Colchester gets 60k of 1.5m Safer Streets funding

A total of £1.5m funding for community safety projects across the county was yesterday announced by the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex. 

Details of the latest tranche of funding, totalling £1,574,342, from the PFCC’s Local Safer Streets Fund have now been announced. 

The money has been granted to 19 community projects across Essex which all aim to help communities make streets and public spaces safe and secure. 

Colchester will receive just £58,960 from the funding pot which is meant to keep people safe and deter anti-social behaviour.

Some £38,925 is for two accredited security officers to work in conjunction with the community safety team and Essex Police to patrol Colchester city centre. 

This is supported by match funding of £20,035 from local partners. 

However, that is compared to the whopping £1,041,534 Castle Point received from the same scheme.

Surprised - Colchester councillors surprised by lack of funding due to anti-social behaviour levels (Image: Credited)

The most recent yearly crime figures show a higher rate of anti-social behaviour in Colchester than Castle Point by around 1,000 incidents, sparking concerns from councillors.

Castle ward councillor Richard Kirkby-Taylor said: “I'm very surprised, and a lot of things are showing that Colchester is relatively safe, but not as safe as other parts of the county.

Shocked - Councillor Richard Kirkby-Taylor was shocked due to the levels of anti-social behaviour Colchester has (Image: Credited)

“This type of funding needs to be used to prevent anti-social behaviour on things such as community centres and sufficient social services. A lot of the time this is completely forgotten about.

“The biggest problem I have with all these schemes is that the money can always be better spent.

“They need to be better with communication when it comes to the reasoning behind this kind of funding.

“Early intervention is the key thing.”

Old Heath and the Hythe councillor Lee Scordis said: “It’s disappointing, it’s a huge disparity - almost a million-pound amount. Some questions need to be asked.

Councillor Lee Scordis says questions need to be asked as to why the city received so little (Image: Credited)

“Serious questions need to be asked, and I would like to see more reason as to why this has happened.

“Colchester people pay the same amount of tax as Castle Point, and they aren’t seeing the same resources given.

“People will question why Colchester is being left behind and figures show that this funding doesn’t make sense.”

Councillor for Castle ward, Mark Goacher said: “The disparity between the two figures is bizarre.

"It’s nowhere near enough considering the issues we have in the city.

Bizarre - Councillor Mark Goacher found it bizarre that the funding was so low in comparison (Image: Credited)

“I can think of areas we don’t have CCTV coverage in my ward, and we would love that kind money to be given to the city.

“The city needs more CCTV coverage, more feet on the ground, more local initiatives and more addressing of the causes of crime.

“We have a massive issue with anti-social behaviour and people face problems with low level crime on a daily basis, it makes no sense.”

A spokesman for the Essex police, fire and crime commissioner (PFCC) for Essex said: “Since July 2022, Colchester has been awarded over £1million (£1,064,048) in Safer Streets funding from the PFCC.  

“On top of this over £136k has been granted to Colchester district in ASB Hotspot Patrol funding from the PFCC and almost £66k has been granted to local projects in the district from the PFCC’s Community Safety Development fund.

“Different districts come forward with projects at different times and the PFCC works to do the right thing at the right time for each locality. Today’s announcement is simply the latest tranche of our ongoing funding for community safety projects across Essex.”  

The money which Colchester has been given through the funding will be spent on two accredited security officers working with the community safety team and Essex Police in the city.

Essex Police also addressed the roles of the two security officers who will be employed as a result of the funding money given to the city.

A spokesman for the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex said: “The role of the security officers outlined in the Colchester bid is similar to a street warden.

“They will be Community Safety Accredited Scheme (CSAS) officers who can obtain sufficient evidence for enforcement, support vulnerable people and engage with the public.

“The community safety accreditation scheme (CSAS) also gives employees who are involved in a community safety or traffic management roles a range of powers such as the authority to issue fixed penalty notices for certain offences.

“The officers will work Friday and Saturday 8pm to 4am for 12 months.”