The District Council and partners come together to forge a safer future for Newark

The multi-agency Anti-Social Behaviour Summit brings together local partners to address issues related to crime and anti-social behaviour (ASB) in Newark Town Centre and seeks to work collaboratively to make improvements to reduce nuisance, distress or harm to residents, visitors and local businesses.

Nottinghamshire Police, Newark Town Council, Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service and the Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Commissioner, alongside other partners, will be joining Newark and Sherwood District Council for the latest meeting. The purpose of the summit is to review the latest crime and ASB data, review recent interventions that have been implemented and their success, and to identify the next steps to cracking down on ASB.

Councillor Paul Taylor, Portfolio Holder for Public Protection and Community Safety at Newark and Sherwood District Council said: “This type of collaborative working with our partners is vital to our crackdown on anti-social behaviour to ensure our reach is wide and our resources are strengthened. The summit is a fantastic opportunity for partners to come together to ensure we are all working collectively to achieve our shared goals, and keeping track of the success we have had and where improvements are needed.

“We remain as focused as ever on creating a safe Newark Town Centre in which residents and businesses feel safe, secure, and supported. I am looking forward to seeing what we achieve with this latest meeting, and residents can be assured that we know there is always more to be done and we will continue our efforts to tackle ASB rates.”

The District Council regularly works with partners to improve safety in Newark and is committed to a comprehensive and thorough programme of initiatives to reduce crime and ASB across the district as a whole.

The Council regularly works with the Police to investigate incident of ASB, the latest of which is a spate of vandalism at Sconce and Devon Park. Officers from both organisations are working together to identify the culprits and deter any future incidents.

Officers from the Council’s Public Protection and Housing teams also work with Police to secure Closure Orders and Criminal Behaviour Orders to provide relief to communities that have been subjected to anti-social behaviour. Two Closure Orders were recently granted for properties in Boughton following the joint work of the District Council and Police.

Over £1 million has been invested into the district through the Safer Streets project, funding security measures such as gating, lighting and CCTV cameras to help deter and capture ASB. Balderton is the latest area in Newark to benefit from the funding and as part of Safer Streets 5 has been allocated a share in the almost £1 million of funding that is being invested in Nottinghamshire. This project is already underway and so far investments include environmental improvements, the installation of a new youth shelter and, most recently, a graffiti project during which local children helped transform a graffiti hotspot with bright and colourful artwork. The District Council is working in partnership with Nottinghamshire Police, Balderton Parish Council and Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Commissioner to deliver the project.

The District Council also 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, now allows 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.