Agenda and minutes

M Flynn                  (Leicestershire County Council)

W Gale                   (Leicestershire Fire & Rescue Service)

A Lennox MBE          (Oadby & Wigston Borough Council)

R Lobel                   (Leicestershire County Council)

Insp. K Mistry            (Leicestershire Police)

It was noted that M Flynn’s attendance at the previous meeting, held on 10 December 2018, had not been recorded in the minutes.

Exclusive of the above, the minutes of the previous meeting were declared to be true and accurate.

L Patsalides, Crimestoppers’ Regional Manager for the East Midlands, provided the Partnership with an overview presentation on the work of Crimestoppers. The presentation is included within these minutes.

The Partnership heard that Crimestoppers rebranded around 1 year ago, and that their new poster designs are available in a number of languages. L Patsalides can be contacted directly by organisations to get copies of these posters, and other promotional materials, for free.

Partners raised that previously members of the public had been advised to contact Crimestoppers following an incident by the Police, and Crimestoppers have subsequently referred them back to the Police. It was noted that this is a rare occurrence that can be avoided with better joined up working.

L Patsalides was asked if Crimestoppers would be able to give presentations to secondary schools, typically covering the 11-16 age range, as historically students that age don’t engage well with the Police. It was noted that the Partnership would pay for services to visit schools in the Borough instead of the Police, and that the OPCC has applied for funding to support services wishing to access schools. This lead to a short discussion around Crimestoppers’ ‘Fearless’ campaign that was referenced within the presentation, with Crimestoppers able to train teachers and youth offending service staff to support the Fearless campaign.

*ACTIONS*:

MS to liaise with the OPCC regarding input to schools and the funding bid, specifically looking at consistency in the Borough with the County.

MC to contact LP about Crimestoppers resources and ambassador roles.

JH to take information regarding the Crimestoppers ambassador roles back to LCC.

LP to provide further detail around access to the ‘Train the Trainer’ programmes offered by Crimestoppers.

MS to look at the possibility of Crimestoppers links and information being included on the Borough’s digital display screens and public WiFi landing pages.

A short interval in the agenda on behalf of the Oadby & Wigston Lions Club took place following the above item, enabling their President, Mrs J Fyfe, to present Insp. M Cawley with an award recognising his significant involvement in making the ‘Message in a Bottle’ scheme adopted in the Borough by the Lions and the Partnership, and subsequently rolled out across Leicestershire and beyond, a success.

The award comes as part of Lions International’s 100 year anniversary, and was one of five awards the Oadby & Wigston Lions Club asked their patron, the Countess of Wessex, to confer on to deserving members of the Borough community they serve.

The Partnership also wishes to recognise and acknowledge the input and support Insp. Cawley provided in relation to the Message in a Bottle scheme, as well that which he continues to do so with the remainder of the work the Partnership undertakes.

A Ward, the Council’s Economic Regeneration Team Leader, discussed with the Partnership the Future High Street Fund. This is a £675m fund made available by central Government for local Council’s to bid in to, up to a total value of £25m, in order to regenerate, or bring new life in to, their town centres. The fund is noted to have been made available with the UK in response to a general decline in high streets.

The Council is currently working on an expression of interest in the fund, focussing on the Wigston town centre. This will look at the best functions for shops, residential, and leisure facilities within the immediate area and builds upon previous planning work undertaken by the Council; particularly the development ‘Town Centre Masterplans’.

The development of more ‘active streets’ will be looked at as Wigston currently features lots of car parks and ‘unused’ streets, such a Frederick Street which serves only as rear access to the town’s shops. Congestion will also be considered as part of the expression of interest.

Ultimately the fund is intended to be utilised to increase residential development, provide more public spaces and access, and foster an enhanced community spirit within the town centre. Pedestrian access and the inclusion of town centre technology will also be considered. Funds can also be used to purchase or develop privately owned properties in the area. The development of a night time economy for the area would also be pursued.

