PAPER E
FIRE AND PUBLIC SAFETY SELECT
COMMITTEE – 18 OCTOBER 2004
COMMUNITY
WARDENS TASK GROUP
REPORT OF PORTFOLIO HOLDER FOR FIRE, EMERGENCY PLANNING AND CONSUMER PROTECTION
REASON FOR SELECT COMMITTEE CONSIDERATION
This report is submitted at the
request of the Select Committee. The Select Committee decided that they wished
to receive a feasibility report on an Island-wide Community Warden Scheme.
ACTION REQUIRED BY THE SELECT COMMITTEE
To
receive the report and to make a decision based upon the recommendations of the
Task Group.
BACKGROUND
1. The Community Street Warden pilot operating in Ryde was funded by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) together with a financial contribution from the Ryde Community Forum until March 2005. At this point the scheme will cease to operate unless alternative funding can be secured.
2. The select committee received a report in April 2004, which outlined the objectives of the pilot and discussed the potential benefits of developing such a scheme Island-wide.
3. At the Members Development Day on 17th May 2004 it was decided to create a task group, comprising officers and Members, who would investigate and report back to the committee on the following:
·
The Ryde Warden pilot, its
budget, objectives, performance and limitations and the future prospects for
the Ryde scheme
·
The proposals for
decriminalising parking enforcement including the benefits and lessons from
other authorities
·
Accreditation of Community
Safety Officers
·
The targets and objectives of
both the Corporate Plan and the local strategic partnership, Island Futures
The task group also
investigated:
·
Funding implications for an
Island-wide scheme and sources of potential funding
·
National statistics and how they
might be interpreted from an Island perspective.
3.1 The current pilot, its budget, objectives, performance and
limitations
3.1.1 Nationally, there are many different types
of community warden schemes. The Ryde pilot is not primarily crime-based but
rather a community-based scheme endeavouring to prevent crime rather
than react to it. This is being achieved through the development of strong
community links and by close liaison with the local police force.
3.1.2 The scheme operates in some of the most
deprived wards on the Island and the wardens, mindful of the diverse community
they serve, make a concerted effort to reach all sectors and age groups of the
community and to work with minority and hard to reach groups. They provide an essential link between the community and
the police and in so doing, are actively fostering and developing improved
community cohesion. The wardens are not accredited and do not have powers of
arrest. The limitations of the scheme are mainly around the number of wardens
in post; two, and the size of the area covered.
3.1.3 The scheme is largely proactive, seeking out and creating opportunities to enhance the quality of life for residents both environmentally and socially. To this end, the wardens work in partnership with a wide and diverse group of agencies and organisations. On a daily basis they work alongside housing associations, voluntary organisations, schools, the business sector and the police. Examples of this are:
· “Quality of Life” initiative introduced by local housing associations, which involves the wardens in a number of projects that are contributing towards a better quality of life for the residents and their children, and the
· “Safe Homes” campaigns, which involve the wardens working alongside the Safer Communities Partnership in proactive, preventative projects to combat a particular area of crime, e.g burglary etc. and helping to achieve public service agreement crime reduction targets which could result in the partnership receiving considerable extra funding.
· Contributing to the reduction of fear of crime in the areas they patrol. Their training has included victim support, drug rehabilitation and counselling and this is enabling them to become more involved in the wider arena of crime prevention.
3.1.4 Regular patrols both in the town centre and in local housing estates are key to picking up local intelligence, which can be passed onto the appropriate agency, be it the police or the local council. Speedy reports of environmental defects such as abandoned vehicles, dog fouling, fly-tipping and used hypodermics have resulted in safer, cleaner communities.
3.1.5 Incidents reported so far are close to 2000 and service volumes and outputs agreed with the ODPM at the outset of the scheme are being achieved and in most cases exceeded.
3.1.6 The wardens work closely with and within local schools in the promotion of good citizenship. All age groups are targeted from primary to high school level through numerous youth projects that have involved, encouraged and educated the youngsters. The wardens are now developing a youth warden scheme with the help of head teachers who are keen to progress the benefits of good citizenship from an early age.
3.1.7 The budget for the Ryde Scheme totals £40,000 per annum. This covers the cost of salaries for two wardens and all other costs.
