Work has commenced on £750k funded initiatives to ensure safer streets

Work has started on a series of new initiatives aimed at making streets, town centres and some residential areas across Bridgend County Borough safer for the public.

As a result of a joint initiative between the Police and Crime Commissioner for South Wales and Bridgend County Borough Council, the local Community Safety Partnership (CSP) has been awarded almost £750,000 of funding from the Home Office to deliver the initiatives as part of the ‘Safer Streets Fund’ - a £75m programme that encourages Police and Crime Commissioners and local authorities to bid for investment for initiatives to prevent neighbourhood crime.

The Bridgend partnership, comprising of Bridgend County Borough Council, South Wales Police, the Police and Crime Commissioner and other key statutory and third sector partners, came together to develop a bid which built on existing initiatives to deliver new approaches to address women’s safety, neighbourhood crime and anti-social behaviour, as well as extending existing successful initiatives. The projects include:

• Installing new street-based CCTV Cameras in key locations in the county borough
• Rolling out Mobile Youth Unit vehicles and equipment to aid youth engagement through the delivery of meaningful activities in anti-social behaviour hotspots
• Crime prevention road shows targeting specific areas to encourage Neighbourhood Watch Schemes and deliver information packs aimed at reducing residential burglaries
• Increase police patrols and introduce taxi marshals in Bridgend town centre during the night-time economy to reduce violence and harassment offences and improve feelings of safety
• Commission a ‘Safe Space Scheme’ for town centres where people can seek refuge if they feel threatened or intimidated
• Introduce a street art project and Walkabout Street shows in areas of Bridgend town centre suffering from graffiti and vandalism to improve the environment and reduce the fear of crime
• Introduce ‘Don’t be a Bystander’ training and interventions to students and workers in the night-time economy to reduce violence against women and girls
• Offering free self-defence classes in venues across the county borough

We are delighted this new round of Safer Streets funding is already being put to good use and benefitting our local communities.

Community safety is high on our agenda and this funding offers a real opportunity to make a difference to ensuring the safety of our residents and combatting crime across the county borough.

We will continue to work in closely with our partners at South Wales Police and other blue light services to ensure people in the county borough feel free from threat or danger when out in our communities.

Councillor Neelo Farr, Cabinet Member for Regeneration

South Wales Police & Crime Commissioner, Alun Michael said: “We have worked closely with the council and other partners to identify in detail, the drivers of local problems and how best we can tackle them together.

“This money will be invested in making the streets of Bridgend County Borough safer for everyone, in particular women and girls, as well as reducing the impact of anti-social behaviour across our communities.

“Working in partnership our focus is both on immediate benefits from practical measures like CCTV and physical improvements to the environment and to achieve sustainable long-term improvements to create safe, confident, and resilient communities. It is a simple fact that when we work together, we achieve more than we achieve alone.”

You can find out more about the Bridgend Community Safety Partnership by visiting their webpage.