The funding can also be utilised to ‘design out crime’, with input from T Maccabe and M Smith sought to facilitate this.

The deadline for the Council to submit its expression of interest in the fund is 22 March 2019. If successful funding will be released to the Council in order to develop a business case for further funding. It is anticipated that a decision around the success of any application will be made in summer 2019, with the funding being released in 2020.

A Ward sought the support of the Partnership in relation to the expression of interest, noting that partner agency input is invaluable, and that support from a wide variety of community groups adds value to it. The Partnership agreed to support this as requested.

Partners asked if the Partnership would be able to influence the detail of any regeneration in the town centre, and were told that their involvement in the development of the business case is a given if the expression of interest is successful.

It was proposed that if the expression of interest is successful, that a consultation process with young people is undertaken by the IMPACT team to enable the development of a town centre applicable to future generations.

*ACTIONS*:

MS to work with AW to draft a suitable letter of support on behalf of the Partnership for the expression of interest.

MS to ensure that all Partners are aware of the Future High Street Fund.

M Smith provided the Partnership with a headline update on the findings of the 2018-19 community safety survey. This update was given ahead of a full report on the findings of the survey to be presented at April’s meeting of the Partnership.

The Partnership heard that;

§  299 responses to the survey had been received.

§  The top five community safety concerns for the public in the Borough are;

1.    Motor Vehicle and Traffic Concerns,

2.    Littering or Fly-Tipping,

3.    Burglaries and Distraction Thefts,

4.    Drugs or Drug Related Issues, and

5.    Groups causing Nuisance.

§  That 28% of respondents feel that the sense of community in their Council Ward is ‘Very Strong’ or ‘Strong’ in the Borough, a figure mirrored by those who feel it is ‘Weak’ or ‘Very Weak’.

§  That 62% of respondents do currently have concerns around crime, anti-social behaviour, or community safety in the Borough.

§  That 71% of respondents believe that crime and anti-social behaviour in their Council Ward has either ‘Increased’ or ‘Stayed the Same’ over the last 12 months.

§  That 54% of respondents feel ‘Very Safe’ or ‘Safe’ in their Council Ward, and 16% feel ‘Unsafe’ or ‘Very Unsafe’.

§  That 38% of respondents feel ‘Very Satisfied’ or ‘Satisfied’ with the way local public services have dealt with crime, anti-social behaviour, and community safety issues in their Council Ward over the last 12 months, and that 23% of respondents feel ‘Dissatisfied’ or ‘Very Dissatisfied’ when asked the same question.

§  That 73% of respondents state that they have not been a victim of crime or anti-social behaviour in the Borough.

The Partnership also heard that multiple delivery routes were utilised in order to collect responses from the community, and that the survey was designed to be anonymous to ensure that honest feedback could be collected. This will be detailed in the full report.

*ACTIONS*:

MS to provide a full report on the survey’s findings at April’s meeting.

M Smith provided the Partnership with a short update on how the 2019-20 Delivery Plan will differ from this year’s, mainly in that the Partnership is expected to put resources toward tackling emerging crime trends, in line with the PCC’s plan, as well as ensuring it meets its own commitments laid out in its 2017-20 Strategic Plan without an increase in the financial resources provided to it. This will result in tough decisions having to be made around the continuation of projects at their current level of funding.

The 2019-20 Delivery Plan will feature six themes, aimed at looking forward to 2020-23’s Strategic Plan, including;

1.    Crime, Disorder, and Anti-Social Behaviour

2.    Domestic Violence

3.    Substance Misuse

4.    County Lines, Modern Day Slavery, and Knife Crime

5.    Hate Crime

6.    Cyber Crime

Each of the above themes will be underpinned by the notions of Community Cohesion, Value for Money, and Youth Prevention and Diversion, resulting in some cross-cutting work across multiple themes where necessary. It is expected that many of the current tactical actions featured in the 2018-19 Delivery Plan will be able to be transposed into this new, themed framework.

