Report of the Strategic Director, Communities and Environment

The Committee received a report which provided them with a copy of the statutory Partnership Plan for Gateshead Community Safety Board, which provides details of the strategic priorities and workstreams for the next 12 months.

The Committee were advised that in January 2019, the Community Safety Board received a comprehensive overview of the Strategic Assessment findings and agreed to undertake public consultation on its draft priorities for 2019/20. This process was carried out over a six-week period and ended in March 2019.

The consultation has elicited a significant number of responses, with more than 900 replies over the six-week period. Analysis of the responses highlight:

·         41% of respondents felt that their neighbourhood has got worse in the last 12 months. We know crime has steadily increased over the last three-years – with levels rising by a further 4% (+863 additional crimes) on last year.

·         However, despite the feeling that their neighbourhood has got worse, most respondents still report feeling safe, with 76% of people say they feel very of fairly safe in their neighbourhood.

·         60% of respondents stated they do not feel ant-social behaviour or crime are specific problems, which may suggest national headlines impacting

·         Over a third of respondents believe partner agencies (including Gateshead Council and Northumbria Police) work well together to tackle the issues that matter to them.

In terms of the proposed strategic priority areas, anti-social behaviour was ranked as most important followed by domestic abuse and substance misuse. Fewer respondents felt hate crime was a priority. The reason for this could be because its an issue that affects a very small proportion of the community. In addition, environmental issues such as fly-tipping, graffiti, dog-fouling and littering continued to be identified as key concerns – all of which are visible incidents which impact on feelings of safety and perceptions of Council/Police to tackle issues and is linked to the wider anti-social behaviour agenda.

There are no references made within the consultation to issues such as County Lines, Modern Day Slavery and Knife Crime – and yet, we know these issues are closely intertwined in community safety activity. These areas will be picked up as part of the work around anti-social behaviour and substance misuse.

Analysis of the qualitative data highlighted information which has been shared

with Gateshead Operational Tasking Group and Missing, Sexually Exploited and Trafficked Group for (e.g. hotspot locations).

The Five Strategic themes were confirmed for 2019/20:

·         Anti-Social Behaviour & Environmental Crime

·         Domestic Abuse

·         Substance Misuse – Reducing the Harms

·         Hate Crime, Tension Monitoring and Community Cohesion

·         Preventing Violent Extremism (Terrorism)

Tailored action plans will be produced under each priority area which will set out the partnership work and activities that will be delivered over the next 12 months to make Gateshead a place where everyone can thrive. Lead partners were identified by the Board and they are responsible for ensuring action plans are working effectively and are required to feedback to the Board in relation to key achievements, gaps and barriers. The lead for each strategy priority are:

The Partnership Plan 2019/20 was appended to the main report and provided the Committee with headline details of some activity that has been undertaken over the last twelve months to keep residents safe. It provides some context issues to the Board, details some of the demand on Community Safety services within the Borough as well as setting out how delivery is monitored over the next 12 months.

The Plan is also aligned with the Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner Plan 2017-20, to ensure that similar themes are replicated wherever possible.

The Committee were advised that the Partnership Plan will be formally scrutinised through the Communities and Place OSC and update reports will be presented over the next twelve months (as per the annual workplan 2019/20)