3.2
The future prospects for the
Ryde scheme
3.2.1
The Ryde Community Street Warden scheme has, without doubt, proved that
significant benefits can be achieved with a very small team of community
wardens. An instant on street impact is achieved when wardens are placed within
a community. They become the eyes and ears of the community. They provide a
“semi-official” presence that instills confidence in young and old alike. They
become the enablers and reinforce the informal bonds, which strengthen
communities and help communities to help themselves.
3.2.2
It cannot be denied that the Ryde community has gained considerable
benefits since the inception of this scheme. The wardens are becoming involved
with reducing truancy in local schools and getting the youngsters back into
class and, at the same time, using the opportunity to build their youth
networks up. The wardens have consistently developed the scheme over the past
year and will continue to do so in partnership with the Council’s Safer
Communities team.
3.2.3
Funding from the ODPM and a
contribution from the Ryde Community Forum meet the total cost of the Ryde
scheme. Current funding ends in March 2005 and unless alternative sources of
funding can be found the scheme will cease at this date.
3.2.4
The wardens are actively
promoting themselves at every opportunity. This includes the County Show,
Garlic Festival, local road shows, media coverage, web-site and presentations
to local organisations.
3.2.5
Opportunities to develop and
sustain the scheme through volunteer youth wardens are being pursued in local
schools. If successful, the wardens hope to extend this to older age groups
that include retired/semi-retired citizens who are keen to put something back
into their community.
3.2.6
Seeking alternative sources of
funding is an ongoing task and to date a local Housing Association and the
Safer Communities team have made a positive commitment to the scheme.
3.3 The proposals for
decriminalising parking enforcement
3.3.1
The Council has been considering
for some time the potential for decriminalising parking enforcement, ie taking
over the responsibility for regulating the street areas currently covered by
Police-employed Traffic Wardens and employing these staff / taking on new staff
to perform this duty. Initial calculations suggested that in return for an
investment in set-up costs, the retention of additional parking charge income
will more than off-set the additional costs.
3.3.2
The Highways Department are
currently working on revised figures and the full remit of a new “scheme” and
have it in their Service Plan to produce a formal submission of application to
Decriminalise Parking Enforcement, by April 2006. NB the department will need
to get the application approved and they estimate that it would take a further
18 months to get the scheme up and running. The department is not yet at the
stage of setting budgets for expenditure, savings etc.
3.3.3
The initial financial
projections are for additional costs in 2004/5 and 2005/6 of £40K and £60K
respectively, but with £165K net income (and rising) for subsequent years. NB
it is likely that the Highways Department will view any surpluses as being
available to them to spend within the department, rather than being available
to fund other Warden schemes. It is likely that net income generated will have
to be linked to improved traffic management, public transport, congestion
initiatives etc.
3.3.4
In terms of coverage, the new
IWC “Traffic Wardens” would operate Island-wide and concentrate on the highways.
It would be expected that they concentrate on parking enforcement duties,
(unlike the current Police Traffic Wardens who may be spending as little as 30%
of their time on this). It would be expected that they would perform other
highways enforcement duties, report on dangerous kerbs, potholes etc and have
more responsibility regarding roadworks.
3.3.5
There will be staffing issues
for the Department in taking on this function, in terms of harmonising pay
scales and responsibilities with the existing Car Park Attendants. It is
envisaged that there will be a need for more staff in total and that
they will be concentrating only on highways-related duties.
3.4 Accreditation of Community Safety Officers
3.4.1
We have examined other local
schemes in operation and see no reason why we should not pursue a similar
scheme of Police Community Support Officers (PCSO’s) for the Island, in
partnership with the local Police Force. We understand that the Chief of Police
is supportive of this approach.
3.4.2
The extent of the scheme and
precise location of the additional PCSO’s is an operational matter we will need
to discuss with the Police.
3.4.3
If a bid is successful, there
will be no financial consequences initially for the IWC. Longer term funding
may require us to examine possible future funding from the IWC and this can be
considered in conjunction with an evaluation of the scheme.
3.5 The targets and objectives of the Corporate Plan and the local
strategic partnership, Island Futures
3.5.1 The
Council has a duty of “promoting the economic, social and environmental
well-being “of its area and its vision as an organisation is to “Improve Island
Life”. The Community Street Warden Scheme supports the Community Strategy, the
Corporate Plan and the Councils overall vision and values.