The full proposed 2019-20 Delivery Plan will be circulated to Partners for comment ahead of April’s meeting where it will be proposed for adoption.

The Chair gave a short update to the Partnership around an idea for a ‘Youth Panel / Consultation’ proposed by the Council’s Service Delivery Committee. It is felt that this idea sits better under the Community Safety Partnership’s remit given the Youth Prevention and Diversion work the PCC expects it to deliver.

It was noted that this panel would be a useful link to the Future High Street Fund work discussed earlier in the meeting by A Ward, as well as linking it to work undertaken by the IMPACT Team and LCC’s Youth Voice workers.

*ACTION*:

MS, TM, and AL to meet to discuss the proposed panel.

Due to apologies received this agenda item was deferred until the next meeting.

Insp. Cawley updated the Partnership on the latest crime statistics in the Borough, drawing attention to the Police prepared crime trend graphs presented at the meeting.

For Oadby there are no concerns or significant trends across all crime types to date, although there has been a large reduction in the number of burglaries taking place.

For Wigston there has been a spike in ‘Theft from Motor Vehicles’ and drug related crime. It was noted that spikes in drugs related crime is directly related to proactive activity by the Police, where more crime of this type is being detected and dealt with.

South Wigston’s crime statistics mirrored those of Wigston, showing increases in both ‘Theft from Motor Vehicles’ and drug related crime.

All areas of the Borough show a significant reduction in shop theft.

The Partnership also heard that Wigston is the Borough’s ASB ‘hotspot’ area. Nationally ASB is down, but with a national increase in all crime types it is likely that ASB is just being under reported.

Hate Crime and Hate Incidents are also suspected to be under reported, and it has been suggested that in order for the figures to be more accurate organisations, such as ‘Tell MAMA’, should be encouraged to share their national reporting statistics to better understand the bigger picture. It is also thought that increased education around reporting Hate Crime would be of benefit.

In relation to the above, an update from V Quintyne, the Council’s Community Engagement Officer, on the upcoming Hate Delivery Group meeting was requested for April’s meeting of the Partnership.

Insp. Cawley also gave the Partnership an update on the monthly JAG meeting stating that, out of the two areas his NPA covers, the Borough’s JAG is performing better than the City’s. The involvement of Turning Point in the monthly JAG meetings was also questioned as, at a separate meeting, Turning Point have stated that they are present at the Borough’s JAG but this is not believed to be the case. It was also suggested that the Partnership and the JAG would both benefit from better information sharing and support from Turning Point as an organisation.

*ACTIONS*:

MS to invite VQ to April’s meeting to provide an update from the Hate Delivery Group.

MS to check Turning Point’s attendance at the Borough’s JAG meetings.

T Maccabe gave the Partnership an overview of the report on Sentinel usage at the Council that was recently presented to the Council’s Policy, Finance and Development Committee.

The Partnership heard that in 2017 there were 855 reports made to the Police regarding ASB in the Borough. Of these 223 were recorded on Sentinel by the Police. During the same period, the Council logged 17 reports of ASB on Sentinel.

The reason for the discrepancy between the number of reports made, and cases recorded, is given that the initial report may have been identified as a crime, not ASB, and therefore recorded on a separate system, was reported for information only, or was not deemed to constitute ASB. Reports of ASB during this period were only logged on Sentinel if investigations were to be carried out.

The Partnership then heard the figures for 2018, stating that 543 reports were made to the Police regarding ASB in the Borough, and that 303 of these were recorded on Sentinel. During this period the Council logged 43 reports of ASB on Sentinel.

Of the 43 logs created on Sentinel by the Council in 2018, a total of 27 of these were made between August and December, following the recruitment of a dedicated Anti-Social Behaviour Officer. Prior to this the Council had logged 16 cases where input to Sentinel was made only by the Council’s Housing and Environmental Health teams. This is an increase of 11 reports logged by the Council in the second half of the year whilst reports of ASB in the Borough made to Leicestershire Police were trending downward after the anticipated summer peak.

