A MEETING to crackdown on crime in part of Southampton has been cancelled due to a lack of interest.

Anti crime campaigner Tony Weafer had organised a crime meeting between business chiefs and politicians following concerns over a rise in the Shirley area of the city.

But the meeting with Councillor Dave Shields, cabinet member for Health and Community Safety, and Southampton Test MP Alan Whitehead due to take place this Friday has been scrapped.

Tony, the founder of Shirley Be Proud Facebook group, was set to hold the meeting following his recent petition which called for Mr Whitehead to raise the issue of a “severely underfunded” police force in the House of Commons.

However, he has been left feeling “frustrated” after only three business owners agreed to attend.

The three businesses were Make-it Magic, Jim Rolf and Ambient Objects, who are the other members of the management team for the Shirley Be Proud page.

Tony said: “I’m frustrated, but I never feel let down by the community, because I’m part of the community.

“The community were all for the petition in December, which now has over a thousand signatures, and I managed to get the signatures of over 100 shop owners in less than 48 hours. There’s no enthusiasm for it anymore.

“There is now no chance of our petition achieving anything other than maybe an occasional PCSO walking the high street, and a few police cars driving through on their way to somewhere else.

“British shopkeepers are not ones to give up that easily, so what comes next? “Private security, radio communications between the shops, or something else?”

The meeting was to be for business owners only, but Tony gave the public the chance to ask their questions, to which he was going to pay for the meeting to be filmed and residents could hear their questions answered.

Following the petition in January Hampshire police said that patrols in the area had been stepped up and as a result crime levels had dropped.

Officers say this has led to a nine per cent decrease of crime in the area over 90 days.

Police also added that anti-social-behaviour has also decreased by eight per cent.