Mums have spoken about how their children are being targeted by drugs dealers as they made an impassioned plea for something to be done.

A women's only PACT - partners and community together - was held with representatives from the council and police listening to concerns from the community.

The women in Bolton discussed how drugs was a huge problem that needed tackling in order to protect young children.

One resident explained that her teenage son was regularly targeted on the way home from college, with grown men asking him if he wanted drugs.

She said: “My son tells me all the time that when he is out people approach him.

“It makes you feel unsafe that this is happening here.

“At one time if you needed a drug dealer you’d call them, but now they approach you in public.”

The Bolton News: Cllr Rabiya Jiva

Inspector Lisa Clarke said the force were aware of the problems and were working on eliminating it.

Inspector Clarke said: “We have officers in the areas but we need the community to tell us so that we can do something about it.

“If you see cars then tell us the registration numbers or contact Crimestoppers.

“If you want to tell us anonymously, we can do that as well, so we have all the resources available and nobody else has to know where it came from.”

Officers also revealed that a big drug dealer had been taken off the roads and was in custody, as part of their work to clamp down on the drugs in Bolton.

Another resident of Halliwell explained that there were unsafe houses with history of drug dealing, making the rest of the neighbourhood worried.

And residents said that while police have dealt with this issue, there is a growing concern of it happening again.

Cllr Rabiya Jiva, Bolton Council's cabinet member for stronger communities, told residents that she would ask the questions and get the community the answers and change they needed.

She said: “I want to help you all and tackle these issues, and I have already started on things we have spoken about.

“But I cannot do everything myself and the community needs to report things, get reg numbers if you see anything like dangerous drivers.

“People can email we with issues as well.”

Cllr Jiva explained that the community needed to work together identify offenders to police.

She said: "The halliwell policing team have been and continue to work hard in tackling this crime, which include plain clothed operations.

"We need the communities to work collectively together and ensure we continue to report known offenders, and this can be done via crime stoppers anonymously."

PACT meetings in the past have been open to everyone in the community regardless of gender and these will continue to also be offered.