These figures demonstrate that whilst the ASB figures in the Borough, and nationally, are decreasing, the recording of ASB is more robust.

T Maccabe also spoke to the Partnership about the benefit of the enhanced joint working taking place, citing the recent closure order on a property in Oadby acquired by the Council, and on how a set of minimum standards for Sentinel use at the Council is being developed.

The Chair asked that this item becomes a standing item on the Partnership’s meeting agendas given its usefulness.

The Chair spoke to the Partnership about the Council’s intention to host an Enforcement Workshop for Countywide colleagues, intended to build upon the excellent work that has taken place recently around the closure order the Council acquired for a property in Oadby.

The idea of the workshop is to share positive enforcement messages from an ASB, Licensing, Planning, and Environmental Health perspective, as well as share best practice and learning.

It was highlighted that a group with a similar remit meetings on a regular basis, but also includes housing associations amongst its invitees. This group was set up by Sgt. L Gamble of Leicestershire Police. It was noted that the OPCC is not aware of these meetings.

The Chair is keen for this enforcement workshop to go ahead, but does not want it to duplicate existing work undertaken by Sgt. Gamble. The enforcement workshop is intended to supplement this work, and support colleagues from other Council’s working within enforcement related areas.

The Chair and V Charlton from the OPCC are currently working to find a suitable date for this workshop to take place at Oadby & Wigston Borough Council.

M Smith provided the Partnership with a short update on the progress of the CCTV upgrade scheme, stating that LCC Highways were provided with the PO number required to commence the works on 28 January 2019, and that typically the conversion work is completed within a timeframe of 3 weeks and 1 day from receipt of said PO number. As of the date of this meeting the conversion work on the first five street columns is yet to be undertaken.

The columns to be converted are now, following additional concerns around traffic management during the works to be undertaken;

§  Elizabeth Court, Wigston (at the junction with Long Street)

§  Bell Street, Wigston (near to Age UK)

§  Boulter Crescent, Wigston (near to block 123-126)

§  Wakes Road, Wigston (near North Street)

§  The Parade, Oadby (near Poundstretcher)

The Partnership feels that progress on the upgrade is positive, and looks forward to the final installation of the new CCTV units.

M Smith confirmed that a press release will be issued, building upon the article contained in the Spring issue of the Council’s Letterbox newsletter, once the cameras are installed and live highlighting the work of the Council and the Partnership to make our communities safer.

M Smith talked about a meeting he attended at County Hall alongside community safety colleagues from across Leicester, Leicestershire, and Rutland looking at CCTV deployment in their districts and boroughs.

Part of the conversation at that meeting focused on how planning teams in the various councils, and housing developers, should be approaching their respective CSPs when looking at new housing developments. In particular, new developments could, with input from CSPs, be designed with crime deterrent and target hardening in mind.

A prime example of this is one of the new housing developments taking place in the Borough which, when completed, will offer traffic an alternate road to take out of the Borough, bypassing an established ANPR camera. New estates could also be designed to not feature a myriad of alleyways and cut-throughs that could create escape routes for criminals.

It was suggested at the meeting M Smith attended that developers building in districts and boroughs utilising redeployable CCTV systems should be asked to include purpose built street lighting columns to host cameras in their plans. The cost to the developer to do this would be minimal over a standard column, and would be a cost saver to the CSP in that being purpose built, they would come with a 24 year guarantee, and not require structural testing every 2-3 years.

The Partnership agrees that more joint working with planning teams, and the Police’s ‘Designing Out Crime’ Officer, should be pursued within the Borough, and that appropriate officers should be invited to April’s meeting to further this discussion.

*ACTIONS*:

MS to invite S Day from Leicestershire Police, M Hryniw, the Council’s Town Centre Manager, and a representative of the Council’s planning team to the Partnership’s next meeting.

KL to explore conditions and procedures around new estate planning in the Borough.

