What is Community Safety?

The term 'community safety' can be applied to a broad range of issues and is open to a wider interpretation than just crime prevention.

Community safety has both social and situational aspects, it is being concerned with people, communities and organisations, victims of crime and at risk group, as well as attempting to reduce particular types of crime, anti-social behaviour and the fear of crime. Community safety is now the concern of many different agencies, organisations and groups. This is either because they are required by law to carry out their duties or because they may be well placed to address certain issues and feel a responsibility to do so.

Whilst it must be recognised that Vale Royal Borough does not have the same type or range of crimes as many urban areas there is still room for improvement and the Vale Royal Community Safety Partnership recognise that crime reduction needs to be tackled through a joint approach working closely with our partners and the local community.

This is further emphasised in the Partnerships Statement of Intent which is:

'The Community Safety Partnership will work with service providers and the community to create a safer environment for all those living in, working in or visiting Vale Royal Borough.'

The Vale Royal Community Safety Partnership has completed a public consultation exercise with residents of the Borough and following publication of the Crime and Disorder Audit in October 2004 our Community Safety Strategy 2005-2008 , titled Promoting Community Reassurance, is now being implemented through individual teams to tackle:

Reducing Crime
Reducing Anti-Social Behaviour
Improving Community Engagement & Satisfaction
Reducing the Impact of Environmental Crime
Reducing Violent Behaviour
Reducing Levels of repeat Victimisation
Reducing the Impact of Drug & Alcohol Abuse
Reducing the Impact of Criminal Damage.

During the course of the last stratgy (2002 - 2005) the Partnership achieved a good deal:

Through the Anti-social Behaviour Group we have: improved processes for the issue of many Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) against both youths and adults; served a significant number of Anti-Social Behaviour Contracts (ABCs); organised a multi-agency initiative to reduce the numbers of so called “nuisance bonfires”; introduced an ‘expert witness’ scheme; successfully targeted the nuisance caused by off-road motor-cycling; and set up of local Community Safety Action groups. Whilst there has been an increase in disorderly behaviour this is due in part to increased reported by people who have confidence that something is being done.

Through the Safer Communities Group we have: organised a county-wide domestic violence seminar; had a 4% decrease in repeat victimization and 27% increase in reporting of domestic violence; led a hate awareness campaign; identified bullying as an area of concern requiring further action and placed advice regarding bullying on the Partnership web-site; established a Fire Reduction Partnership and developed a 10-point plan developed; supported ‘Connexions’ in extending existing SPARKS scheme.

Through the Substance Misuse Group we have: increased the numbers of persons attending structured day care ; secured funds to finance a supported housing initiative; co-operated in market disruption operations in October 2003; launched the ‘Progress to Work’ scheme in Vale Royal in December 2003; launched the ‘Challenge 21’ scheme in Vale Royal, to target the sale of alcohol through off-licences to persons under-age; held a successful ‘Alcohol and Drugs Forum’ in November 2003 to raise awareness of substance misuse.