A councillor is calling for police to implement special stop-and-search powers.

Tristan Osborne had previously campaigned for more officers to tackle what he describes as a "hotspot of anti-social behaviour".

The Labour politician has been growing increasingly concerned for people's safety in Chatham High Street.

He says crime has increased over the past year, and episodes such as the violent brawl in front of McDonald's in May are only an example of the chaos in the town centre.

Across Medway, statistics from the Labour group show – for the second quarter of 2021 – a 59% rise in anti-social behaviour on the previous year (during the pandemic) , and Medway has the sixth highest crime rate among England's 59 unitary authorities.

Cllr Osborne labelled the local high street a "hotspot of anti-social behaviour", and said special powers such as Section 60 should be considered by police.

The measure would allow officers to stop and search people without reasonable suspicion. It can be time-limited and can only be used when it is believed serious violence may occur.

Watch: The shocking scenes in Chatham High Street

The spokesman for community safety said: "In my view, that would be a power that I would be considering to be using, given the situation is getting worse and worse.

"Section 60 powers are being used by other police forces in other areas. Especially in relation to violent incidents in populated town centres.

"It would benefit our town centres because in and of itself as it would allow the police to stop and search more people.

"But the reality is that we also need a medium-term solution, which is more police officers effectively in Medway.

"We are the largest area in Kent, we have a population of 290,000 people. We have problems of an urban area and we need to have the police officer numbers to represent that."

A Kent Police spokesman said: "As a result of the Government-funded uplift programme, we will by March have 4,145 officers.

"This will be the most we have had in our history and we are currently reviewing our neighbourhood policing model to ensure all our officers continue to be used in the most effective and efficient way."

Cllr Osborne says he hopes the situation gets better, otherwise people might stop visiting Chatham High Street, fearing for their lives.

He said: "This is a real concern for me as a councillor, because high streets are places where thousands of people are going go to a day.

"And if our people don't feel safe in our high streets, they just won’t go to them."