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Kennet Community Safety Partnership

Community Safety Partnerships

Following the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and the Police Reform Act 2002, Local Authorities (County and District Councils) and the Police together with the Police Authorities, Primary Care Trust, and Fire Authorities have a statutory responsibility to work together in partnership with other agencies including Probation and the Criminal Justice Board, to develop and implement a strategy for reducing crime and disorder in each district and unitary authority are ain England and Wales every three years.

The current Kennet Community Safety Strategy runs from 2005-2008. View the Strategy (pdf, 392 KB)

In its own Corporate Strategy, Kennet District Council has identified ‘Developing Strong, Safe and Healthy Communities’ as one of its four main themes. View the Corporate Strategy

LegislationSection

Section 17 of The Crime & Disorder Act places a statutory duty on the Council to have regard to crime and disorder when considering all matters, including their policies and practices, and to bear in mind the findings of the Crime and Disorder Audit in updating wider policy documents.

The Act states that:

“Without prejudice to any other obligation imposed on it, it shall be the duty of each authority to which this section applies, to exercise its various functions with due regard to the likely effect of the exercise of those functions on, and the need to do all that it reasonably can, to prevent crime and disorder in its area”.

Kennet District Council is responsible for many key local services which have a significant impact on community safety through the design and management of the physical, built environment and also through the social conditions that are perceived to cause crime in residential and rural areas. The Local Authority can seek to reduce crime in many and varied ways through the application of our core services, for example:

Community Development Team

  • Through the work in preparing Community Strategies – at District and local level, the Council is actively involved in promoting the well-being and improved quality of life for our community.

  • The local problems, concerns, needs and priorities identified enable the Council to gain an understanding of the relative importance attached to crime and disorder, and this supplements the focused work of the Community Safety Officer who co-ordinates and leads specific Community Safety Issues.

  • Community Development also involves numerous other partnerships which each provide routes for partners and the community to raise issues about Community Safety.

Community Safety Team

  • Co-ordinates and facilitates the implementation of the Strategy by all relevant partners and the community.

  • Participate in the Strategic Action Task Groups to ensure links are made between agencies and the community.  Liaise regularly with the Lead officers from the other statutory partners to ensure that crime reduction targets are met, to share good practise, and ensure consistency relating to county wide services.Work with Town and Parish councils to advise them of their responsibilities under Section 17.

  • Ensures that all Kennet services are aware of their responsibilities under Section 17

  • Co-ordinates responses to reports of anti-social behaviour

Public Relations

  • The Council’s Public Relations Officer has regular contact with the Community Safety Officer and the Partnership Media officer to discuss media coverage of crime and disorder issues

Leisure Services

  • Sports facilities for young people

  • Provision of recreational/diversionary activities

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Environmental Health & Protection Services

  • Noise Nuisance

  • Health and Safety and crime

  • Health promotion – fear of crime, firework safety

  • Stray dogs

  • Licensing

Environment and Amenity Services

  • Action on Graffiti and vandalism repairs

  • Maintenance of play areas and public open spaces

  • Secure car parks

  • Efficient collection and disposal of refuse

  • Misuse of public conveniences

Planning and Building Control

  • Planning controls to achieve ‘secure by design’

  • Risk assessment for crime and disorder on all new public and private buildings, ensuring free and open access in communal areas

Forward Planning

  • Preparation of planning briefs

  • The Local plan aims to advance sustainable development and incorporates objectives and principles relating to safety, e.g. personal safety and freedom from crime through design, creation of new communities which are attractive and well designed.

Housing Services and Homes@Kennet

  • Homelessness

  • Domestic Violence & refuges

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Human Resources

  • Diversity and Equalities Policies

Financial Services

  • Maintain systems for auditing the costs of community safety activity

  • Business rates – can provide advice about preventing business crime

  • Housing Benefits – prevention of fraud, and also when the officers visit many homes in the district they help identify problems and vulnerable people in the community

Legal Services

  • Enforcement Action – e.g. Anti-Social Behaviour Orders

  • Noise and Statutory Nuisance Notices

Information Services and IT

  • The website provides useful links and contacts for agencies and members of the community on all matters relating to crime reduction and community safety.

Local Authority elected members

  • Members have a clear role in directing the input of the Local Authority to the crime and disorder reduction work through normal committee structures, and through the accountability of the Chief Executive to them.

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Kennets Crime Audit

There is also responsibility under Act that the CSP carry out an Audit of Crime every 3 years. The last Audit of Crime, Disorder and Drug Misuse was carried out in 2004 and identified identified the key issues of concern in Kennet as :

  • Making people feel safer

  • Reducing victimisation

  • Reducing drug and alcohol related arm

  • Reducing crimes of violence

  • Reducing anti- social behaviour

  • Reducing offending behaviour

  • Reducing road casualties

  • Prioritising higher crime neighbourhoods

View the Audit

These issues are being addressed by Strategic Action Task Groups, working under the Kennet Community Safety Partnership. Officers from the relevant Council Services are members of these groups, and work with other partners from both statutory, voluntary and community organisations to develop and implement Action Plans to respond to these issues through closer working, and delivering specific projects to target problems.

The Local Authority recognises that community safety is a cross cutting issue, and affects the work of all departments, and is aware that decisions taken by one department may have crime and disorder implications for the work of another.

The Future

In December 2005, the Government published its National Community Safety Plan 2006 – 2009 which sets out the Government’s community safety priorities. It outlines a new approach to community safety and aims to manage a coherent community safety programme across government, providing people working the field with a clear view of overall priorities.

It is built around 5 themes:

  • Making communities stronger and more effective

  • Further reducing crime and anti-social behaviour

  • Creating safer environments

  • Protecting the public and building confidence

  • Improving people’s lives, so they are less likely to commit offences or re-offend

View the National Community Safety Plan 2006 – 2009. (External link)

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