Investment to tackle ASB and violence against women and girls in Newcastle-under-Lyme

It follows a successful bid by the Staffordshire Commissioner’s Office (SCO).

Round four of the Safer Streets Fund saw £750,000 allocated to areas in Staffordshire, including Newcastle-under-Lyme, Burton, Stafford and areas of Stoke-on-Trent.

This funding is in addition to more than £2 million already secured by the SCO through Safer Streets in rounds one, two and three.

The latest Safer Streets initiative forms part of Staffordshire’s preventative approach to reducing ASB and violence more broadly. In Newcastle-under-Lyme the funding will be used to provide a range of partnership interventions including:

• Additional lighting, CCTV and alley gating.
• Environmental measures such as community clean-ups and removing graffiti in public spaces.
• Street pastor schemes to be extended in night-time economies and vulnerable locations, increasing the number of trained, capable guardians able to support and signpost those vulnerable to safe places and support.
• Community awareness campaigns to address ASB, supported by a community engagement project to empower communities to identify local concerns, design and oversee projects to resolve them, with the aid of a small grant.

Due to the nature of the interventions and the partnership approach being taken, this work is also expected to have a wider impact on serious violence, robbery, theft, online abuse, gang initiations and other forms of violence.

Staffordshire Commissioner for Police, Fire & Rescue and Crime, Ben Adams said: “Protecting people from harm is an absolute priority in my Police & Crime Plan, and this funding is a welcome boost to the significant work already underway to reduce the threat of violence against women and girls, and tackle anti-social behaviour that damages our communities.

“By taking a coordinated partnership approach, combining practical measures like CCTV and improved lighting with awareness campaigns and education programmes to change people’s behaviours, we aim to not only make our communities safer, but also ensure that they feel safer too.”

Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council Leader Simon Tagg said: “The Council welcomes this additional funding via Safer Streets 4. We always work pro-actively and creatively with multi-agency partners to solve community safety issues in Newcastle-under-Lyme – including all types of violence against women and girls – but this extra funding will allow us to do even more good work focused on making sure that women and girls in particular have a safe time while enjoying themselves.

“The tragic death of Sarah Everard, and other women since then, has rightly put into national focus the issue of women and girls feeling and being safe in public places.

“Creating healthy, active and safe communities is one of the Borough Council’s key priorities in its new Council Plan. This includes a continual commitment to deal with, and prevent, all forms of anti-social behaviour; improve the quality of life and experiences of residents and reduce crime and fear of crime.”

The Safer Streets round four funding is just one element of the SCO’s and partners’ commitment to tackling violence against women and girls across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent, which includes:

• Securing funding from the Government’s Safety of Women at Night funding, to provide initiatives focused on preventing violence in public places at night, including in the night-time economy, in venues and on public transport.
• Launching a partnership Violence Reduction Alliance to deliver the local Violence Strategy.  
• Holding a dedicated Violence Reduction conference.
• Establishing a Violence Against Women and Girls Commission, to deliver related actions.

Find out more about the latest round of the Government’s Safer Streets Fund at Safer Streets Fund continues to make streets safer - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)