Almost £1m of Government grants will fund 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 project aims to reduce levels of neighbourhood crime, violence against women and girls (VAWG) and antisocial behaviour.
Safer Streets 5 runs from October 2023 until March 2025. It will target 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, Empowering Women, A Way Out and Community First.
Middlesbrough
Up to £330,720 will be spent to combat neighbourhood crime and antisocial behaviour.
Work in the Central and Longlands and Beechwood wards will include home security measures for residents.
Also included is additional CCTV coverage and focused work to combat antisocial motorbike riding and aggressive begging.
Stockton
Up to £329,720 will be spent in the Town Centre ward to tackle neighbourhood crime, antisocial behaviour and VAWG.
Initiatives will include better street lighting, more CCTV, security measures for homeowners and additional support for sex workers.
Hartlepool
Up to £333,333 will be spent in the Victoria ward in Hartlepool to combat neighbourhood crime and antisocial behaviour.
Projects will include improvements to alley gates and a new Community Cohesion Officer, who will ask residents what they want to see in their community – and enable them to achieve it.
This is the fifth time additional funding has been successfully secured by Cleveland PCC’s office and partners from the Government’s Safer Streets funding.
This brings the total Safer Streets investment in Cleveland to £3.44m since 2020.
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