Council successful in Safer Streets funding bid for Kirkby
Ashfield District Council and partners have been successful in securing £750,000 in funding from the Safer Streets Fund, to support the communities of Kirkby.
The Ashfield Community Safety Partnership submitted the bid for the round four funding to the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner in May.
In October 2021, Ashfield District Council was successful in a bid for £550,000 of funding from the Safer Streets Fund. The funding was used to tackle violence against women and girls, and anti-social behaviour in the New Cross area, as well as the wider area of Sutton.
The funding allowed the Council to roll out several projects including enhanced street lighting, a safety app, world first refuge cameras, the installation of new CCTV cameras fitted to shops along Outram Street, regular checks of lighting and CCTV camera coverage at bus stops in Sutton, overgrown alleyways were cleared, and an alleyway was gated to disrupt anti-social behaviour.
The new £750,000 funding will be used to tackle violence against women and girls, anti-social behaviour, residential burglary, and vehicle crime on the Coxmoor Estate in Kirkby. The new projects will take place over an 18 month period and focus on three key areas:
- Education
Educational sessions in schools, youth diversionary activities, domestic abuse and healthy relationship workshops, and crime prevention interventions
- Prevention
Environmental improvements, enhanced street lighting, deployable CCTV cameras, Automatic Number Plate Recognition, gating measures, vulnerable adult support scheme, and a safe point camera
- Enforcement
Environmental crime operations, dedicated anti-social behaviour operations, perpetrator management, and targeted Hi-Vis patrols
Cllr Helen-Ann Smith, Lead Executive Member for Community Safety and Crime Reduction, said
“This is fantastic news for Ashfield. This is something we as a Council have worked extremely hard on and I’d like to thank Antonio Taylor and his Ashfield District Council Community Protection Team in particular for leading on the bid. The Ashfield Community Safety Partnership worked hard to secure this funding and have secured another incredible amount of money which will make a huge difference to the lives of residents in Kirkby.
“It is important that residents feel safe within the communities they live. This money will allow us to continue to tackle ongoing issues with violence against girls and women, vehicle crime, residential burglary, and anti-social behaviour on the Coxmoor Estate and the wider Kirkby community. With the first Safer Streets initiative in New Cross and Sutton, we have proved how this funding will change the area for the better. The Council, as part of the Ashfield Community Safety Partnership, is committed to continuing making Ashfield a safe place to live, work and visit.”
“It is incredible news for the people of Nottinghamshire because it will allow us to target a huge amount of additional resource to Make Notts Safe,” said Police and Crime Commissioner Caroline Henry.
“This is the fourth round of Safer Streets funding and the biggest and most ambitious one yet for Nottinghamshire. It is also one of the biggest amounts handed out to any for the 43 police force areas across England and Wales.
“This money provides extra support and capacity on top of the fantastic work already being carried out every day by Nottinghamshire Police and our local authorities and third-sector partners to prevent and respond to crime and support victims and reduce reoffending.
“We have seen improvements in feelings of safety in each of the areas we have previously invested Safer Streets money, and I hope we can build on that momentum to ensure everyone can feel safe every time they step outside, right across Nottinghamshire.
“An absolutely huge amount of work has happened behind the scenes to make this funding bids a success. Working closely with each of our local authority partners, my Office and key partners have painstakingly put together first-class funding bids.
“It follows the success in three previous rounds of Safer Streets funding, and the experience is clear in the fact that we have increased the sums of money coming to Nottinghamshire in every round of funding.”
