KENT Police has insisted that north Kent is not short of bobbies on the beat after Gravesham’s Conservative MP claimed he had never seen a policeman on street patrol in his constituency’s residential areas.

MP Adam Holloway made the claim in his maiden speech in the House of Commons in which he highlighted what he said was the "huge strain" that crime and anti-social behaviour was putting on his constituency.

But Kent Police said today it was having great success in tackling crime and anti-social behaviour in the area and that it was being properly patrolled.

North Kent area commander Supt Martin Hewitt said: "Gravesham is a high profile pilot area for neighbourhood policing. There are beat officers in the community patrolling by car and on foot, backed up by police community support officers and wardens.

"They’ve had great success in tackling crime and anti-social behaviour in the area during the last year, forming strong, close relationships in the communities where they work.

However, the MP said: "While 99.9 per cent of my constituents are trying to get on with their lives, bring up their families and enjoy their old age, about 0.1 per cent are persecuting the rest and making their lives an absolute misery. Since I have been in Gravesham, I have never seen a walking police officer in a residential area."

He went on to detail a catalogue of incidents in which the perpetrators of various alleged offences had gone unpunished.

These included an incident in which a constituent had been shot at with an air pistol, 40 windows were smashed at the Shears Green School and another man had his windows smashed because he "told a group of youngsters where to go."

He also told how a year ago, a local vicar and his wife had been forced from the area after returning home one day to find their rectory burned down. "The 12-year-old who was alleged to have done it is still wandering around the same street where the incident occurred."

He also cited an incident in which the former Liberal Democrat candidate for Gravesham was "left for dead" while walking his niece home at Christmas. "It is still possible to see the marks left by people stamping on his head."

The MP told the Commons: "Part of the problem is that the perpetrators of those crimes have no idea of the consequences, either to themselves - in terms of punishment or of their future - or to their victims."

Children believed that whatever they did, it was unlikely that it would lead to any punishment, he added.

"There are rarely prosecutions or any other kind of follow up, so the kids cannot envisage any consequences...as a result of what they do."

Speaking after his speech, the MP said he had met with the police to discuss his concerns and insisted Gravesham was an "optimistic" area, but that the police were constrained by a lack of cash.

"What resources they do have is often spent on paperwork or on a huge amount of PR activity after things have happened," he said.

Supt Hewitt said he was aware of the incidents Mr Holloway had raised and all were under active investigation.

"I meet regularly with Mr Holloway to keep him appraised of the work police are doing in his constituency. I shall be speaking to him again very soon and the MP will receive an invitation to join beat officers in Gravesham to see at first hand the good work they do and the support they have from residents."