A leading independent retailers association has welcomed the Government's Winter of Action initiative to crack down on crime in town centres across the country.

The British Independent Retailers Association (Bira), which represents over 6,000 independent retailers across the UK, has given its support to the nationwide crackdown that will see police, councils and businesses unite to protect shoppers and retail workers during the crucial Christmas trading period.

The initiative builds on the Safer Streets Summer campaign, which delivered visible policing in over 640 town centres and resulted in over 16,000 arrests and fines, primarily for shop theft and antisocial behaviour.

Andrew Goodacre, CEO of Bira, said: "Bira welcomes this new initiative. We all want to see our high streets made safer. We support the particular focus on repeat offenders of retail crime - removing these perpetrators will make a positive difference to shop owners. In the longer term we hope that these events will be replaced by a significant increase in police on our high streets during the whole year."

The Winter of Action will see police use hotspot patrols, quick visible enforcement and locally tailored approaches in partnership with businesses and community groups to tackle shop theft, street crime and antisocial behaviour.

The Government has also announced that from spring next year there will be 3,000 additional officers in neighbourhood policing roles, with new powers to tackle shop theft through the Crime and Policing Bill, including a specific offence of assaulting a retail worker and ending the effective immunity for theft of goods of and under £200.