Almost £1m of Government grants have funded measures to reduce crime and antisocial behaviour in some of Cleveland’s most vulnerable communities.
Cleveland Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) was allocated £999,999.84, as part of the Home Office’s £43m Safer Streets 5 Fund.
The Cleveland project aims to reduce levels of neighbourhood crime, violence against women and girls (VAWG) and antisocial behaviour.
Safer Streets 5 ran from October 2023 until the end of March 2025. It targetted 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.
OPCC partners in Safer Streets 5 include Middlesbrough, Stockton-on-Tees Borough and Hartlepool Councils. Also involved are Cleveland Police, Thirteen Housing, the Power of Women and A Way Out.
This is the fifth time additional funding has been successfully secured by Cleveland OPCC and partners from the Government’s Safer Streets fund.
This brings the total Safer Streets investment in Cleveland to £3.44m since 2020.
Middlesbrough
Up to £330,720 has been spent to combat neighbourhood crime and antisocial behaviour.
Work in the Central and Longlands and Beechwood wards included home security measures for residents.
Also included was additional CCTV coverage and focused work to combat antisocial motorbike riding and aggressive begging.
Stockton
Up to £329,720 was spent in the Town Centre ward to tackle neighbourhood crime, antisocial behaviour and VAWG.
Initiatives included better street lighting, more CCTV, security measures for homeowners and additional support for sex workers.
Hartlepool
Up to £333,333 was spent in the Victoria ward of Hartlepool to combat neighbourhood crime and antisocial behaviour.
Projects included improvements to alley gates and a two-man Safer Streets team, whose aim was to make sure residents are engaged in what’s happening in their area.
A community grant fund saw small grants distributed to groups working with residents.