Durham Police and Crime Commissioner, Durham County Council and housing associations with homes in the county, have signed a pledge to continue working together to tackle anti-social behaviour.
Their commitment is in response to a plan developed by Durham PCC Joy Allen following feedback from more than 1,200 County Durham residents last year.
Among the plan’s priorities are improvements to how residents can report crime, better crime prevention advice in communities and enhanced measures to tackle anti-social behaviour, including support for victims.
Other actions laid out in the plan include addressing key themes such as speeding and off-road vehicles, using established partnerships for local problem solving and freeing up communication lines so that agencies and residents can feed in ‘soft intelligence’ to the police.
Joy Allen said: “I’m delighted to sign this pledge and will continue to build on the office’s strong working relationship with the county council and our local housing associations.
“Keeping our communities safe is at the heart of what we do and our new plan will improve communication and collaboration between the police, the county council, our registered housing providers and residents.”
The pledge states that: “Durham Police and Crime Commissioner, Durham County Council and Housing Associations working in the county will continue to work together to put those affected by anti-social behaviour first.
“We will promote awareness, make reporting easier and set out who we are, what we do and the service those affected by anti-social behaviour can expect. As partners we will share intelligence, promote joint working and maximise the impact we can have collectively on community safety within County Durham.”
The other signatories were Alan Boddy (chief executive, Livin), Bill Fullen (chief executive, Believe Housing), Jo Ray (executive director, Karbon Homes), John Johnston (chief executive, Bernicia) and Adam Clarke (executive director, North Star Housing).
Alan Boddy said: “At Livin we are continuously working to ensure our local communities and neighbourhoods are thriving, safe places that people feel settled in, are proud of and want to live in.
“It is vital that we continue to work alongside our tenants, the Police, Durham PCC and Durham County Council to stamp out issues and take swift action against anti-social behaviour that we know has a detrimental effect on peoples’ lives.
“We are delighted to affirm this commitment with housing associations from across the area and are looking forward to sharing our local intelligence to collectively find solutions to tackle anti-social behaviour.”
The pledge signing follows a meeting last October which looked at joint working and how to take the PCC’s plan forward.
At the meeting the Commissioner invited registered providers of social housing to meet with her in local communities to discuss localised issues and demonstrate police initiatives being implemented to deal with anti-social behaviour.
She also noted an opportunity to extend collaborative working to Darlington Borough Council as part of a potential separate meeting involving Teesside’s registered providers.
