Agenda item

To receive an update on Building Safer & Stronger Communities.  

The Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Highways, Housing and Enforcement presented a report, which provided an update on the Building Safer and Stronger Communities investment since 2021. If approved, the report sought approval to utilise Council funding as set out in the Medium-Term Financial Strategy (MTFS), to deliver initiatives and develop partnerships that promoted neighbourhood safety, which included measures to strengthen the Council’s commitment to tackle domestic abuse and violence against women and girls (VAWG) while further enhancing the Youth Offer.

Councillor Overton presented a short video confirming that there was now around one in eight fewer crimes, and that antisocial behaviour and fly tips had almost halved.  Youth clubs, sports, chances to volunteer, mentor and coach - Building safer, stronger communities not only mattered, but it also worked. 

The Council had provided funding of £1.5m to save a project that delivered. 

Since 2021, the Council had taken a clear and decisive approach to standing on the side of its residents and through its Building Safer and Stronger Communities programme, it had made a conscious decision to do more, to invest, to intervene early, and to work in partnership to tackle the issues that mattered most to its communities. This approach had delivered real results, because this was not theory, but evidence.

Since the programme began, there had been a 12 % reduction in crime in key

areas of the borough, a 45 % reduction in antisocial behaviour reports and a 43 % reduction in fly tipping in some areas, which was a significant achievement since it showed that when the Council invested locally, worked with partners and focused on prevention, it made a real difference to people's lives.

This programme started with a £2.5m investment in partnership with the West Mercia Police and the Police and Crime Commissioner.  It had grown into a £6.5m programme of investment, which delivered targeted action where it was needed most.  Also, it did not only reduce crime, but it had also improved neighbourhoods.

The Council had carried out over 700 proactive housing inspections to improve standards; acted on over 3,000 fly-tip incidents, with enforcement on more than 600 cases, and had supported thousands of residents through community environmental work.  This was about visible, practical action that residents could see in their streets.

The Council needed to be honest about where it was today.  Despite the success of this partnership approach, the Police and Crime Commissioner had withdrawn funding from April 2026, at a time when this approach was working, delivering and supporting policing priorities.  That decision was quite simply backwards, because this programme reduced demand on the police, prevented crime before it happened and supported safer communities across the borough.  Yet, despite this, the funding had been removed.

The Council would not step back and would continue this work by committing a further £1.5m Council funding to keep this programme going and evolve it into its next phase, which would build on what worked and what the Council would continue to deliver. It would also continue to drive down crime, antisocial behaviour and environmental crime, ensure a faster coordinated response to local issues and use data and intelligence to target resources where these were most needed.

The Council would strengthen its neighbourhood approach with local coordinators, clear area action plans and closer partnership work with police and communities as well as a fast, visible response that residents expected to tackle fly -tipping, address antisocial behaviour and the installation CCTV, which would resolve issues quickly on the ground.

One of the most important parts of this programme was prevention and if young people were supported earlier, problems would be prevented later through this programme.

Over 14,000 youth activity sessions have been delivered through Urban Games, alongside 16,000 sessions through holiday activity programmes, with weekly programmes such as Talbot Kicks having engaged over 130 young people regularly.  The borough now had 32 youth clubs, which provided safe spaces, activities, and opportunities.  Evening and late-night provision would be extended and more activities at weekends and during holidays would be provided, which would continue to give young people positive alternatives to crime and antisocial behaviour.

Giving young people something to do and places to go, reduced boredom for many of them and provided positive outcomes of building better cohesive communities.  The programme was not just about enforcement, but stronger communities, better well-being and people feeling safe where they lived.

The Council was already supporting over 30 community activity groups, which was improving health and reducing isolation and environmental volunteering through the borough’s 2,000 Street Champions, was helping keep neighbourhoods clean.  This was about pride in place and the programme showed exactly what the Council stood for.

The Council had stepped in when others would not and had invested where it mattered most and had delivered results for its residents.  The Council was on its residents' side and would continue to protect its communities, care for its neighbours, and invest in what worked, because safe and stronger communities did not happen by chance.  These were built through leadership, partnership, and investment, and that was exactly what the Council would continue to deliver by protecting, caring, and investing, creating a safer, stronger and better borough for everyone.

In supporting the recommendations, Cabinet Members said the report:

• reflected both the priorities as a Council and its responsibilities to its residents, ultimately the people it served and ensuring every resident in every neighbourhood felt safe supported and part of a community that they could be proud of.

• told a strong and positive story about the borough through action, investment and results that have been delivered for residents.

• outlined the progress the Council had made together through the Building Safer and Stronger Communities programme and working with partners, which was important.

• noted some of the achievements this brilliant programme had achieved across the borough.

The Leader of the Conservative Group welcomed the reduction in crime, violence and criminal activities in the borough the PCC and his budget, however stated that the government had provided an uplift of only £5.1m in the settlement, on top of a national insurance increase introduced by the Chancellor of £8.5m, which partly contributed towards a £19.1m increase in the cost of employing police officers, which was purely down to the government of the day.

The Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group welcomed the thrust of what the Council was doing and, in particular, its working in partnership with its partners.

RESOLVED that:

1.            The achievements to date in Building Safer and Stronger Communities across the borough, be noted.

2.            From April 2026, the withdrawal of funding previously provided by the West Mercia Police and Crime Commissioner to Building Safer and Stronger Communities, be noted.

3.            The Council’s allocation of funding to maintain the Building Safer and Stronger Communities programme, as set out in this report, to deliver initiatives and develop partnerships that promoted neighbourhood safety and youth activity across the borough, be noted.

4.            The prevention interventions and initiatives, as outlined in this report, which reinforced the Council’s commitment in addressing violence against women and girls (VAWG) as part of the domestic abuse strategy, be enforced.

5.            The co-ordinated and rapid deployment of resources for youth engagement and community concerns by integrating current response times for environmental, highway, and antisocial behaviour matters, as outlined in this report, be endorsed.

6.            The Director for Neighbourhood and Enforcement, in consultation with the Deputy Leader, and Cabinet Member for Highways, Housing and Enforcement, be authorised to submit bids for external funding that enhanced neighbourhood safety.