Creating a Safer Caerphilly

13eg Ionawr 2014

Over the last year the partnership has continued to work towards making Caerphilly county borough an even safer place to live, work and visit. The Safer Caerphilly Community Safety Partnership is provided part of it's funding from the Gwent Police and Crime Commissioner's Commissioning Fund.

Some examples of the successful work undertaken to date include:

  • The Safer Caerphilly Victim's Champion provided a comprehensive support package to 327 victims of anti-social behaviour.
  • The partnership funded the Caerphilly Care & Repair Service to provide safety equipment to 29 vulnerable victims. This has included providing and fitting external CCTV equipment to high risk and vulnerable victims of anti-social behaviour for the first time. The service also carried out similar work for 34 victims of domestic abuse during this time.
  • Over 500 additional youth activity places were offered to young people as part of the Commissioner funded Project Bernie scheme, which provided diversionary activities and awareness raising of the problems associated with deliberate grass fires.
  • 325 Year 5 pupils from schools across the county borough engaged with the Junior Community Safety Warden scheme, which teaches young people about the impact that anti-social behaviour can have on their communities. Following a successful pilot, the scheme is now being rolled out to all primary schools across the county borough.
  • The council's team of Community Safety Wardens provided a high visibility presence, through targeted patrols and engagement at 148 community meetings and events for a total of 8,644 hours.
  • The CCTV network coverage increased from 144 to 148 cameras, which provide coverage and reassurance to 28 different towns and villages.

The 2013 Household Survey, which is a biennial survey undertaken by Caerphilly County Borough Council to determine levels of satisfaction with various aspects of life in the county borough, also generated positive results for the organisations that comprise the Safer Caerphilly Community Safety Partnership.

The survey found that 64% of respondents agree that the police and council are dealing with anti-social behaviour and crime issues that matter in the area. This figure is up from 58% of those who agreed with the same statement in the last Household Survey in 2011.

In addition, 76% of respondents felt that levels of crime had got better over the last two years, and 69% felt that levels of anti-social behaviour had got better over the last two years across the county borough.
Buoyed by the results, the Gwent Police and Crime Commissioner, Ian Johnston, said: "It's great to hear about such positive results generated through effective partnership working in the community.

Initiatives such as this one complement some of the priorities outlined in my Police and Crime plan which is to ensure that the people of Gwent are less affected by anti-social behaviour and are protected from serious harm. These results are encouraging and I would like to congratulate all the partners involved on their hard work so far."

Cllr David Poole, Cabinet Member for Community and Leisure Services said: "These are pleasing results, which have come about as a result of continued hard work from a large number of organisations, volunteers and communities across our county borough."

He continued: "We acknowledge however that there is still work to do, and we will continue to work with our partners to proactively address community and resident's concerns to ensure that Caerphilly county borough remains a very safe and pleasant place."

For further information on the work of the Safer Caerphilly Community Safety Partnership, please visit http://your.caerphilly.gov.uk/saferccb