A PUBLIC meeting is to take place next week to give residents a chance to air their views about crime.

Residents of Houghton-le-Spring are being invited to meet senior police officers to raise concerns about crime and hear about plans for the future policing of the area.

Sunderland's senior police officer, Chief Superintendent Jim Campbell, will be at Houghton Kepier School, in Dairy Lane, on Wednesday, March 8, at 7pm.

The meeting has been organised by Northumbria Police Authority and will be chaired by authority member Angela Brunton. It is the first in a series of Police and Community Forum meetings planned for Wearside this year as part of the police authority's regular consultations with the public about crime and policing.