J Hewitt delivered the following update to the Partnership:

ASB

In regards to Sentinel it was agreed at the recent ASB delivery group that a ‘Train the Trainer’ style delivery would be beneficial. Partners have been asked to update me on a maximum of 2 colleagues who are Sentinel competent to then explore what requirements there are.

The Celebrate Safely campaign has now been wrapped up for 2018 with the main feedback asking for the process to start earlier, as a result the first meeting to discuss the 2019 campaign was last week. 

The Ask for Angela campaign was promoted in November to tie in with the White Ribbon campaign and received media interest. Partners are now contacting their venues to see if any further resources are required and also to explore recording any instances of the scheme being used as this is not currently monitored. The Ask for Angela venue information has been updated and circulated to reflect this - https://www.leicestershire.gov.uk/leisure-and-community/community-safety/ask-for-angela.

There are a number of countywide meetings that sit across LLR and a standing item on the delivery group going forward is feedback on these meetings. If O&W represent the delivery group on any meetings please keep J Hewitt updated e.g. Cyber-crime, modern slavery.

The ASB team at the Police have started to run the ASB Best Practice meeting which T Maccabe attends from O&W on the agenda for the next meeting are the use of CBOs which partners may find beneficial.

Hate

The LLR Strategy Statement for Tackling Hate / Action Plans and LLR Hate Communications Strategy, have been approved together with the formal sign off to include the additional characteristic in the definition of hate crimes and hate incidents were agreed at the LSCSB meeting on 10 December 2018.

All partners across the LLR have been asked to amend their web page to reflect the five nationally monitored categories for the definitions hate incidents and crime which have now been approved by LSCSB. This includes; Disability, Race, Religion/Belief, Sexual Orientation, Transgender, as well as a category for ‘any other perceived difference’. This is in line with Leicestershire Constabulary’s recording of hate and Anita will be in contact with Veronica to discuss this.

Domestic Abuse

The government has published its draft Domestic Abuse Bill, alongside a vital piece of research that puts the cost of domestic abuse to the whole of the economy at £66 billion. Highlights includes ensuring a robust, consistent approach to coercive and controlling behaviour (including financial abuse); recognising the impact on children and young people and addressing the barriers which prevent perpetrators being brought to justice. See link for more info.

 “The Hope Project”, will be the name of the project designed to develop local specialist refuge provision for survivors with complex needs and offer support for individuals who are at risk of homelessness or insecure housing as a result of domestic abuse. For more information contact Gurjit-samra-rai@leics.gov.uk

LLR are moving towards a new model for our local MARAC. This  ...  view the full minutes text for item 67.

K Corbett provided a short update on behalf of UAVA in the absence of S Mahay. It was confirmed during this update that H Shah has left the KIDVA role employed by UAVA, and that a new worker has been drafted into the role. Due to the new worker not having currently undertaken trauma training, K Corbett is covering the high risk KIDVA cases at present.

A short conversation was held around the future of the KIDVA funding provided by the CSP in the Borough, however it was agreed that this is a topic that should be discussed with UAVA directly in a separate meeting.

*ACTIONS*:

KC to contact MS to arrange a UAVA funding related meeting.

Due to apologies received this agenda item was deferred until the next meeting.

V Charlton highlighted that the PCC will be hosting an Ex-Offenders event at Leicester City Hall in February 2019. The PCC will also be hosting a Business Summit at Police HQ, Enderby on 21 March 2019, and a mental health focussed event also at Police HQ in May 2019.

The Partnership also heard that the CSP Chairs Network Meeting in January 2019 was very positive, and will be repeated.

A reporting template for CSP to make their monitoring returns to the OPCC on is being developed.

The Partnership was also informed of £500,000 in funding available through the Police Transformation Fund to tackle violent youth crime.

*ACTIONS*:

VC to send further details of the above meetings through to MS once confirmed.

The next meeting of the Partnership will take place on Monday, 8 April 2019. 2pm at Oadby & Wigston Borough Council.

Meetings dates for 2019-20 will be circulated once the Council’s calendar of meetings for the forthcoming year has been approved.