3.5.2 The Community Street Warden Scheme is
committed to working in partnership with other public sector services, local
key agencies and the voluntary and community sector to create safe and crime
free communities and aims to support the Councils Corporate Objectives by
improving the quality of life for all.
The scheme makes a major contribution to the overall value of “Improving
Island Life” and also to the achievement of all the Council’s values. In
particular to:
1.
By “Giving excellent
service” to our community by “listening to people” through their
work on local housing estates, within communities and schools.
2.
By “working in
partnership” and “caring for our unique environment” through
environmental enhancement projects and by helping to educate our youth in the
care and sustainability of our environment.
3.
Encouraging “safe and
crime free communities” by creating stronger communities through the
development of inclusive neighbourhood networks
4.
By encouraging pride,
good citizenship and ownership within local communities there will be “improving
health, housing and the quality of life for all”
3.5.3
At a local level the
Scheme is an integral part of the Ryde Community Plan and SEEDA’s Regional
Economic Strategy through the Ryde Regeneration and Public Realm Strategy. Islandwide it links to the Safer Communities
Partnership’s 2005/8 Action Plan for the Crime and Disorder Strategy and the
local strategic partnership’s “Safer Island” theme priorities:
Ø
To embed a culture of
road safety in residents/visitors by all partnerships actively pursuing road
safety as a long term aim
Ø
To use resources
proactively to avoid a drugs culture gripping the Island by consistent
disruptive police activity, education, parental support and treatment
Ø
To recognise burglary as
a strong indicator of the quality of life on the Island, securing low levels
will inspire confidence in the community, the partnership and the police
Ø
To undermine the trends
behind street violence by reinforcing individual, commercial, group and
community responsibilities
Ø
To recognise the growth
in night time economy will impact on public disorder/family life/public service
resourcing, as well as adding to the economic future
Ø
To integrate Island
youth in contributing positively to the quality of life and community safety
Ø
The police working with
the community to reduce crime and the fear of crime and public safety generally
through public consultation, criminal intelligence and high visibility
policing.
3.6
The current costs of crime on
the Island
3.6.1 This committee now has the benefit of being able to judge the
opportunities and merits of introducing Warden schemes across the Island and to
consider how other communities might also share in the benefits. It can
consider what the cost-effectiveness of a long-term investment in warden
schemes could bring. For example:
§
Less spent on litter picking and graffiti removal
§
Reduced levels of vandalism
§
Reduced levels of youth nuisance on the streets
§
Reduced expenditure on dog fouling
§
Quicker removal of abandoned vehicles
§
Less incidence of damage to property
§
Reduced expenditure on fly tipping
§
Less incidence of localised burglaries through prevention &
awareness programme
§
Early identification and prosecution of fly-tipping offenders through
use of mobile CCTV
§
Reduction of nuisance arson leading to reduced call out costs of engines
and staff
§
Neighbourhood mediation schemes to reduce the number of anti-social
court orders required
3.6.2
Arguably, the greatest benefit from the reductions in crime and the
improvements to the environment / local community referred to above is that
people have a reduced fear of crime. Consultations are taking place in the Ryde
pilot area to determine whether there is evidence of a real reduction in the
fear of crime as a result of the presence and work of the wardens. This will be reported at a later date. Actual reductions in crime also result in a
better quality of life for residents that cannot necessarily be quantified in
terms of financial savings.
3.6.3
Real financial savings can, of course, result from these reductions in
nuisances / crimes, though most of these do not accrue directly to the Council.
These savings can occur as
·
cash savings on Council budgets through spending less on repairing
damage from vandalism, removing litter and graffiti etc.
·
cash savings on damages for insured risks, where the Council either
physically pays out less or achieves lower insurance premiums in the longer
term.
·
savings from the number of Fire call-outs, including the real additional
costs of retained fire staff being called to either actual incidents or false
alarms.
·
cash savings to other public bodies, eg housing repairs for local
Housing Associations.
·
cash savings to the costs of Policing.
·
cash savings to private residents in terms of vandalism etc.
3.6.4
The direct costs to the Council of recent vandalism etc are shown below.
It should be noted that within the detailed figures behind these totals there
are several incidents in the Ryde area and whilst it might be unreasonable to
have expected just two Wardens working in daylight hours to have prevented
these, clearly their presence acts as a positive deterrent and is required if
we are to reduce the number of such incidents. The direct costs to the
Council, (excluding Schools), are shown below (NB some repair costs may be “hidden”
in other budget headings – initial estimates are in the region of an extra
£30,000)
|
Expense type |
2002/3 (£) |
2003/4 (£) |
|
Properties
– general |
43,104 |
41,769 |
|
Wightbus |
2,655 |
1,200 |
|
Seats,
shelters, grounds etc |
? |
8,656 |
|
Graffitti
(allocated to Ryde only) |
0 |
4,500 |
|
Abandoned
vehicles |
13,361 |
6,180 |
|
TOTAL |
59,120 |
62,305 |
3.6.5
Insurance costs will inevitably reduce with Wardens being successful in
deterring crime, preventing fires and reporting dangerous highways / pavements
etc. Proving this, however, is notoriously difficult, since the savings are
from “what might have happened” – would the dangers have been reported anyway?
Also the full costs of insurance claims are not known until several years after
the event. Ironically, the immediate impact of Wardens reporting more incidents
is that more corrective action is taken (and more quickly) by the Council and
its agencies, which results in more direct cost, but clearly a better
service / environment for Ryde residents! Guestimates of real cost savings can
be made over a longer period, by examining trends etc, and projections based on
averages and past activities, but these are insufficiently robust to warrant,
for instance, a transfer of Insurance Budget “savings” into funding more
Wardens.
3.6.6
Public liability insurance costs, as suggested above, are not fully and
finally known for several years. Just to give an indication of the possible
scale of these costs and the areas where these were incurred, the figures (to
date) for 2001/2 are shown below
|
Area |
Payments made (£) |
|
Newport |
36,266 |
|
Ryde |
75,100 |
|
Cowes |
4,074 |
|
East
Cowes |
4,074 |
|
Freshwater |
23,099 |
|
Sandown |
25,099 |
|
Shanklin |
8,850 |
|
Ventnor |
6,914 |
|
TOTAL |
183,476 |
3.6.7
The “insurance costs” incurred in Schools for vandalism and loss /
thefts are shown below
|
Insured losses |
2002/3 (£) |
2003/4 (£) |
|
Vandalism |
14,484 |
1,098 |
|
Loss
/ theft |
15,286 |
6,694 |
|
TOTAL |
29,770 |
7,792 |
3.6.8
When aggregating all types of call-outs, there is an increased trend for
most Island towns, between 2002/3 and 2003/4. If anything, the increases are
greatest in the Ryde area, mainly for False Alarms and Secondary Fires. There
is, therefore, no evidence that the Ryde Wardens have been able to reduce Fire
costs in the area, but clearly there is a need for preventative work in this
field. Arguably the Wardens could help to reduce the incidence of arson and
recent insurance costs are shown below
|
Incident |
Year |
Cost / Est (£) |
|
North
Walk, Ryde |
2002/3 |
9,175 |
|
East
Cowes (Grange Road) Primary |
2002/3 |
723 |
|
TOTAL 2002/3 |
|
9,898 |
|
Appley
Park, Ryde |
2003/4 |
469 |
|
East
Cowes (Grange Road) Primary |
2003/4
(est) |
40,000 |
|
Ryde
High School |
2003/4 |
2,668 |
|
TOTAL 2003/4 |
|
43,137 |
3.6.9
There is a similar picture for the Island’s Crime Statistics between
2002/3 and 2003/4. There are generally increases in crime rates in Ryde,
similar to those in other towns. The figures for House Burglary are showing a
pleasing reduction in Ryde, but also in other areas. The only category where
Ryde’s figures are noticeably reducing, against a general rise across the
Island, is for Shop Theft. In very recent months, (April – June 2004), Ryde’s
figures for Shop Theft and Drugs appear to be showing promising reductions, but
it is too early to see whether this is a permanent trend. To conclude, the
evidence for the presence of Community Wardens achieving reductions in crime or
fear of crime cannot be seen from the statistics, though anecdotal and more
robust public consultation give a more positive message.
