Community Safety Strategy 2005 - 2008
"The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 gave local authorities, the Police and other key partners special responsibilities to tackle crime and disorder. In particular, the Act places a duty on the police and local authorities to work in partnership with community groups and other public bodies to develop and implement a strategy for reducing crime and disorder.
This is the third Community Safety Strategy for Bridgnorth District. Since the last strategy was produced in 2002. Bridgnorth District is the only district in Shropshire to experience a decrease in recorded crime of 13.4% over a three-year period. This is excellent news for everyone, but members of the Bridgnorth District Community Safety Partnership want to see communities become even safer places to live, work and visit.
This strategy sets out our proposals for further improving community safety over the next three years. It identifies those areas where evidence suggests we need to concentrate our efforts and provides a framework for communities to work collectively in reducing crime and disorder.
Although we will monitor the progress we make on our action plans every year, in 2008 we will review the key elements of this strategy to look again at the levels of crime and listen to your views. This is to ensure we continue to meet the needs of local communities across the district of Bridgnorth.
We are all committed to making this strategy and the actions contained within it a reality, building on the progress made to date and feeding back to local people how we are doing."
Cllr John Hurst-Knight (Chair, Bridgnorth District Community Safety Partnership)
An Integrated Strategy
This Strategy is based on an audit of crime in the district of Bridgnorth between 2001 and 2004. The Partnership has consulted on the results of the audit to ensure it is responding to local concerns about crime in the District in the way that we develop the strategies priorities.
This Strategy sets out a range of local actions which aim to make a significant impact on those community safety issues of greatest concern to local communities and to organisations living and working throughout District. The Bridgnorth District Community Safety Strategy and Action Plans build on the previous work of the Partnership, but are also set in the context of priorities and outcomes identified in the Shropshire Crime, Disorder and Substance Misuse Strategy Local priorities and actions are therefore supported by countywide partner priorities. This Strategy should therefore be read in conjunction with the Shropshire Crime, Disorder and Substance Misuse Strategy 2005 – 2008.
The Bridgnorth District Community Safety Strategy also links to a number of other plans and strategies that have helped shape a Community Safety for the District. In addition to supporting the Safer Shropshire Partnership and its Strategy, we will continue to draw upon the following to better inform our proposals and to help us work with partners more effectively:
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Links with the Bridgnorth District Community Strategy
Local authorities have a duty to prepare Community Strategies, which they develop with other public, private and community sector organisations. Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs) are a way of bringing together all these relevant stakeholders. Through the Bridgnorth District Community Partnership stakeholders can plan and deliver services more effectively to meet the needs that local people have identified.
One of the tasks for the Bridgnorth District Community Partnership is to produce an updated Community Strategy that sets out the priorities for the District. The strategy is intended to be a living document that will allow organisations and local groups to measure the value of the work they are doing as well as to plan for the future. The challenge is for the LSP to listen and respond to the needs of the area and local communities through community based consultation and involvement.
The Bridgnorth District Community Safety Strategy has close links with the Bridgnorth District Community Strategy. Both strategies have been developed together and both draw on sound community consultation to develop action plans around issues which matter to local people. However, the Bridgnorth District Community Safety Partnership recognises that some of the issues raised through consultation cannot be tackled alone and wider partnership action is necessary if improvements are to be made.
