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Agenda item

Annual Report of The Safer Community Partnership to The Crime and Disorder Committee

Purpose

To provide an overview of the ‘Cotswold Safer Communities Partnership’ work over the last year (2020/21).

To inform the Crime and Disorder Committee about the CSP’s future aims and objectives.

 

Recommendation

To note the report

 

Minutes:

Councillor Jenny Forde, Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing introduced the report and praised the work of CDC (Cotswold District Council) staff and partners throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. It was noted by the Committee that weekly meetings of the Safer Community Partnership had contributed to successful partnership working.

 

The Committee noted that crime levels had dropped to an all-time low and that the Cotswolds had been recognised as one of the safest places to live in the UK, although further work around crime perception would be undertaken.

 

Members noted the work and initiatives being undertaken by CDC including ‘Clean and Green’ and ‘Spacehive’ which contributed towards making communities feel safer.

 

The Council remained vigilant in relation to specific areas of concern, namely the increase in domestic abuse following the ending of the national lockdown.

 

The Committee noted that the Champions Network continued to be rolled out across the County. This was a scheme whereby people such as teachers, GPs and other individuals who had regular face-to-face contact with the public, were trained to recognise signs of domestic abuse and how to signpost victims to the relevant support networks.

 

In relation to young people, the Committee noted that funding had been secured to commission ‘Young Gloucestershire’ who were a street-based organisation who had been liaising with young people to understand their fears and concerns throughout the Pandemic. Further work would be undertaken with partnership agencies to support young people going forwards.

 

The Committee noted that the terms of reference for the Committee’s Crime and Disorder Committee were approved at full Council on the 20 January 2021 and not at the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 01 December 2020 as stated at 1.3 of the report.

 

In relation to priority 4 of the Plan – anti-social behaviours (ASB) and the target of reducing it by 50%, the Committee noted the importance of establishing an accurate baseline so that future measures of success or otherwise could be made.

 

The Committee noted that the Cotswold Water Park Partnership covered both the east and west areas of the site. The Partnership had met virtually during the Pandemic to discuss ASB perpetrated by some visitors. Other issues discussed included parking and potential drug use across the site. Work was being undertaken across partnership agencies to discuss potential solutions to these issues. The Committee acknowledged the complexities associated with solving the issues at the Water Park, which were in many cases historic and were continuing to occur.

 

From a CDC perspective, the Committee noted that Philippa Lowe, Business Manager Localities, would be the Strategic Lead Officer for this area of work. 

 

The Committee noted that work would be undertaken to determine how fear of crime could be accurately measured.

 

The Safe and Social Roads scheme sought to remove the focus from cars and instead focus on how roads could be safe for pedestrians and road users for business and leisure purposes, placing the emphasis on individual road users to adhere to the rules of the road and minimising the risks of them injuring other members of the public.

 

The Committee noted the importance of ensuring that Parish and Town Councils were provided with all relevant toolkits and resources in relation to any County-wide crime prevention schemes and initiatives. It would be important to ensure that all communications sent to Parish and Town Councils were sent to the correct contact at each authority.

 

The Committee agreed that it would be helpful to receive a report outlining the priorities of the newly elected Police and Crime Commissioner (once those priorities had been determined).

 

This was proposed by Councillor Andrews and seconded by Councillor Bloomer.

 

RESOLVED that the Committee noted the report.

 

Record of Voting – for 9, against 0, abstention 0, absent 1.

 

Supporting documents: