Community warden service could get £1m for expansion
Council wants to bolster ‘excellent’ scheme
Community wardens could receive a timely £1million boost from Kent County Council (KCC) to expand the service. For 18 years the scheme has helped to prevent crime, support vulnerable residents and tackle social isolation.
Amid the coronavirus emergency, the 70-strong Kent Community Warden Service (KCWS) has broadened its role and taken on duties such as delivering essential food parcels and meals to vulnerable residents and maintaining key supplies from shops and eateries.
Now KCC, which runs the scheme, wants to expand it ahead of an expected rise in demand. Maidstone county councillor Ian Chittenden (Lib Dem), who has been pushing for expansion of wardens into urban areas since 2015, says the service provides “excellent social care” for communities. Cllr Chittenden added: “Community wardens understand their areas and get to know the people in them very well. “They have taken over the roles of PCSOs whose responsibilities expanded to cover up to three wards rather than one. I hope these plans are approved as soon as practically possible.” Wardens work across 128 Kent communities, including Maidstone and Sevenoaks and are out between 7.30am and 10pm seven days a week.
They are responsible for tackling low-level crime, controlling traffic, offering advice and working closely with Kent Police and other public authorities. Among them is Sandra Edmunds, who has been a community warden in East Peckham and Hadlow for two years. The 56-year-old said: “Being able to really get to know the residents is one of the amazing things about the job.
“We have 75 homes in the area we were already working quite closely with before anything with coronavirus even happened, which was really helpful in identifying the most vulnerable families.”
During the lockdown, Mrs Edmunds has been spending her days coordinating help for residents, delivering food, dealing with anti-social behaviour and checking in on people. KCC’s £1m expansion plan comes as the number of over 65s living in Kent is forecast to grow by 25% by 2030, placing a significant increase in demand on the community warden service. If approved, the cash will come from the authority’s budget. A decision will be made by cabinet member for community, Cllr Mike Hill (Con), in June.