More money for scheme to make areas feel safer
PCC GIVES EXTRA £500K FOR FUND TARGETING ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOUR
COMMUNITY initiatives aimed at tackling antisocial behaviour (ASB) are to receive further support from Hampshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC).
Donna Jones said her ASB Fund supports communities that are striving to make neighbourhoods safer places to live, work and visit.
The fund has an annual £200,000 pot and a further £500,000 is now being injected into it. Applications are invited from local authorities, police, Community Safety Partnerships and community groups to provide partnership solutions to recurring ASB issues.
Ms Jones said: “For too long, communities across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight have been blighted by antisocial behaviour.
“Residents, businesses and neighbourhoods continually tell me that ASB makes them feel unsafe.
“As police commissioner, tackling this scourge is always on my radar. I want to reassure everyone that I’m doing everything in my power to reverse this damaging and destructive behaviour.
“As a collective, we can do more to bring neighbourhoods out from under the shadow of ASB. I am continually listening to communities across the two counties and I’ve enabled this further funding to be available for interventions and projects that make a real difference.”
The ASB Fund was launched by the PCC in July 2021. Since then, reported antisocial behaviour has been on the decline in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. From April 2020 to March 2021, there were 37,325 recorded incidents. That figure dropped to 29,201 for April 2021 to March 2022, and 22,418 for April 2022 to March 2023.
Projects funded this year include a pilot youth programme to engage with young people in Rushmoor, electric bikes for Neighbourhood
Policing Teams and summer youth outreach and engagement in the Hotwalls area of Portsmouth.
Workshops, lessons and a safeguarding fair to tackle youth knife crime in Southampton, and a youth outreach trial for Ryde, on the Isle of Wight, have also received funding.
Ms Jones added: “My ASB Fund is having a clear and positive impact.
“This partnership approach and responsiveness to community need must be continued because together we can make safer and stronger communities.”
Local authorities, MPs and Community Safety Partnerships have been contacted, informing them of the £500,000 cash injection.
The bid application form and guidance is available by emailing ASBFund@hampshire.police.uk