3.6.10 The costs of vandalism
etc / savings from reduced crime, in respect of Housing Associations and Town
and Parish Councils are not known at this stage.
3.6.11 The above costs in terms
of current Policing resources are not known at this stage.
3.6.12 Average national figures
for several major categories of crime are available and can be applied to the
current levels of crime experienced on the Island. The IW figures for 2003/4
are shown below, based on national average costs per incident
|
Crime type |
Ave cost (£) |
No of crimes |
Cost of crime (£) |
|
Burglary
not in a dwelling |
2,700 |
563 |
1,520,100 |
|
Theft
from a shop |
100 |
570 |
57,000 |
|
Theft
of commercial vehicles (i) |
9,700 |
219 |
2,124,300 |
|
Theft
from commercial vehicles (i) |
700 |
557 |
389,900 |
|
Criminal
damage to commercial property (ii) |
890 |
3,328 |
2,961,920 |
|
Robbery
or till snatches (iii) |
5,000 |
41 |
205,000 |
|
TOTAL |
|
|
7,258,220 |
(i)
IW figure used is for all motor vehicles
(ii)
IW figure used is for all damage to property & arson
(iii)
IW figure used is for all robberies
3.6.13 Prompt and decisive
action taken in these areas is already assisting the Council in meeting its
Best Value performance indicators and service improvement targets.
3.7
National statistics and how they
might be applied from an Island perspective
3.7.1
The following data gives an
outline of the impact neighbourhood warden schemes have had across the country.
The data is based on baseline and end-line household surveys of a sample of
residents in 15 scheme areas. There is no reason to
suggest that we could not expect similar results to develop here on the Island.
ü
Residents’ survey evidence suggests that there has been a considerable
decline (27.6%) in the overall rate of crime in warden areas. This compares to a slight increase (4.7%) in
crime in the comparator areas.
ü
Quality of life in scheme areas has improved since the introduction of
neighbourhood wardens. The residents’
survey found that over 25% of residents report an increase in satisfaction with
neighbourhoods since the baseline figures were set.
ü
There was a 6% increase in residents saying that warden areas had got
better as a place to live in the last 18 months and an overall increase in the
number of residents who think their area is a good place to bring up children.
ü
Comparisons with control areas show a greater increase in satisfaction
than non-warden areas. There is a
significant correlation between residents reporting that ‘wardens make me feel
safer’ and improved perceptions of neighbourhood problems generally
ü
The residents’ survey found that reductions in the level and number of
worries about crime for residents, as a whole, were greater than in control
areas.
ü
The greatest gains have been made for fear of mugging and street
robberies: a 10% decline compared to a small increase in areas without wardens.
ü
There is a 6.5% decline in worry about bogus callers (distraction
burglaries) among the elderly in warden areas, compared to a 4.9% increase in
comparator areas.
ü
Residents’ perceptions of their environment had improved more in warden
areas than comparator areas. Particular
improvements have been noted in terms of graffiti, fly-tipping, litter and dog
fouling. The greatest impacts were seen
in schemes where wardens have a good relationship with agencies responsible for
the environment.
ü
The residents’ survey found a small decline (0.7%) in youth anti-social
behaviour, compared to a 5.4% increase in non-warden areas.
ü
The residents’ survey suggests that there were over 286,000 fewer
offences over the two-and-a-half years of the Neighbourhood Wardens programme.
3.8
Scheme Costs
3.8.1
The current scheme in Ryde costs
£40K pa and without any further service enhancements, this would be the annual
cost of extending the scheme.
3.8.2
If the Ryde scheme is not
extended, then it will cease on 31 March 2005 and there will be no ongoing
costs. There are, however, some very recent indications that a one year
extension to the funding might be negotiable, but this would be dependant upon
proving that the Wardens have reduced the fear of crime and also it may be a
necessary condition that the Council picks up the cost in future years.
3.8.3
The full cost of Community
Wardens is £20K pa per whole time employee. To service the major towns on the
Island and allow for two mobile Wardens to cover the rural areas, it is
estimated that 12 wte’s will be required, ie a total annual cost of £240K. This
assumes no supervisory / management costs, which might be needed for a team
this size – this could possibly be covered by making one of them a Head Warden
or by incorporating the team within the direct management of the Policy Team.
