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Police and Crime Commissioner for Norfolk allocated over £900,000 of Safer Streets funding for vital community projects

The Police and Crime Commissioner for Norfolk, Giles Orpen-Smellie, has been allocated over £900,000 of Safer Streets funding from the Home Office.  This funding will support 17 initiatives to tackle neighbourhood crime, violence against women and girls (VAWG) and anti-social behaviour (ASB).

The funding will run over 18 months from 1 October 2023 to 31 March 2025 and is being match-funded by the Police and Crime Commissioner’s office and delivery partners.

Launched in July 2023, Round 5 of the Safer Streets Fund invited Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) to bid for £43m of funding to help target areas disproportionately affected by neighbourhood crime, violence against women and girls and anti-social behaviour.

Norfolk’s PCC, Giles Orpen-Smellie, said: “Norfolk is the fifth largest county in the country and is home for many different communities, so it’s crucial we create places where people want to live. This funding will continue the work from previous rounds of Safer Streets funding to allow us to respond to community safety issues unique to local communities.

“Indeed, the initiatives will deliver on many priorities from my Police, Crime and Community Safety Plan, including the pillars, Tackling Crime, Prevent Offending and Safer and Stronger Communities. Of course, none of this could have been achieved without the support and hard work from the Norfolk Community Safety Partnership members who all provided leadership in pulling together these initiatives.”

The PCC’s office led a multi-agency working group, involving local authorities, not-for-profit groups and Norfolk Constabulary, to develop the bids and, as part of this seven-week bidding period, a public consultation was carried out to ensure interventions would target the areas most affected.

The two-week consultation received over 500 responses and has informed allocating funds to the following interventions:

  • Norwich ASB Officers and Wardens.
  • Great Yarmouth alleyway cleansing, community engagement, bike tagging project, expansion of CCTV network and noise camera.
  • Thetford ASB Officers.
  • South Norfolk and Broadland ASB Officers.
  • Community Empowerment Programme.
  • Targeted Youth Outreach Project.
  • CCTV expansion.
  • Neighbourhood Watch expansion.
  • Community Safety and ASB skills and capacity training.
  • Neighbourhood clean-ups and anti fly-tipping signs.
  • Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Advocate via The Magdalene Group.
  • Licensing SAVI (a prevention approach for licensed venues covering Violence Against Women and Girls, drink spiking, ASB, theft and burglary, CSE and violence) which leads to an accreditation for the premises.

Norwich City Council deputy leader and chair of the Safer Norwich Partnership, Cllr Beth Jones said: “We are very pleased with the Safer Streets Round 5 funding so far announced which will enable us to build on the existing activity in Norwich to tackle anti-social behaviour and violence against women and girls and provide extra reassurance to residents and visitors to Norwich. We look forward to a final commitment from the Government of the funding into 2024/25 which will enable us to progress the new initiatives to maximum benefit as part of the delivery of our new Safer Norwich Strategy.”

Cllr Carl Smith, leader of Great Yarmouth Borough Council, said: “I am delighted with this news which means these initiatives will continue the community safety interventions successfully achieved by the Council in the four previous rounds. The Council remains committed to making Great Yarmouth a safe place to live, work and visit for our residents and visitors.”

Previous successful bids have enabled the OPCC and the Norfolk County Community Safety Partnership to secure over £400,000 to tackle violence against women and girls with measures such as better street lighting in Great Yarmouth and an expansion of the CCTV network in King’s Lynn.