Agenda item

To submit a report by the Deputy Chief Executive.

The report of the Deputy Chief Executive was submitted for consideration by the Committee.

The Portfolio Member for Adults’ Services and Community Safety said that there is a statutory duty on Local Authorities, in accordance with the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, and subsequent amendments within the Police ad Criminal Justice Act 2002 and 2006, to work in partnership with the Police, Health Service, the Probation Service and the Fire and Rescue Service which are the main agencies that make up the Community Partnership Safety Partnership.  The Annual Report give an opportunity to view the statistics, and the challenges faced and ensure that working in partnership is fundamental to community safety.

The Community Safety Senior Operational Officer for Gwynedd and Anglesey reported that the areas of responsibility of the Community Safety Partnership Board was originally Crime and Disorder, Substance Misuse and Reducing re-offending.  She noted that additional responsibility has been included as regards to Serious Crime and Domestic Homicide Reviews that are reported to the Home Office.  She highlighted that the Community Safety Partnership does not have specific budgets for local projects and grants must be applied for through the Regional and National Level.  The priorities of the Board are based upon the Safer North Wales Board’s Strategy which are :-

·         Preventing Crime and Anti-Social Behaviour

·         Tackling Violent Crime

·         Tackling Serious Organised Crime

·         Protecting and building resilient communities and maintaining public safety

She further noted that the Partnership Board receives data on crime levels by the Police on a quarterly basis which were highlighted within the report.   One of the goals of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund is to build resilient, safe and healthy communities, which includes targeted improvements to the built environment and innovative approaches to crime prevention.  Projects under this funding has resulted in the upgrading and installation of a new CCTV in Holyhead and Llangefni, with the aim of improving perception of safety and reducing neighbourhood crime.  £250k has been awarded to Anglesey under this project and will be completed by the end of February 2025.  Continued work is undertaken as regards to ongoing Domestic Homicide Reviews and several awareness sessions were convened to share good practice. 

In considering the report, the Committee discussed the following main matters:-

·         Questions were raised as to what extent is the Action Plan sufficiently robust to deal with aspects of the priority areas for the benefit of the Anglesey’s communities.  The Community Safety Senior Operational Officer responded that she was confident that the Action Plan is sufficiently robust as all the responsible partner organisations work in partnership within the Partnership Board with the resource available. Whilst local grants have ceased the Board must take advantage of any funding available through the Safer Street Fund and Shared Prosperity Fund.   The Chief Executive said that there has been improved working relationship within the partners of the Partnership Board recently.

·         Questions were raised as to the processes in place to deal with the consistent anti-social behaviour as it seems that there is an increase in anti-social behaviour especially in the Holyhead area and reports of Social Housing Tenants anti-social behaviour whilst the report highlights that there has been a decrease in anti-social behaviour.  Concerns were also raised as regards to illegal drug use and homelessness.  The Community Safety Senior Operational Officer responded that the data included within the report are reported police incidents.  She accepted that there are incidents of anti-social behaviour with Holyhead which may not have been reported to the Police.  The Police, using PCSO’s to target the areas that are experiencing consistent anti-social behaviour to reduce these offences.  She further said there is a specific Anti-Social Behaviour Officer within North Wales Police to tackle the repeated offenders.  Significant partnership work is undertaken with the Education Department within the Council, Youth Justice and Trading Standards.  She said that Trading Standards have targeted a shop selling vapes in Holyhead which was a good example of partnership working in the area.  The PCSO’s and the Schools Liaison Officers have been attending local schools to reduce barriers and to make contact with children/young people and parents.  There is a policing plan in Holyhead and significant funding has been received through the Safer Streets funding, Shared Prosperity Fund and the Home Office to tackle problems in Holyhead.  The Community Safety Senior Operational Officer said that she would be willing to arrange a meeting between the Elected Member for the Holyhead area and the Police to afford further discussions and to give assurances on the work undertaken in response to the problem areas.  The Deputy Chief Executive said that there are added pressures on services within the Local Authorities and the work undertaken by the Partnership Board has been to get all the key agencies together in respect of partnership working to tackle the problems faced by local communities.

In response to comments made regarding reports of Social Housing Tenants anti-social behaviour, the Head of Housing Services said that the data within the report does not coincide with the Housing Services data.  He noted that there are two Senior Anti-Social Behaviour Officers working within the department and it must be considered that the highest proportion of social housing exist in the Holyhead area.