The service could be supplemented by groups of Volunteer Wardens.
3.8.4
An IWC “Traffic Warden” service
would be self-financing, as suggested earlier. Because of the expected
concentration of such a service on “highways duties” and fine enforcement /
income collection, however, the scheme would only make a limited contribution
towards Community Safety.
3.8.5
Police Community Support
Officers would also be at nil cost to the Council, at least initially, as they
would be funded through bids made by the Police Force. Future funding could be
an issue, if the initial monies are “pump-priming” only, but at this stage the
Police are considering what bids to put in and are not asking the Council for
future commitments. PCSO’s are trained and accredited with certain Police
powers. They would undoubtedly provide an enhanced crime reduction service,
which would be particularly valuable as they could be deployed across the
Island, in crime “hot-spots” and they work during evenings when certain crimes
are more prevalent. The IWC could influence where they are deployed and the
PCSO’s could work closely with any IWC Community Wardens, but with their status
as Police employees their primary function would be to reduce the pressures on
the local Police Force. There is also a
minority view that PCSO’s are not “proper Police Officers”, are poorly trained,
offer a false sense of security and we would be better off having ½ as many
properly trained and fully accredited Police Officers, (a Police Officer costs
approximately twice that of a PCSO). This view, however, is contrary to the
widespread positive comments made about PCSO’s. It is suggested that the Police bid for 4 PSCO posts, which would
primarily be involved in night-time patrols.
3.8.6
There is a view that we could
adopt a hybrid of the above options and mix the community / low-level
prevention duties of Community Wardens with the enforcement roles of Traffic
Wardens / PCSO’s. In practice, however, this is unlikely to work, with the
public at one point being asked to build up a relationship of trust and then
being on the receiving end of crime enforcement.
3.9
Potential Funding Sources
3.9.1
The Traffic Wardens and PSCO
initiatives require no additional funding, at least initially, from the IWC.
The potential funding sources outlined below would be to meet the costs of any
Community Wardens the IWC wishes to employ from 1 April 2005.
3.9.2
The IWC could fund the costs
from an increase in Council Tax. At a cost of £20Kpa for each Community Warden
employed, this amounts to around 25p extra per IW household. To implement the
“full scheme”, ie £240Kpa, this would add just under ½ % to Council Tax bills.
NB the Council is still currently looking for savings.
3.9.3
The above amount could
alternatively be raised through the Town / Parish Council precepts, (though the
impact is obviously the same on the Council Tax payer). Wardens funded wholly
or partly in this way would, presumably, be expected to be engaged in the
Parish / Town area(s) providing the funding.
This concept has been put forward to the Parish and Town Councils’
Executive and will be shared with respective Town and Parish Councils, the
results of which will be reported at a later date.
3.9.4
The Council could put in a bid
to GOSE for a one year extension of funding for the Ryde scheme, but this would
almost certainly require a future funding commitment from the Council itself.
3.9.5
Local Housing Associations have also
indicated that they might be willing to contribute towards an appropriate
scheme – if this were to be the case, there would be an expectation that the
wardens would operate in housing association areas.
3.9.6
We have approached local
businesses in the past regarding private funding for crime reduction
initiatives. Some have been prepared to make small contributions towards CCTV,
but it does not seem likely that this would be a major source of ongoing
revenue funding for a Community Wardens scheme.
3.9.7
Savings elsewhere could possibly
be used for funding, but this is a very difficult proposition to get agreement
on. Insurance savings could possibly be utilised in the longer term. Crime
reductions could lead to lower levels of Policing required, but current increasing
trends do not favour this possibility. Reduced Fire costs could similarly be
redirected, but again, we would need to be able to demonstrate a clear link
between more Wardens and lower costs, (which are not being experienced
at the moment).
3.9.8
The Safer Communities
Partnership has a budget of around £250K, but this is all currently earmarked
for other projects. However, the
working relationship between the partnership and the wardens is producing
mutual benefits in terms of achieving Public Service Agreement targets.
