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Making sure residents feel safe in Basingstoke and Deane continues to be a key priority for the borough’s Cabinet. Although a report reviewing the council’s community safety and development work was not discussed at December’s Cabinet meeting, there is still a commitment from the Cabinet to look at new ways of delivering this service.
A report on the findings of this continued review will now go to January’s Cabinet meeting.
The Leader of the Council, Cllr John Leek, said: “A number of areas came up as part of the consultation that we would like to look into in some more detail including how the future funding of Police Community Support Officers (PCSO) is being planned and ensuring effective transport arrangements for PCSOs to carry out their work.
“The work we have done so far has given us some interesting feedback. It’s clear from the results of the survey that a top priority for residents is having a visible presence on the streets and 78% of respondents felt that police beat officers and PCSOs were responsible for this.
“We want to continue looking at a package of proposals for community safety and development that will actively drive down crime and anti-social behaviour. This includes:
• More visible policing
o increasing a presence on the streets with five additional PCSOs meaning 30 in total across the whole borough with enforcement powers
• More community development work
o Five additional community development workers to increase community development beyond that provided through the community wardens scheme
o confirming a permanent community safety team not at risk from external funding pressures
• More work with ethnic communities and victims of domestic violence
• More work with local communities and young people
o funding additional resources to develop activities in local communities especially in priority areas such as Tadley and Oakridge – this will include additional resources over and above the five community development officers originally recommended
We anticipate that these proposals will be led by a new Cabinet member for Community Safety and Development. |
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