COMMUNITY SAFETY STRATEGY
2026-9
Introduction
This is the 10th Community Safety Strategy produced by Safer York Partnership since it was established under the Crime & Disorder Act 1998.
The overarching aim of Safer York Partnership is to build safer, stronger, resilient communities and reduce crime and the fear of crime across our city.
York is recognised as one of the safest cities in the United Kingdom, yet it is also a dynamic and growing urban centre, welcoming over 8 million visitors each year and supporting a vibrant economy built on science and learning, tourism and hospitality, independent retail and cultural activity.
Like many places across the UK, York is experiencing significant social and economic change. Ongoing regeneration and development are reshaping how people live, work, and spend time here. York’s reputation as a safe city has been key to this transformation.
However, the city also remains One City for All[1], committed to ensuring that everyone who was born, lives or stays here can thrive and feel a sense of safety and belonging. York is proud of its status as both a City of Sanctuary and a Human Rights City.
Crime, fear of crime, anti-social behaviour, hate crime and extremism erode feelings of safety and social cohesion. Through the lifetime of this strategy, we will work with our communities to increase our understanding of the challenges they face. We will align our work with the York Neighbourhood Model to improve contact, communication and engagement with our communities and work with them to develop solutions through joint problem-solving plans.
York’sPurple Flag status acknowledges its success in meeting the challenges of delivering a safe, vibrant, and thriving night-time economy, located within a compact city centre alongside homes and businesses. This accreditation reflects a strong culture of city centre partnership-working that extends to daytime working.
However, we are keen to address the behaviour of a small cohort of persistent prolific offenders who have a disproportionate impact on levels of crime and anti-social behaviour in our city centre. This will be achieved through a renewed multi-agency focus, using best practice models that coordinate enforcement with support to address underlying causes and deliver sustained outcomes for both these individuals and crime reduction.
The impact on and of young people will be considered across our main strategic priorities, but we also acknowledge that this cohort faces its own specific community safety challenges. We will ensure that these are addressed through a dedicated cross-cutting priority with its own independent, multi-agency delivery group.
This strategy also reflects our local approach to the delivery of statutory duties and national community safety priorities, including the Safer Streets Mission, Serious Violence Duty, Tackling Violence Against Women & Girls Strategy, Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan, CONTEST (Counter-Terrorism) and the national Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan.
Action to deliver our priorities will be coordinated through a multi-agency delivery structure. Where appropriate, work will be delivered through joint governance arrangements with North Yorkshire Council and the Police, Fire & Crime Directorate of the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority. This will ensure a coordinated, effective delivery of national community safety priorities aligned with those of the York & North Yorkshire Police & Crime Plan 2025-9 priorities, which are:
· Early Intervention & Prevention
· Protecting The Public
· Working With Partners
· Building Stronger Communities
Progress against our strategic aims will be monitored by the Safer York Partnership Board using a comprehensive performance framework, action tracker and feedback/consultation with local communities and stakeholders.
The strategy will be reviewed and refreshed on an annual basis to ensure that it remains responsive to local needs.
Superintendent Ed Haywood Noble
Chairperson, Safer York Partnership
PRIORITIES
· Keeping the City Centre Safe
· Counter-Terrorism
· Safe, Supported & Cohesive Communities
· Serious Violence
CROSS-CUTTING THEMES
· Young People
· Communication and Engagement
KEEPING THE CITY CENTRE SAFE
The city centre is the heart of York and brings together residents, businesses, visitors, tourists, students, young people, buskers and entertainers, street and market traders and the ‘street’ community.
Our work will reflect the Government’s Safer Streets Mission commitment to deliver Safer Town Centres, tackling shop-theft, street theft, and assaults against retail workers.
It will also support the council’s Our City Centre Vision[2] priority of ‘A safe city centre which is welcoming and accessible to all.’
Ensuring that this compact, shared space remains safe and welcoming is essential, not only for those who live and work in York but to sustain York’s reputation as a destination city that holds Purple Flag status.
This priority reflects a collective commitment to reducing crime and anti-social behaviour, supporting vulnerable individuals and generating a sense of safety for anyone who spends time in the city centre, whether during the day-time or at night.
Throughout the lifetime of this strategy there will be a renewed multi-agency focus on the small cohort of persistent and prolific offenders who contribute to a disproportionate amount of crime and anti-social behaviour in the city centre, acknowledging that the impact of crime such as shop and cycle theft extends beyond economic harms and affects the lives our retail workers, communities and visitors.
By combining targeted enforcement with early intervention, prevention and support services, we will address both the causes and consequences of city-centre anti-social behaviour, crime and disorder.
AIMS
1. Contribute to the Board and working groups of Our City Centre Vision to achieve a safe city centre, alongside it wider aims to create a vibrant city centre that can adapt to change.
2. Launch a police-led, partner-enabled Open to Recovery programme, targeting persistent, prolific offenders, based on national best practice and coordinated with existing arrangements such as those within the York Homelessness Strategy, Operation Luscombe, Offender Management arrangements, commissioned drug and alcohol support services and Making Every Adult Matter (MEAM).
3. Take an intelligence-led approach, using police crime and ASB dashboards supplemented by partner data and information to identify target nominals and localities, to support the delivery of tailored multi-agency solutions.