3.9.9
The potential income from our
current Public Service Agreements (PSA’s) could be a major source of one-off
funding in the future. The full potential value of the PSA to reduce domestic
burglary is £215K. If achieved in full and made available, this could provide
one-off funding for a Wardens scheme in 2006.
Receiving this money, however, is dependant upon a number of factors
·
Achieving the target reduction
in burglaries, statistics confirm that this is being achieved in Ryde, though
it is still possible to miss the target and receive 60, 70, 80 or 90% of the
full PSA funding value.
·
How far the other PSA targets
have been achieve
·
Final allocation of monies to
spending departments, based on corporate priorities
·
Confirmation that investment in
Community Wardens is the most appropriate way to spend monies “earnt” from
reducing burglaries.
3.9.10 Other local authorities have accessed funding, but in the South East this
was dependant upon them falling into the 12% most deprived wards in the South
East and that they were linking into other area based strategies such as New
Deal, SRB, Neighbourhood Renewal. The
Ryde bid satisfied this criteria. There
may be other funding streams in future that could be accessed, namely the Safer
and Stronger Communities Fund, and the Big Lottery Fund, but these sources, if
successful, would still leave us in the same position in the longer term.
3.9.11 There may be other funding streams in future that could be accessed,
namely the Safer & Stronger Communities Fund, and the Big Lottery Fund.
3.10.1 Do nothing – nil cost
3.10.2 Seek an extension to the Ryde scheme funding through GOSE and commit to
funding it in the future.
3.10.3 Continue the funding of the current two Wardens and decide appropriate
geographical location (ie specific town or mobile). Cost = c £40Kpa
3.10.4 An Island-wide scheme – two Wardens in each major town area (Ryde,
Newport, Cowes / East Cowes, Sandown / Shanklin, Ventnor & possibly West
Wight) + two mobile Wardens for the rural areas. In total 12 Wardens would cost
£240Kpa.
3.10.5 In addition to one of the above, we may be able to benefit from
joint-working with additional “Traffic Warden” services (though limited) and /
or new PCSO’s – a hybrid scheme.
3.10.6 A further area the Task Group may wish to explore is the potential for a
Multi-functional Inspection service, covering, say Highways, Beaches, Parks and
Gardens. This could complement any future Community Warden service.
4 Summary and
Recommendations
4.1 The task group decided that its first
objective was to determine the type of scheme most appropriate for the Island.
In trying to determine this, members of the task group spent a typical day with
the Ryde wardens. Their findings were discussed by the task group and were
compared with and to the merits of other types of scheme such as Police
Community Support Officers and Crime-focussed Wardens.
4.2 The group were in general agreement that
the community-based scheme was favoured but that in certain areas and at
certain times of the day/night officers with limited powers of enforcement
could be an advantage. It was therefore
agreed that a hybrid scheme could provide the best solution.
4.3
Such a scheme could be
multi-layered with community wardens working with Accredited Community Support
Officers with limited powers of enforcement. It was suggested that the role of
existing council personnel engaged in “on street” duties, such as Highways and
Car Park Attendants could change to encompass a multi-function role
complementary to the role of the wardens.
4.4 The
benefits of introducing an Island-wide scheme are numerous but perhaps can be
summarised as follows:
v
They are all about giving people a better quality of life and a greater
confidence in their communities.
v
They help to provide a high quality local environment and tackle the
fear of crime.
v
They encourage community participation and responsibility for one’s own
community.
v
They offer a highly effective, tried and tested, way to help make the
streets safer and communities stronger.
v
They add value to existing services.
v
They assist the police and local authorities in meeting targets for
service improvement.
The Council have a duty under Section 17 of the Crime and Disorder Act to promote a safer society and reduce the level of crime and disorder.
The financial implications are dependant upon the option(s) chosen, see 3.10.
BACKGROUND PAPERS USED IN THE PREPARATION OF THIS REPORT
The
Community Strategy, the Corporate Plan, Ryde Forum Community Plan, Ryde
Regeneration and Public Realm Strategy
Contact Points: Steve Milford, Select Committee Review Team ' 3620
Sue Chilton, Policy & Communications Unit ' 3632
COUNCILLOR DAVID KNOWLES
Portfolio Holder for Fire, Emergency Planning and Consumer Protection