Agenda item

Jennifer Laibach (Strategic Lead for Community Safety and Youth) and Stephen Melville (Safer Streets Co-Ordinator) from the Wiltshire and Swindon OPCC will talk to the attached update on the Safer Streets Fund initiative.

Stephen Melville (Safer Streets Co-Ordinator) from the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner presented an overview of the Safer Streets Fund initiative and highlighted the following:

·         The Safer Streets Fund launched in 2020 and the Government has invested £120 million through four rounds of funding.  Round 5 launched in July 2024 and Police force areas were offered the opportunity to bid for up to £1 million to deliver a range of interventions.  Police and Crime Commissioners (PCC’s) were invited to submit up to three proposals for their areas, consulting relevant local authorities and other partners in their area.  The proposals that were submitted were assessed by the Home Office to ensure they met the terms of the scheme;

·         Stephen had been in post as the Safer Streets Co-Ordinator for 2 months now.  It was not yet known if there would be a round 6 of funding with the pending general election and how a new government might want to fund such initiatives;

·         Discussions with the Home Office began in August/September 2023 which had meant that there was a very short time frame to get out and gather evidence, and then submit the bids to the Home Office for approval.  Just under £1 million was claimed for Wiltshire and Swindon, previous projects could not be repeated.  For round 5 there was a focus on neighbourhood crime – burglaries, robberies, vehicle theft, anti-social behaviour and tackling violence against women and girls, this was initially introduced in 2021 in response to the Sarah Everard case, and had continued through round 4 to into round 5;

·         In December 2023, the Home Office notified that there would be reduction in the funding available which meant that each Police force area would have a reduction of £180,000 from the original allocation for the 2024/25 year.  Consideration had to be given as to where this money could be saved and there was consultation with local authorities and partners to look at how the outcomes could still be met.  The OPCC agreed to provide investment of £50k to cover some of the shortfall and to reduce the impact on providers and the intended outcomes of the funding.  It was decided not to try and commission new services but to adapt existing projects with efforts to achieve outcomes but accepting that some impact on delivery would be inevitable;

·         Project 1 included Night Time Economy (NTE) Wardens for Trowbridge and Salisbury from 8pm to 4am, CCTV in Chippenham and Salisbury and Community Action Initiatives for Swindon;

A Trowbridge Committee member asked about the stakeholder engagement that had been undertaken prior to this project as he felt that Trowbridge might have preferred funding towards CCTV.  Stephen reported that he was not involved in the bid process so would not be able to advise on that.  He further highlighted that the timescales were short and that funding was prescriptive to submit bids within a certain date.  He assured the Committee that there would have been consultation with the local community and local authority.  Crime data would also have been considered and he would be happy to follow this up to provide further information outside of the meeting with the member.

·         It was explained that a NTE Warden would be a visible guardian presence providing support to service users of the night time economy primarily but not exclusively women.  They were not to replace Street Pastors but were an extra layer of presence/support and they would look to develop partnerships with them and would be meeting with the neighbourhood policing teams.  This service had been launched in Salisbury on 24 February with the start in Trowbridge to be confirmed and the relevant communications would be shared;

The Chairman recalled that there had been Taxi Marshalls in the past and asked if the taxi trade knew about the NTE Wardens and if there would be a link with them.  Stephen reported that they were hopeful that this would be the case with the NTW Wardens being able to put any vulnerable females into a safe taxi to get them home and there would be communications around that too.

A Committee member commented that Salisbury had been successful with Street Pastors but expressed concern about back up/response times from the Police if this was required and cited some previous past experience of this.  Stephen commented that much of the work of the NTE Wardens was preventative with their hopefully being no need for Police intervention.

A Committee member commented that the Police response times had made improvements over the last 3 years.  As Chair of the Police and Crime Panel he urged members not to criticise the Police without hard facts of response times and to be reassured that the PCC holds them to the fire on this.

A Committee member remarked that they were pleased to see more CCTV for Salisbury and asked about the locations.  Stephen confirmed that there would be 4 mobile cameras and they were currently seeking permission for them to be sited in the hot spot areas and that they would be integrated into existing systems and shared with Town/City Councils.

·        Project 2 included a sex worker outreach project in Swindon, a one off project to erect fencing around Salisbury Playhouse fire exit to prevent anti-social behaviour, target hardening with the Bobby Van in Chippenham, Salisbury and Swindon, Iprovefit – mentoring for young people in Wiltshire and Swindon and the introduction of Crimestoppers Zones in hotspot areas in Swindon;

·        Project 3 was SMASH leading youth engagement sessions in Chippenham and Salisbury as a large number of anti-social behaviour nuisance and environmental offences are from those under age 25 and it was understood that youth workers have a key role to play in creating positive relations with young people and their communities;

·        The funding for the projects could not be repeated each year, the initiative could be moved to cover another area but there could not be funding to continue the same thing in an area; and

·        Updates on the progress of the round 5 funding as at February 2024 were shared.

A Committee member acknowledged the funding for NTE Wardens in Trowbridge and asked what would happen when the funding comes to an end and expressed concern that there had been no discussion with the Town Council who would have preferred funding for CCTV.  Stephen reported that if this initiative was successful and a benefit for Trowbridge then different funding sources could be considered.

The Chairman asked what a ‘good’ outcome would look like and with who/where would that information be shared.  Stephen reported that the outcomes would be shared with the Home Office and the partners involved with the project.  There was quarterly reporting on all projects.

A Committee member expressed concern that it was too late to leave it until the end of the funding period (March 2025) to decide whether or not the projects should continue and how they would be funded.  She felt that it would not be prudent for a project to end and then having to restart it – she asked if there was project plan with recommendations going to the PCC as to whether the success criteria of the projects had/would be met.  Stephen commented that a number of projects had been commissioned but that they didn’t know what any future Government’s response would be to Home Office recommendations.  Stephen offered to provide updates outside of the meeting to those that wished to receive them.

The Committee member who is the Chair of the Police and Crime Panel empathised with the message from the meeting that there seemed to be a lack of coordination with the Safer Streets initiative and the city/town and parish councils and would raise this at the next meeting to see what could be done to improve this.  However, he noted that the Home Office funding had to be agreed within a tight turnaround but felt it might have been easier to apply for funding with there being city/town/parish council input on the areas of concern in their areas too. 

A Committee member asked about the Safe Spaces project as a safe place for vulnerable people to go to and asked if there was any way that something like that could be reinstated.  John Carter (Head of Service – Public Protection) reported that the Safety at Nights Charter does cover certain aspects but acknowledged that this was not for children and those vulnerable during the daytime and whilst that used to come under his remit this was an issue yet to be addressed.  Stephen Melville reported that the Safe Spaces still exist a lot during the day in Salisbury and that there were now the NTE Wardens who could look at reducing the risk for the vulnerable females particularly at night.

The Chairman thanked Stephen for his presentation and suggested that an update be provided to the Committee in six months’ time.

Stephen offered the committee to contact him via email regarding the project processes etc and he would provide responses where he could - stephen.melville@wiltshire.police.uk

Resolved: That the Committee

1.       Note the update on the Safer Streets Fund initiative.

2.       Receive a further update on the Safer Streets Fund initiative at their meeting in September 2024.