The District Council continues its crackdown on anti-social behaviour

A range of successful measures to reduce incidents of ASB and deter offenders have been implemented over the past year, with the latest report by Bassetlaw, Newark and Sherwood Community Safety Partnership (BNSCSP) showing that anti-social behaviour (ASB) is down year on year in Newark and Sherwood.

The report stated that ASB was down 10% in August and 9% in September, when compared to the same periods last year, including decreases in the Newark town centre wards of Castle, Beacon and Devon, where partners from the Council, Nottinghamshire Police and the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) have been targeting a reduction through their work on the Safer Street project.

Over £1 million has already been invested into the district through the Safer Streets project and has funded security measures such as gating, lighting and CCTV cameras to help deter and capture ASB. A fifth round of funding was recently announced, and the District Council was pleased to announce that Balderton in Newark is set to share in the almost £1 million of funding that will be invested in Nottinghamshire. The District Council works in partnership with Nottinghamshire Police and Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Commissioner to deliver the project.

The District Council has also recently worked with Nottinghamshire Police and Newark Town Council on the investment into a Police Hub in Newark Town Centre. The office base, where the District Council funded essentials to get it up and running, has allowed Police officers and Community Protection Officers to respond to town centre incidents more efficiently and effectively, with an increase of arrests in Newark Town Centre as a result. Following this success there are plans to expand the Hub and implement a dedicated Newark Town Centre ASB officer who will work from the site alongside Police colleagues.

The visibility of Community Protection Officers (CPOs) who patrol the district daily was also strengthened this year, by taking into account locations and times of patrols, and investment in an additional hybrid vehicle and charging point to increase the presence of CPOs across the district by allowing them to work more flexibly and provide an enhanced responsive service.

In recurring or more serious cases the District Council serve injunctions and criminal behaviour orders in order to protect local communities. Recently, three teenagers were served with injunctions banning them from Newark Town Centre following numerous incidents of ASB against residents and businesses. Despite many interventions and repeated warnings, their distressing and threatening behaviour failed to stop, and legal action had to be taken. 

The second Anti-Social Behaviour Summit was held in October 2023 and was attended by Newark and Sherwood District Council, Nottinghamshire Police, the Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Commissioner and other partners from the district, to discuss the on-going work to combat ASB and the plans for the future.

Councillor Paul Taylor, Portfolio Holder for Public Protection and Community Relations, said: “There are a range of measures we have put in place to tackle crime and ASB over the last few months. Our approach to partnership working is yielding great results. We are working closely with the Police, Newark Town Council and the Police and Crime Commissioner offering youth engagement and education, target hardening and much more. It is always encouraging to see these initiatives having a positive impact, but we know that there is more work to be done through our effective partnership working approach. Reflecting on what has been done so far is a vital part of improving the safety of our district as we can see from the past year what is working successfully and what more we can do as we move forward.

“I want to encourage residents and businesses to join us in our work against ASB, and to help us by being our eyes and ears of the community and always reporting incidents via the proper channels so we can investigate and stop offenders in their tracks. I’m looking forward to seeing what we can accomplish as we continue to work with residents and partners and I know one thing that is clear - when we all work together, we can achieve great things.”