Pledge to prioritise tackling crime and disorder in bid to keep South Tyneside safe

The plans come after councillors were presented with a report on the borough’s community safety partnership plan for 2018-2021.

According to the data, crime rose by 13% in the Northumbria Police force area, with South Tyneside’s rate jumping up by 6% last year.

Lead member for area management and community safety, Coun Nancy Maxwell, said the council had delivered “notable” successes in 2017 - including combating anti-social behaviour, services for domestic abuse victims and the use of five mobile CCTV cameras around the borough.

She added: “A recent community safety study found that 98% of residents surveyed felt very or fairly safe living in their neighbourhood.”

The Safer South Tyneside partnership is made up of representatives from a range of organiations including Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service, South Tyneside Council, health groups, Northumbria Police and the Probation Service.

Priorities for reducing crime, disorder and re-offending for 2018/19 include developing a hub for domestic violence victims in South Shields town centre and plans to target youth disorder hotspots.

Other schemes will see work to cut domestic noise complaints, tackle wheelie bin fires, reduce rubbish in domestic yards and gardens and combat environmental crime, such as fly-tipping.

Conservative councillor, Coun Jeff Milburn, welcomed the report which he said showed South Tyneside was a “safe place to live.”

But council leader, Coun Iain Malcolm, slammed the impact of government cuts on police forces across the UK.

He said: “You have a Parliamentary Select Committee saying that the police, because of the continued cutbacks in their service budgets, are becoming an irrelevance to large parts of the community.

“They don’t see the police on the streets. They’re not preventing crime they’re more operational on detecting crime.

“The report makes it clear that there’s a very strong partnership in South Tyneside - not only with the police.

“There are a whole range of agencies working together in extreme financial difficulties to make this area one of the safest in the Northumbria force area.”

Priorities for 2018/19 include:

Violence against the person

• Developing a pilot “Safe Haven” project for South Shields town centre providing support for families who have experienced domestic abuse

• Raising awareness of safety and vulnerability issues related to the night time economy

• Developing a “Prevent, Protect and Provision” based approach to domestic violence and abuse

Youth related disorder

• Reviewing areas where activities for youths are based

• Improving information sharing on individual offenders

• Targeting youth disorder hotspots and business premises

Noise nuisance

• Prevention work around managing domestic noise complaints

• Reviewing the council’s noise management policy.

Environmental Crime

• Work to reduce wheelie bin fires

• Targeting environmental crime hotspots

• Targeting rubbish in domestic yards and gardens

Chris Binding , Local Democracy Reporting Service