Funding secured to make Cardiff streets safer

The Cardiff Community Safety Partnership has received funding from the Home Office’s Safer Streets Fund to tackle neighbourhood crime in the city.

Consisting of Cardiff Council, South Wales Police, the Police and Crime Commissioner and other key partners, the partnership has successfully secured £432,000 for safety improvements in Grangetown and Butetown.

The Safer Streets Fund is part of an £18.4m funding announcement for schemes across England and Wales to reduce crimes like burglary, vehicle theft and robbery.

Cllr Lynda Thorne, cabinet member for housing and communities, said: ‘The Home Office funding will enable us to not only tackle cases of acquisitive crime in particular hot spots in the city, they will help prevent them in the first instance and give reassurance to residents that their safety is our priority.

‘We’ve also worked closely with residents in Butetown and Grangetown, listening to their concerns about community safety in their local areas, to develop this bid. Measures such as increased CCTV, better lighting, smart technologies and getting the communities themselves involved in crime-stopping campaigns will help us make a real difference in preventing acquisitive crimes and other offences from blighting these areas and our residents.’

The funding will be used to deliver new safety measures such as additional CV and better lighting, as well as mobile CCTV to response to incidents, and enhanced crime prevention services for repeat victims, such as doorbell monitoring, security improvements, property marking and educational workshops.

They will also use the money to fund new approaches to identifying anti-social behaviour hotspots, a new crime response and prevention command vehicle, and crimestoppers initiatives in areas where the communities have raised concerns to the Council about high crime levels.

Divisional commander for Cardiff, chief superintendent Wendy Gunney, said: ‘This additional funding for Butetown and Grangetown is very welcome news.

‘Improving infrastructure such as street lighting and CCTV will help create an even safer environment and hopefully make residents and visitors feel more confident to go about their daily business.

‘We will continue to work with the local authority to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour, and our own targeted patrols, to reassure the community that their continued safety and well-being are at the heart of everything we do.’

In related news, traditional police boxes in London are set to be reimagined as ‘Digital Service Points’, with the winning design by architecture and design studio Unknown Works unveiled earlier this week.

Photo by Peter Pacheco