What is Safer Streets?
The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) for Cleveland is taking part in the Home Office-funded Safer Streets project.
The first £25m Safer Streets programme ran during 2020-21. It invested in initiatives to reduce the impact of theft and burglary in some of Cleveland’s most vulnerable communities.
Since then, the OPCC has led three further successful bids. The OPCC has worked with partners throughout Cleveland on both the bids and subsequent projects.
Safer Streets 1
Working in partnership with Cleveland Police, Middlesbrough, Hartlepool and Redcar and Cleveland Councils and other agencies, the OPCC developed £1m-worth of successful bids.
Crime prevention measures focussed on the Burn Valley and Oxford Road ladder, Hartlepool, Newport, in Middlesbrough, and South Bank, in Redcar and Cleveland.
As a result of Safer Streets, a number of crime prevention measures were installed in the target areas. They included the following:
- Installing CCTV
- Putting up extra street lighting
- Carrying out improvements to alley gates
- Screening void properties to stop them from becoming a magnet for anti-social behaviour.
Safer Streets 2
The OPCC secured £366,289-worth of investment for Stockton Town Centre and the surrounding wards of Oxbridge and Parkfield to spend in 2021 and 2022.
Cash was invested in a number of crime-busting measures including the following:
- Improved CCTV and lighting
- Fitting screens to void properties
- Installing new alleygates
- Providing crime prevention advice and kits to residents.
Improved CCTV helped Cleveland Police make 94 arrests in the area in the eight weeks from 1 March 2022. It also enabled them to respond to 498 incidents.
Safer Streets 3
Safer Streets 3 was aimed at combatting violence against women and girls.
Prior to its bid, the OPCC ran a survey into the perceptions of women and girls of their own safety in public places. The results are available on our Consultations and Engagement web page.
In September 2021, the OPCC in partnership with Middlesbrough Council, was given £381,771 in Home Office funding to spend in Middlesbrough town centre and Newport wards.
Partners have undertaken a range of measures to improve the safety of women and girls in those areas. They have included the following:
- Improved CCTV and lighting;
- Extra support for victims of stalking and harassment;
- Training to enable members of the community to become Ask Me ambassadors, helping people suffering domestic abuse.
Safer Streets 4
Pallister Park and Hemlington, Middlesbrough, are sharing in £696,611.01-worth of Home Office funding as part of Safer Streets Round 4.
Initiatives aim to cut criminal damage, arson, attacks on emergency services, serious violence, burglary, drug use and drug dealing in public places.
Work has so far included improvements to lighting, additional CCTV and funding for youth outreach.
Safer Streets 5
The newest project – Safer Streets 5 – started in October 2023 and runs for 18 months.
It focuses on tackling antisocial behaviour, VAWG and neighbourhood crime.