I AM so grateful for Alison Dewey’s intervention on Friday.

I love living in Southend and feel completely safe despite walking through the High Street late at night.

I do not deny there are issues with the town but there are issues in towns up and down the country.

I recently had a visit from a friend in Stevenage and he commented how much better it was here and what an advantage we have here in Southend compared to Stevenage.

I do think things need to happen re the aggressive begging, the issue around parking and one thing that is noticeable to me is the fact that our High Street has a massive footfall but, if you look, very few of those people have any shopping in their hands.

However, as Alison says, there are so many heroes in the high street, from the street rangers, to street pastors to the various groups that help the homeless, to the Specials, the Railway Hotel and all they do, to Project 49, and Utopia, who celebrated five years of suspended coffee.

I think it would be great if the Echo identified these heroes and ran articles on them.

DEL THOMAS

Westcliff