Agenda item - Scrutiny of the North Worcestershire Community Safety Partnership

Agenda item

Scrutiny of the North Worcestershire Community Safety Partnership

Minutes:

The Chairman welcomed the Community Safety Manager to the meeting and explained to Members that theNorth Worcestershire Community Safety Partnership (NWCSP) report was presented to the Board annually and that the Board had a statutory duty to scrutinise the work of the Partnership on an annual basis.

 

During consideration of this item the following was highlighted for Members’ attention:

 

·       The background to the NWCSP including the Local Authority representation on the NWCSP and the statutory scrutiny arrangements for the Community Safety Partnership under Section 19 of the Police and Justice Act 2006.

·       This was the second year of the three year rolling Partnership Plan however key crime and community safety priorities were picked up through an annual strategic assessment. This annual strategic assessment was designed to provide guidance to resource community safety initiatives among partner agencies on key issues and help direct across North Worcestershire.

·       The Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) had a duty to cooperate with all CSPs in their geographical area. This duty was reciprocated by all CSPs to also collaborate with the PCC.

·       The PCC’s Capital Fund had allocated £65k towards NWCSP CCTV in 2021-22 and in September 2021 £100k was released from the PCC’s Fly Tipping Fund in order to help address the issues of fly-tipping on private land in North Worcestershire. It was highlighted that there had been an underspend of the funding allocated from the CSP core grant funding for 2020-21 due to the disruptions of the Covid-19 pandemic.  However, the same amount of funding (£139,250) was available in 2021-2022 in order to support community safety projects.

·       Bromsgrove Community Safety Project Officers worked on behalf of the Council and the CSP and they provided support and guidance to local communities and external partners on a variety of crime prevention and community safety concerns.

·       Data was recorded in respect of Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) and a comparison was provided to the Board with information on years 2018/19, 2019/20 and 2020/21, as detailedin the report. This data helped to highlight the effect that the Covid-19 pandemic had on the instances of recorded ASB.

·       There were a variety of tools and powers in place in order to address unacceptable behaviour. These tools included Community Protection Warnings (CPWs) and Community Trigger/ASB Case Reviews. Officers informed the Board that there had been 2 Community Triggers received in 2021-22.

·       The use of communications and social media campaigns were highlighted as a particularly useful way to promote key safety messages and the work of the NWCSP. Some of these campaigns over the previous year had included the Nominated Neighbour Scheme, the Respect Programme and Hate Crime Awareness Week.

 

Following the presentation of the report Officers further detailed the work of the NWCSP and provided a presentation for Members. A number of priorities of the NWCSP, further information on the allocation of additional PCC funding and NWCSP Core Funding and the projects that had been undertaken over the previous year were presented in detail for Members’ consideration:

 

·       Key Priorities agreed by partners for 2021-22:

o   Violence and Abuse

o   Theft and Acquisitive Crime

o   ASB, Damage and Nuisance

o   Protecting Vulnerable Communities

 

·       Community Safety Project Updates for 2021-22 were detailed as follows:

 

The Respect Programme – this was a flagship youth project that had been running for 9 plus years and there was no other project like it in the West Mercia area. The youth work programme focussed on recognising and reporting hate crime, understanding healthy relationships/domestic abuse, the dangers of substance misuse and promoting respect and community responsibility. The Community Safety Team had seen an increase in referrals from schools for this programme over the years and support was provided for young people who were at a high level of need and were at risk in becoming involved in criminality as either victims or perpetrators.

The Empowering Young People Programme – This programme included a focus on ASB, County Lines, Mental Health, Drug and Alcohol Misuse and Hate Crime Awareness.

The Youth Hub – this was an independent Community Interest Company (CIC) that provided support and activities for young people, offering a space to socialise safely. It was reported that this was an excellent facility that supported drop-in and outreach work for young people within the District. The Board was informed that this had provedto be a fantastic initiative with a previous service user now providing youth worker support as a staff member after gaining a youth worker qualification.

Asda Car Park Project – This project was carried out alongside the Leisure team and provided multi-sport sessions in the location. It was a successful project which helped to build ongoing relationships with young people who reported that they were taking better care of themselves after taking part in the project.

Friday Night Diversionary Sessions – This project took place in the Youth Hub with a cohort of 50 young people and was particularly involved in continuing to divert a high risk group of young people off the streets. Issues that were raised during these sessions included the amount of food and fuel poverty experienced by their families.

Youth Outreach – The Youth Hub and Outreach Bromsgrove worked with Community Safety Youth Workers, to engage with gatherings of young people in the local areas. It was reported that between 600-800 young people were engaged with during the height of the summer. This project was seen as a best practice model across the County.

Bromsgrove Listening Service – This was a volunteer Listening Service for young people who neededlower level support and interventions. It was highlighted to Members that this service was looking to expend in 2022 and that new listeners were currently being recruited.

Young Citizen’s Challenge – An interactive online package made available to all Year 6 students in North Worcestershire middle schools. It was reported that this project would go back to face-to-face sessions in May 2022.

Virtual Decisions Knife Crime Project – This was a Virtual Reality (VR) experience delivered by a Birmingham based theatre company. It provided the opportunity for each participant to use a VR headset and be placed in a real world scenario where they were faced with multiple dilemmas in which they must make a choice. Each choice resulted in various outcomes, showing that every action has a consequence.

 

Several other projects were discussed including the Nominated Neighbour Scheme and the Tibberton Court project. At a national level further information on Hate Crime Awareness Week and the White Ribbon Domestic Abuse Awareness national campaign was provided to Members. In addition to this, the Board were informed of the work that the Community Safety Officer undertook as part of Planning consultations with a view to making appropriate crime prevention and security recommendations as part of a planning application.

 

Following the detailed presentation, the Chairman welcomed the Portfolio Holder for Environmental Services and Community Safety to the meeting. Councillor M. Sherrey thanked the Community Safety Manager for providing an excellent background to the NWCSP and all of the projects undertaken by Officers and explained that she was very proud of all of the staff that undertook this important work.

 

Members were pleased with all of the work that was in place within Bromsgrove.  However, there were some queries regarding whether there were plans in place to work further afield within the District. It was explained that there were some plans in place to bid for external funding to provide services in some of the other areas within the District e.g., Charford and Rubery. It was recognised that there was a need, particularly in light of the Covid-19 pandemic, to ensure that as many young people as possible had access to these kinds of projects across all of the District considering the particular experiences of some groups of young people and their needs.

 

The Board expressed their great thanks and appreciation to the team and stated that it was humbling to see all of the work that had takenplace in this area.

 

RESOLVED that the Scrutiny of the North Worcestershire Community Safety Partnership be noted.

 

 

 

 

Supporting documents: