Agenda item

7.1

The Committee received a presentation regarding Community Safety and Neighbourhood Policing.

7.2

Present for this item were Inspector Katie Rowland-Wilson, Damon Pass, Safer Neighbourhood Co-ordinator and Jonathan Roberts, Sharrow Community Forum.

7.3

Inspector Rowland-Wilson introduced herself and the team.  She said that there were two teams covering six Ward areas split into two teams, she was based at Woodseats.  She said that each team consisted of a Sergeant, four Police Constables and between two to four Police and Community Safety Officers. 

She said the team focused on the national themes set out by Government on policing and the three key elements were problem solving, targeted activity and engagement.  Inspector Rowland-Wilson stated that following a community survey that had been carried out, three priorities had been identified by members of the public in the Southwest Police area, these being domestic burglary, speeding vehicles and drug dealing.  She said that the Neighbourhood Action Groups set up in the Sharrow/Nether Edge, Gleadless Valley and Batemoor, Lowedges and Jordanthorpe areas had had a really positive affect in problem solving and focused on key problems within those areas and how to deal with them. 

She referred to the Safer Neighbourhood Co-ordinator whose role focused on community safety issues and worked collaboratively with all key partners. i.e. local schools, the City Council, Central ASB Team, Housing Services, Local Area Committees, local Councillors, TARA’s and community organisations e.g. Sharrow Community Forum.  Inspector Rowland-Wilson stated that the policing plans were to tackle theft from cars and burglaries by focusing on better street lighting and the use of CCTV and looking out for themes occurring in crime hotspots.  One crime hotspot recently identified in the Sharrow/Nether Edge was theft from vehicles and the Team were working on how to deal with that and also business and residential burglary.  The Team was looking at patterns and themes that might be occurring.

7.4

Damon Pass, Community Safety Co-ordinator stated that he had been in post since March 2022 and was based at Woodseats Police Station.  He said the area hasa small team of very dedicated officers working really hard to tackle problems within the South LAC area.  He said he was the link between the Council and the Police and its was about partnership working to solve problems.  He said that the task was incredibly difficult, so the NAGs memberships were key to working together to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour and deal with some of the more challenging people in society.

7.5

Inspector Rowland-Wilson stated that the Neighbourhood Action Groups (NAGs) were holding regular meetings bringing together statutory agencies and voluntary partners.  She said that the Sharrow/Nether Edge NAG, which was held every month, was really embedded and showed good practice for the rest of the city by being effective in managing issues and individuals of concern.  She said that the Batemoor, Jordanthorpe, and Lowedges NAG met every eight weeks and the Gleadless Valley NAG had held two meetings, six weeks apart, and work was ongoing to make the area safer for communities.  She referred to the Mount Pleasant Masterplan stating that the Masterplan was a living document and things were changing all the time.  Work had been carried out with the local authority around the Mount Pleasant Park building and there were really positive results from that project and positive plans were in place for the future.

7.6

Jonathan Roberts referred to the Mount Pleasant Park Masterplan stating that the aim was to design out crime in the local area by working with the Police.  The Masterplan aimed to provide extra outdoor lighting, outdoor gym equipment to allow people to get more involved in the Park and attract more people to use the Park by hopefully securing funding to provide toilet facilities and a café.  He said that although resources weren’t readily available but through continuous consultation it was hoped to attract more funding to enable plans to be put in place.

7.7

Councillor Simon Clement-Jones thanked Inspector Katie Rowland-Wilson, Damon Pass and Jonathan Roberts for their attendance and the presentation. He also thanked the public for their attendance and involvement in the meeting.