Not in my Neighbourhood Week

Release Date: October 2009

The first week in November will see partnership working at its best in a bid to engage communities in joining forces to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour across Torbay.

Safer Communities Torbay, a partnership between Torbay Council, Devon and Cornwall Constabulary, Torbay Primary Care trust, Devon and Cornwall Probation Service and Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service, have teamed up with the Housing Associations, Neighbourhood Watch and the Criminal Justice System who will all be partaking in various activities across the Bay aimed at informing local people about what is being done in their area and encouraging residents to work together with the various services in keeping our streets safe.

‘Not In My Neighbourhood Week’ is a Home Office initiative being run across 80 areas in England and Wales. The week runs from Monday 2 November until Friday 6 November with activities planned everyday in various wards across Torbay.

Louisa Aiton, Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Engagement comments; “The week is all about informing local residents of what is actually being done to make their neighbourhoods safer. So much work happens behind the scenes and quite often goes unnoticed. By involving the public in the process they can see for themselves the extent of the resource that goes into ensuring that Torbay is a safe place, in turn they will not only feel safer but will also hopefully be encouraged to get involved.”

Amongst the activities planned are several Community Walks where the Safer Communities Anti-social behaviour team, local Housing associations, Neighbourhood Policing teams, Neighbourhood Watch coordinators and Council Environmental Health teams will all join forces with local residents in identifying subjects of concern in the area. The ‘visual audits’ will look at issues such as fly-tipping, graffiti and litter as well as crime prevention concerns such as poor lighting, overgrown shrubbery and criminal damage.

The Safe Bus will also be situated at key locations in Paignton, Brixham and Torquay where residents will have the perfect opportunity to really interact with each organisation. The Bus will provide the base for the street surgeries where agencies will be armed with advice and tools for preventing anti-social behaviour and crime in Torbay.

The Fire and Rescue Service and the Police Burglary and Vehicle Team have joined forces in the Ellacombe and Torre wards to offer joint messages around Fire Safety and Burglary Prevention. They will be based on the Safe Bus at the top of Thurlow Road, Torre and at the junction of Highbury Road and Windsor Road in Ellacombe where the Crime Prevention team will be offering advice on how to best protect your property and providing a property tagging service through our immobilise laptop system. They will also be accompanying a Council Environmental Health Officer around the various neighbourhoods highlighting areas where improvements could be made which would deter potential criminal activity, such as trimming high hedgerows and improving poor lighting in obscured walkways.

Other activities include another targeted Anti-social driving operation across the bay’s hotspot areas, Bonfire safety events and Police and Anti-social behaviour team activity to address drug / alcohol and other ‘quality of life’ issues in the town centres.

Brixham Policing teams will also be conducting specific Anti-Social behaviour patrols in the town centre and surrounding areas throughout the week aimed at sending out the message that it will not be tolerated.