Safer Streets project receives controversial response from councillor

The £1m funding package is allocated to small key areas across the county but there are very strict rules of usage and money must be used within the 15 months.

Walking home alone (Image: Photo Agency)

Christopher Williams from the Police and Crime Commissioner's Office provided an update to councillors at the area board meeting on Tuesday, November 28. He confirmed the focus was on public spaces and could not go to anything which was funded previously.  

Christopher Williams said: "That made it very difficult."

Two parts of Salisbury were identified - St Martin's central and St Edmund's south and the priority is to combat anti-social behaviour and youth crime. 

Christopher Williams said: "We will be working with Venture Security and a dedicated team of wardens are to be provided on Friday and Saturday nights working through the night in the city centre.

"It will help with the correlation between women, alcohol and potentially, predatory men. They will be a visible deterrent and that should help with public order.

This will commence early in the New Year. 

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Four deployable mobile CCTV cameras will supplement Salisbury's CCTV service and can be moved to any hot spot for crime and will link back to the control room. 

In addition, funding for The Bobby Van Trust has also been confirmed.

It works with areas prone to burglary which provides resources such as alarms, door chains, locks and safes and will be linked to further understanding of burglaries as to when they occur. 

Christopher said: "We also heard from colleagues at the city council that Salisbury Playhouse is being targeted with people gathering, and people behaving poorly, so we have provided some funding to fence off particularly vulnerable areas between the playhouse and the Maltings car park. That should push those people out of those areas."

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In response to the presentation, Councillor Hocking made his thoughts clear. 

He said: "I was massively disappointed with this."

"When this first came up, several of us looked at this and I thought we can actually do something about this. 

"In the presentation, it said 'you cannot replicate previously funded activity,' so  for us, we were talking about CCTV cameras in the Friary, and we had to drop it. The Bobby Van... that got more money, and that should have been excluded. 

"There are a whole load of contradictions in this.  I wanted people to be able to look up and say 'oh look, Safer Streets has funded that. My patch is the Friary, and I wanted lights and mirrors in the underpasses to help women and girls to feel safer."

"I think it could have been done much better and I am not happy at all."