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Safety security help for more Newark residents

Posted onPosted on 16th Jul

More than 170 extra households in Newark will be offered free security upgrades thanks to the expansion of a ground-breaking safety project.

Following the success of the Safer Streets initiative in the Northgate and Chatham areas of the town, project leaders have now secured an additional £109,000 to fund safety improvements in three new locations.

The funding — which comprises £44k from Nottinghamshire’s new Police and Crime Commissioner Caroline Henry, £34,000 from Newark and Sherwood District Council, and £31,000 from Nottinghamshire Police — will deliver £30,000 of free security upgrades on people’s homes.

Up to 174 households could benefit from the scheme, which primarily focuses on the residential areas around Mill Gate, Bowbridge Road and Barnby Gate.

Improvements range from free sensor lighting and window restrictors to video door bells, WIFI and 4G security cameras.

Nottinghamshire Police has agreed to fund the cost of a Burglary Reduction Officer post for a further 12 months, who will work within the communities, making contact with eligible residents and offering a free risk assessment to determine their needs.

The team will also deliver high-visibility police patrols in the area’s high-crime hotspots, offer free security devices, locks and state-of-the-art GPS trackers to cyclists as well as free Bike Register marking, deploy mobile ANPR technology to detect crime, undertake vehicle crime prevention and environmental improvements, including the removal of graffiti and fly-tipping waste.

Launching the second phase of the Safer Streets project in Newark, Commissioner Henry said: ““Before my election, I said I wanted to restore power back to our communities and get tougher on criminals. Safer Streets is about arming people with the knowledge and tools they need to protect themselves and their property but equally, it’s about using the very best in policing technology and resources to catch offenders.

“We know people in the Chatham and Northgate areas of Newark already feel safer thanks to the first phase of interventions.”

The original Safer Streets project, spearheaded by a host of partners including the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner in Nottinghamshire, Nottinghamshire Police, Newark and Sherwood District Council and Nottinghamshire County Council, has delivered safety improvements worth £550,000 in the Chatham Court and Northgate areas of the town to combat crime and antisocial behaviour.

Since it launched in August 2020, there have been no repeat burglary victims in the target areas and no further incidents have arisen at addresses that have benefitted from free security measures, including state-of-the-art solar-powered security cameras.

Meanwhile, no thefts have been reported of GPS tracked bikes funded by the project and residents have reported increased feelings of safety during the day and at night.

As part of a sustainability plan, project leaders will continue to support Neighbourhood Watch Schemes, Residents’ Associations and community groups established during the first phase of the project while a new Community Hub in Chatham Court will house a warden-type service providing a single point of contact for residents and agencies in relation to the site.

The new ANPR cameras installed in Newark and Sherwood will be maintained and activations responded to by the police.

Coun David Lloyd, leader of Newark and Sherwood District Council, said: “This is a brilliant result for the communities of Mill Gate, Bowbridge Road and Barnby Gate. Preventing crime is vitally important and it is a privilege to have this additional funding to build on the successes we’ve already seen as part of Safer Streets in other areas of Newark.

“We want to do everything we can to make Newark a safer place and being awarded this grant for a second time will mean we can continue to make improvements that I hope will have an enormous impact.”

Inspector Charlotte Allardice, district commander for Newark and Sherwood, said: “We are delighted with the work of Safer Streets which has paid huge dividends for residents. People say they feel safer, especially after dark, and this is reflective of the work that we’ve been doing, such as overnight patrols and undercover activity as well as benefitting from the increase in ANPR and CCTV cameras.

“The dedicated burglary reduction officer has also played a significant part in these results, which has seen no repeat burglary victims. As a result we have now agreed as a force to continue to support the second phase of Newark’s safer streets project by providing this burglary reduction officer full time to support this work going forward. PCSO Ellie Smalley will be carrying on her work with residents who’ve been affected by crime and will continue to work with our partners and wider policing teams to conduct operations and projects which crackdown on criminality.”

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