With regard to Homelessness, the Head of Housing Services said that the number of people sleeping of the streets of Anglesey in low according to the data by the Housing Department.  However, there may be more people sleeping on the street that the service is unaware of; there is an app called ‘street-link’ that the public can report any person that is sleeping on the streets and the information is forwarded to the Council and other agencies to enable them to visit the person to ascertain if they require help and assistance, however, it is up to the individual to accept the assistance afforded.  There is danger to there health especially during cold weather and they are vulnerable to experience unacceptable crime against them whilst sleeping on the streets.    

Councillor Pip O’Neill said that an ‘youth hub’ is currently being considered for the Holyhead area for youngsters over the age of 13 to attend and to get them to engage in activities rather than causing anti-social behaviour in the town and to engage more positively within the community.

·         Reference was made that there is an increase in anti-social behaviour and drug issues in the Llangefni area.  It was noted that the installation of the CCTV cameras is welcomed in Llangefni but there is a need for collaboration with different agencies to tackle the problem as young children are affected by the issues of drugs within their home environment which can affects their education.   The Community Safety Senior Operational Officer responded that an application has been submitted to the Share Prosperity Fund to install new CCTV equipment in Llangefni and the link from these cameras will be linked to the police directly. She further said that a multi-agency meeting is to be arranged to discuss issues in Llangefni and an update will be afforded thereafter.  Llangefni is part of the ‘Restore’ project which attracts funding from the Home Office to tackle issues of anti-social behaviour and drug taking issues.   Comments were made that there is a need for financial resources to tackle crime with additional Police Officers and CCTV cameras in every area of the communities.

·         It was further said there is an increase in hate crime and especially religious heat crime on Anglesey, which is not referred to within the report.  The Chair of the Standing Advisory Committee (SAC) said that she has invited a representative from the Police to attend the next meeting of the SAC.  The Community Safety Senior Operational Officer responded that she would discuss the matter of hate crime with the Police and would update the Members thereafter. 

·       Reference was made to the increase of suicide cases.  The Community Safety Senior Operational Officer responded that there is a Regional Working Group in place which is driven by the Self-Harm and Suicide Co-Ordinators as part of the Health Board, and she assured the Committee that she would raise the issues of concern with the Regional Working Group.  The Chief Executive said that the Committee could request the Executive to seek an update from the Regional Group, led by the Health Board, on the work and discussions regarding the prevention of suicides.

·         Reference was made that the report refers to the decrease in sexual offences, however it was considered that maybe some of these offences are not reported and that there are considerably more cases than is reported to the police.

·         Reference was also made that there is an increase in vehicle crime on Anglesey which is concerning.

·         Reference was also made to ‘civil crime’ with people entering peoples home and taking pictures of people’s possessions and posting them on-line.  The Community Safety Senior Operational Officer responded that she would raise the matter of ‘civil crime’ within the Partnership Board at its next meeting.

·         Reference was made that there are no statistics as regards to issues of crime within rural areas within the report.  It was noted that there is a need for mobile CCTV cameras to tackle issues of anti-social behaviour within rural communities on Anglesey.

·         Questions were raised as to how accurate the data as regards to shoplifting is within the report and whether shops do not report incidents to the Police.   The Community Safety Senior Operational Officer responded that whilst accepting that there are increase in incidents of shop lifting that are not reported to the Police, she noted that the data included within the report are the incidents that have been reported.  She said that there has been an increase in reported shoplifting within a store in Holyhead recently which is due to change of management within the store and National Policies are being adhered to within this store.  The local Police force in Holyhead have also been working with this store to develop a strategy to tackle shoplifting incidents.

The Portfolio Member for Adults’ Services and Community Safety said that he would appreciate comparable data with Gwynedd included within the next Annual Report.

The Deputy Chief Executive assured the Committee that he, as the previous Chair of the Gwynedd and Ynys Môn Community Safety Partnership, would raise the issues of concerns by this Committee at the next meeting of the Partnership Board.

It was RESOLVED :-

·     to note the contents of the report and attached documents and to support the priorities and future direction of the work of the Gwynedd and Ynys Môn Community Safety Partnership;

·     to request that the Executive seeks an update from the Regional Group, led by the Health Board, on the work and discussions regarding the prevention of suicides.

ACTIONS : As noted above.