Ten city neighbourhoods offered cash to cut crime

Grants of up to £5,900 are up for grabs by communities to tackle crime in their neighbourhoods.

The Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon and Cornwall has given £59,000 to Plymouth’s Community Safety Partnership (CSP) to reduce crime, anti-social behaviour and substance misuse. The CSP has decided to divide the funding and offer it to the ten neighbourhoods that have the highest rates of crime.

The 10 neighbourhoods are:

1. Barne Barton
2. Devonport
3. East End
4. Greenbank & University
5. Honicknowle
6. Mutley
7. Plymouth City Centre
8. Stoke
9. Stonehouse
10. Whitleigh

Councillors in those areas can apply for the grants with community groups and, not for profit organisations and they will then work with the police to identify projects that will make a difference in their neighbourhoods.

26 city councillors will be involved in the scheme in nine wards (St Budeaux, Sutton and Mount Gould, Compton, Drake, St Peter and the Waterfront, Stoke, Devonport, Budshead and Honicknowle).

Councillor Chris Penberthy, Cabinet member for Co-operatives and Community Development and Chair of the CSP said: “Councillors have an overview of their wards and can link different parts of the community together. They have a role as community leaders
and we want to give them a greater say in how money is spent in their wards.

“As a co-operative Council our ambition is for a fairer city where everyone does their bit and with these grants we are giving them the resources to help make it happen.

“The aim of the scheme is to close the gap between the ten neighbourhoods with a higher rate of crime than the average for the city. This is a targeted and focussed local response to meet the specific needs of communities.

According to Plymouth City Council, crime in Plymouth overall is going down, there are now 10,000 fewer crimes in the city than there were in 2006/7.

The funding can be used as a series of small grants or one big one; neighbourhoods could join together to tackle cross boundary issues.