The wardens work on combating anti-social behaviour

Newport Council employs the wardens to deal with anti-social behaviour around the city.

But the wardens say they are dealing with more incidents of violence and intimidation and one has even made his own stab vest.

The council said it would carry out an assessment of whether vests are needed.

Councillor David Fouweather, who is supporting the wardens, said: "The wardens are supposed to attend low-level incidents, but more and more they are going into situations where there is violence and aggression.

These wardens just don't know what they are going to face Councillor David Fouweather

"They never know what they are walking into. One of them has even made his own stab vest because he is concerned.

"The thing is it doesn't have to be a knife that someone is carrying, it could be a broken bottle or anything and these wardens just don't know what they are going to face."

The council said that at its last review, it was decided the wardens did not need to wear stab vests.

However, it said an external risk assessment of the wardens' job would be undertaken to decide if more safety gear was needed.

"The wardens are trained and instructed to avoid situations where conflict could arise which would be a matter for the police," said a spokesman.

The cabinet member is giving serious consideration to issuing stab vests to community safety wardens Newport Council spokesman

"However the city council takes the health and safety of its employees extremely seriously, which is why this matter is one that is regularly reviewed by external experts to assess the potential risks.

"The most recent review reported that stab vests are not required.

"Unlike the police, wardens are not required to take part in planned operations where a known threat exists or to intervene in those spontaneous incidents where a threat is obvious.

"However this situation is constantly monitored by the council's internal trained risk assessors."

He said there were plans in place to carry out an external review over the issue but added: "The (council) cabinet member is giving serious consideration to issuing stab vests to community safety wardens, and has asked officers in public protection to prepare a report outlining the implications of such a measure."

The wardens are trained to deal with a variety of incidents including issuing fixed penalties to people who let their dogs foul, as well as acting as dealing with noise nuisance, fly-tipping and complaints about vehicles and neighbour disputes, including nuisance from pets.