The Committee is asked to consider the Swale CSP Strategic Assessment.

Consultation on the recommended priorities for the Swale CSP Community Safety Plan 2019/20, put forward through the Community Safety Strategic Assessment. The purpose of the strategic assessment is to provide an understanding of community safety problems within the Borough, in order to inform and help determine partnership priorities going forward.  The consultation response will be provided to the CSP Executive for consideration.

The Cabinet Member for Housing and Safer Communities, the Safer and Stronger Communities Officer and the Economy and Community Services Project Officer have been invited to attend for this item.

The Chairman welcomed the Cabinet Member for Housing and Safer Communities, the Economy and Community Services Manager and the Economy and Community Services Project Officer to the meeting.

The Cabinet Member for Housing and Safer Communities introduced the report which determined the work programme for the Partnership for the coming year.  He highlighted the current priorities and themes on page 29 of the report and sought Members’ views.

The Chairman congratulated the Economy and Community Services Project Officer (Community Safety) and support staff for the production of the document.

A Member sought more information on how partners worked together to prioritise and solve issues and highlighted a lack of communication and feedback after incidents were reported.  In response, the Cabinet Member for Housing and Safer Communities said that monitoring of focused areas was carried out after incidents were logged and the community trigger worked well, when reported.  He agreed that feedback from some partners could be improved.  The Economy and Community Services Manager added that a newsletter update was circulated to Members, and if Members reported incidents to SBC, feedback would be given.  A discussion around community engagement followed and a Member suggested local engagement forums and pop-up stands as more effective communication.

In response to a Member expressing concern about the effect that drugs had on the community, the Cabinet Member for Housing and Safer Communities agreed that the use of drugs influenced all the current priorities and themes shown on page 29 of the report.

In response to a Member’s question, the Economy and Services Manager highlighted the Glossary of terms on page 56 of the report and explained that the MARAC (Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference) was a regular meeting held to discuss high-risk victims.

A Member referred to Organised Crime Groups (OCG’s) and the Cabinet Member for Housing and Safer Communities said that Kent Police employed dedicated Gang Liaison Officers.

The Economy and Community Services Project Officer agreed to find out the definition of the colours in the graph on page 38 of the report and the Economy and Community Services Manager advised she was seeking more context from Kent Police on the maps produced in the report.

A Member suggested including other Housing providers in the statistics for Anti-social behaviour on page 41 of the report. 

The Chairman referred to seasonal trends in crime and commended the Police’s work with the Community Safety Partnership in reducing crime in tourist areas on the Isle of Sheppey.

A Member suggested that fly posting incidents be included in the figures for Fly Tipping and agreed that there should be further re-engagement with the Street Pastors to consider Purple Flag accreditation.  Another Member agreed, highlighted the anti-social behaviour of youths and referred to the expected increase in visitors at night when the Sittingbourne Town Centre Regeneration scheme was complete.

There was a discussion around the installation of gates to tackle anti-social behaviour at Galway Road, Sheerness and the Economy and Community Services Manager advised that the situation was being monitored.

The Cabinet Member for Housing and Safer Communities spoke of the worthwhile work involved when referrals for radicalisation were received.

The Economy and Community Services Manager explained that some of the maps in the document were Police maps that defined wards by old ward boundaries and that some information from Age UK was out of date.  

A Member referred to IOM (Integrated Offender Management) on page 49 of the report, and the Economy and Community Services Manager agreed to find out the figures from other authorities, to compare to Swale.  In the discussion that followed, Members praised the work that prisoners from the Isle of Sheppey prisons carried out in the local area, as part of their rehabilitation. 

In response to a Member’s question about the Community Safety Partnership’s Twitter account, the Economy and Community Services Manager advised that the account should have been de-activated and she would look into this.

The Economy and Community Services Manager advised that in response to the General Data Protection Regulations, the information sharing agreement had been revised.

A Member drew attention to 2 typing errors in the coloured chart on page 54 which should have read ‘Children’ and ‘development’.

All Members present agreed that the heading of ‘Violence Against Women and Children’ in the current priorities and themes should remain as a wider heading rather than ‘Domestic Abuse’ as this narrowed the focus.

The Cabinet Member for Housing and Safer Communities thanked Members for their praise of staff and Members for the useful debate.

The Chairman thanked the Cabinet Member for Housing and Safer Communities, the Economy and Community Services Manager and the Economy and Community Services Project Officer (Community Safety) for their attendance.