Some of Cleveland’s most vulnerable neighbourhoods will share in almost £1m of Government grants for measures to reduce crime and antisocial behaviour.
Cleveland Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) has been allocated £999,999.84, as part of the Home Office’s £43m Safer Streets Fund.
The project aims to reduce levels of neighbourhood crime, violence against women and girls (VAWG) and antisocial behaviour.
Safer Streets will run from this month until March 2025. It will target five areas identified as crime and antisocial behaviour “hotspots”
Hotspots are neighbourhoods disproportionately and persistently affected by the types of crime covered by the fund.
Middlesbrough funding
Up to £330,720 will be spent over the next 18 months to combat neighbourhood crime and antisocial behaviour. Work will take place in the Central and Longlands and Beechwood wards.
Work will include home security measures for residents, additional CCTV coverage and focused work to combat antisocial motorbike riding and aggressive begging.
Stockton funding
Up to £329,720 will be spent in the Town Centre and Ropner wards in Stockton to tackle neighbourhood crime, antisocial behaviour and VAWG.
Initiatives will include better street lighting, more CCTV, security measures for homeowners and additional support for sex workers.
Hartlepool funding
Up to £333,333 will be spent in the Victoria ward in Hartlepool to combat neighbourhood crime and antisocial behaviour.
Projects will include improvements to alley gates and a new Community Cohesion Officer, who will ask residents what they want to see in their community – and enable them to achieve it.
Delivering “Significant Results”
Police and Crime Commissioner Steve Turner said: “I’m delighted that we have once again been successful in securing additional national funding to make Cleveland’s streets safer.
“These projects deliver significant results in the communities that need them the most, with physical measures such as more lighting, CCTV and improved alley gate schemes.
“The Safer Streets project demonstrates the power of agencies working together to reduce crime in hotspot areas and we look forward to working with them once again.”
Councillor Norma Stephenson, Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for Access, Communities and Community Safety, said: “We are so pleased to once again secure vital funding to help keep our communities safe.
“Alongside the work we do with our partner organisations, the additional measures this money will go towards – such as CCTV and home security equipment – will ensure local residents and businesses can feel safe in our communities.”
This is the fifth time additional funding has been successfully secured by Cleveland PCC’s office and partners from the Government’s Safer Streets funding.
This brings the total Safer Streets investment in Cleveland to £3.44m since 2020, supporting 12 neighbourhoods. In some neighbourhoods, targeted crime types reduced by almost 50 per cent following the project.