'I'm worried about West Yorkshire's Jewish communities'

Alison Lowe has been answering questions as part of the Message the Mayor phone-in

The deputy mayor of West Yorkshire says she has met local Jewish communities to talk about their fears following the Manchester synagogue attack.

Labour's Alison Lowe has been answering questions on Message the Mayor on BBC Radio Leeds.

She has also been talking about anti-social behaviour at Leeds bus station, communities blighted by the illegal use of quad bikes and pressures on the police budget.

Read our takeaways from the interview below or listen to the full interview here.

Synagogue attack was horrifying and worrying

The deputy mayor says Jewish people in West Yorkshire have told her they feel let down.

"They feel that policing has not stopped protests, which they feel have created a culture which has made them less safe.

"I know they are meeting the chief constable in the next couple of weeks to talk about what powers the police have to stop protests.

"We do meet the Jewish community on a regular basis - this is not new - but it has a new lens now because this is the first terrorist attack on the Jewish community on UK soil for almost a thousand years."

We're not getting safety at the bus station right yet

The deputy mayor heard from women in Leeds who have told the BBC they feel "unsafe" because of anti-social behaviour around the bus station - which they claim has "skyrocketed" in recent years.

"The safer travel team can't be there all the time, because they need to get on the buses and respond to other areas of concern.

"We need to be working better with the local authority, who are responsible for homelessness services and for drug and alcohol services, and understand what more we can do together."

Tackling illegal off-road bikes is a challenge

"We've got officers with off-road bikes, but you've got to have the right tyres for the grass or the road. It's all to do with the law and whether they get accused of murder if someone dies.

"There is case law here, so the Police Federation say you can't chase somebody if you've got off-road tyres and vice versa."

Lowe had been asked about what's being done to tackle the illegal use of quad bikes in towns and cities.

She has asked people to be "braver" in reporting where these bikes are hidden in communities so police can "do a better job".

Loss of community support officers is necessary to balance the books

Lowe says budget cuts have led to the number of police community support officers (PCSOs) in West Yorkshire falling from 500 to 275.

"On the other side of the coin, the government did give us an additional £8.5m to recruit an extra 100 police officers and 45 specials.

"Everyone's sad about the loss of PCSOs, but you can't have your cake and eat it when you need to balance the budget."

Lowe says the new police officers have greater powers than the PCSOs they have "replaced".

We need to unite to demand safety for women and girls

"It's not OK that we're frightened to be out and about at night and sometimes during the day too.

"We really want people to come together to demand safety for women and girls - particularly women and girls who feel vulnerable.

"We're going to take those spaces back and have a great time."

The deputy mayor had been asked about Reclaim the Night marches, which are taking place in every district of West Yorkshire on 26 October.