A ZERO tolerance crackdown on crime and anti-social behaviour has been promised in Southend High Street after community leaders met for a summit.

Councillors, police officers and business leaders met to discuss making High Street an attractive destination - just hours before a man was stabbed in the head in the latest knife attack in the borough.

The victim was rushed to hospital for treatment while another man was Tasered near the scene of the attack.

The council and police agreed extra resources were needed to kerb the rising crime.

James Courtenay, deputy leader of Southend Council, said: “This week’s summit was a solid step towards bringing improvements to the high street as a place of leisure and retail.

“We’ve agreed to intensify our joint work to support those who are genuinely homeless while adopting a zero-tolerance approach to aggressive begging, street drinking and antisocial behaviour, all of which deter shoppers and visitors and damage the economy. We will develop an agreed action plan with immediate as well as longer term actions and objectives. We recently secured almost £1m of funding to tackle rough sleeping. This will fund extra homelessness support services. We are already in the process of recruiting six community safety officers, who will provide a visible presence in the town centre later this year. Essex Police’s additional officers for Southend are expected to be in place in the New Year. This new resource will work with Southend BID’s four Street Rangers. This is all extra resource for our town centre and should be welcomed.”

District Commander Chief Insp Neil Pudney said: “These are exciting times for Southend with the extra resources arriving in the near future. This builds our capacity to deliver highly visible and proactive policing which is what the public want. The summit showed me all key agencies are absolutely committed to delivering the very best for Southend.” Dawn Jeakings, director of the Business Improvement District, added: “It was very constructive. We look forward to working together with our colleagues to ensure our town is safe and offers a welcoming environment to both visitors and businesses.” A man remains in custody following the latest stabbing.