Over £180,000 is to be invested over the next three years to help limit the impact anti-social behaviour has on local communities.
Chesterfield Brough Council, along with its partners, is set to introduce a number of new measures that will help to identify and resolve anti-social behaviour issues across the borough before they become a problem for local people.
After successfully securing funding through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), Chesterfield Borough Council is set to invest in additional mobile CCTV cameras that can be used across the borough.
The new cameras will be an addition to over 300 static cameras already located throughout the borough and can be quickly moved to monitor any problem hotspots – allowing for faster enforcement action form both the council and the police when nuisance behaviour is happening.
Funding secured through the UKSPF will also allow the council to recruit an additional community enforcement officer. Furthermore, the UKSPF along with investment from the Community Safety Partnership and the Police Crime Commissioner, will enable the continuation of a further enforcement officer post for the next two years.
The creation of these roles will allow for a closer working relationship with the local police, and also allow for a stronger visible presence in the community, including patrolling the town centre and other key locations where anti-social behaviour has been identified.
Close partnership working with the police, police community support officers and other teams from across the council will ensure a coordinated and integrated approach to addressing issues within the borough can be taken.
Following the approval of its new anti-social behaviour strategy, the council has also refreshed how it works and responds to incidents, in order to tackle the root causes of nuisance behaviour.
Previously, anti-social behaviour and any community issues were either handled by the community safety team, or the council’s housing service, depending on whether the individual involved was a council tenant.
The new approach will see these two services working closer together, to provide a single point of contact for reporting issue and ensure that all members of the community receive the same level of service and allow the council to be more proactive in its response to incidents.
Councillor Jill Mannion-Brunt, cabinet member for health and wellbeing, said: “Fortunately, Chesterfield is a safe place to live but, like all areas, we know anti-social behaviour can be an issue – and it can have a huge impact on people’s lives. Making Chesterfield a thriving borough is at the heart of everything we do, so we’re fully committed to working with our partners to do all we can to tackle the problem and we are fully committed to taking appropriate enforcement action against individuals or groups, if problems are persistent and are causing distress for local people.
“Listening to local communities, working more closely with the police and other partners, and making sure we have a visible and reassuring presence in our communities is at the heart of our new approach, and funding from the UKSPF will allow us to introduce new initiatives to help us achieve this.
“The new resources and the new way of working means we can also have a stronger focus on understanding and tackling the root causes of anti-social behaviour to stop problems escalating. This includes using all the powers available to us to help us prevent nuisance in the first place but take proportionate enforcement action when needed.”
The investment in new equipment and staff resource is just one of a range of projects and initiatives which is being funded through the UKSPF, after the council was successful in securing £2.6m from the Government. It will fund initiatives, until 2024/25, which are designed to improve life for local people and support local businesses.
View the anti-social behaviour strategy. The new strategy has a greater focus on prevention and early intervention and outlines how the council is working more closely with partners.
Anyone who needs to report anti-social behaviour can contact the team by emailing asb@chesterfield.gov.uk or calling 01246 345345. You can also complete the online form.
