He explained the council is constantly working to make people feel safer but acknowledged there is more to be done.

He said: “I’m grateful to everybody who turned out and joined the conversation.

“There is no one solution, which is why we need to work together. The encouraging news is that serious violence is on the way down.

“We cannot afford to be complacent, but there is a lot of good work already happening that we can build on.

“We welcome fresh thinking and I encourage anyone who wants to work with us to give people alternatives to violence to explore the community funding that is available for projects.”

Audience members voiced concerns about police numbers in the area – Brent’s command recently merged with Harrow and Brent as part of a London-wide restructure.

They also pressed for more details on youth activities and early intervention programmes to tackle problems of gang violence and knife crime.

Cllr Miller noted that crimes involving knives in Brent have dropped by 31 per cent over the past 12 months.

He added that a recent £2.5 million investment in CCTV across the borough means trained officers can use cameras to identify young people potentially at risk if seen with older known gang members.