4. Support York BID’s ‘Safe’ programme which includes Street Rangers, Taxi and Riverside Marshalls, Night Safe Officers, Cycle Safe initiatives, snickleway and riverside lighting projects and Purple Flag accreditation.
5. Work with Make It York to ensure that the city centre remains an attractive and prosperous location for visitors.
6. Support delivery of the Government’s Safer Streets Mission to reduce serious violence, halve Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) and knife crime within a decade and crack down on shop theft, street theft and assaults against retail workers.
7. Contribute to the delivery of the York Homelessness strategy by tackling community safety issues related to the ‘street’ community.
8. Support the work of the Safer York Business Partnership.
9. Coordinate partnership work to address city centre anti-social behaviour associated with the Night-Time Economy, street entertainment, street traders and bogus charity collectors, the ‘street’ community and tent encampments, giving consideration to the use of additional ASB tools and powers to plug any enforcement gaps.
10. Contribute to the work of the York Water Safety Forum to prevent serious incidents associated with York’s rivers.
11. Through the work of the York Hate Crime Partnership, reduce incidents of racial Hate Crime committed against those who work within the Night-Time Economy.
12. Work with the Prevent, Protect & Prepare and Safety Advisory Groups to mitigate against terrorist risk.
13. Work with the York Drug & Alcohol Partnership to address the unwanted impact from the use of drugs and alcohol, and particularly its impact on offending.
14. Maximise use of powers, including Public Space Protection Orders (PSPOs), to reduce incidents of crime, disorder and ASB associated with the Night-Time Economy.
DELIVERY
· York BID Safe Partnership
· Safer York Business Partnership
· Our City Vision Board
· York Licensees Forum
· York Water Safety Group/Forum
· York Safety Advisory Group
· York Homeless and Rough Sleeper Task Group
· York Safeguarding Adults Board
· York Retail Crime Group
· York Protect & Prepare Local Delivery Group
· North Yorkshire & York VAWG Strategy Group
· North Yorkshire & York Serious Violence Working Group
· York Community Safety Hub
· York Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO) Panel
COUNTER TERRORISM
· PREVENT
· CHANNEL
· PROTECT & PREPARE
The Counter Terrorism & Security Act 2015 places a duty on local authorities to safeguard individuals and communities from the risk of radicalisation and extremism and places an obligation on local authorities and partner agencies to have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism.
Local authorities are required to lead on the Prevent, Protect and Prepare elements of the UK’s counter-terrorism framework, CONTEST.
PREVENT
Under the Prevent Duty, local authorities are required to:
· Produce a local Prevent Partnership Plan, the content of which is tailored to local circumstances using a Counter-Terrorism Local Profile and to situational and corporate risk assessments. The plan sets out the actions planned to mitigate against identified risks.
· Have a multi-agency partnership group in place to have oversight of all statutory Prevent delivery and the Partnership Plan.
· Have a clear referral pathway in place for those who are identified as susceptible to radicalisation or supporting terrorism, to ensure that Counter Terrorism Police are notified of all Prevent referrals for deconfliction purposes, including discussion at Channel panel.
· Have a comprehensive training plan in place that measures and accounts for a range of needs across council teams and commissioned services to ensure that they are able to recognise where a person might be susceptible to radicalisation.
· Ensure that there is a public sector venue hire policy in place that ensures measures are taken to prevent local authority venues being used by radicalisers or to spread/promote extremist ideologies.
·Deliver planned communications and engagement activity to improve awareness, trust and understanding of Prevent and to ensure that information about the Prevent programme is available through the local authority’s platforms such as websites and social media pages
· Have focus on community engagement, to raise awareness and discuss how Prevent is implemented relative to the local risk and threat.
CHANNEL
Local authorities in England and Wales have an additional statutory duty under the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 to operate Channel panels. This duty involves identifying vulnerable individuals at risk of radicalisation, assessing the threat, and creating tailored support plans (mentoring, counselling, etc.) in a multi-agency setting, aimed at preventing terrorism.
PROTECT & PREPARE
Protect and Prepare sits alongside Prevent as a local authority statutory responsibility under the Counter-Terrorism & Security Act 2015.
Protect and Prepare duties are responsible for reducing the risk and impact of terrorism and other serious threats by strengthening protective security and ensuring effective preparedness across our city. In an evolving threat landscape, it is essential that local partners, businesses, and community organisations work together to deter and detect risks and to respond swiftly and recover effectively from incidents.
The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, also known as Martyn’s Law, received Royal Assent on Thursday 3 April 2025. It reinforces the duty of those responsible for publicly accessible locations to consider the threat of terrorism and implement proportionate security measures and preparedness plans.
In addition to Martyn’s Law, ACT for Local Authorities provides a specific duty for councils to assess and mitigate against terrorist risk across their own areas of responsibility, including Planning and development, Licensing, Transport & Highways, Emergency Planning and Community Safety (Prevent).
AIMS
Prevent
1. Ensure that there is senior leadership oversight of Prevent delivery by City of York Council.
2. Ensure that there is an up-to-date risk assessment in place and that this is reviewed and updated quarterly.
3. Produce a York Prevent Partnership Plan, ensuring alignment with North Yorkshire Council through shared Terms of Reference, with progress accountable to the York & North Yorkshire Prevent Partnership Board.
4. Through a York & North Yorkshire Training Task & Finish Group, develop a joint training programme, to include mandatory training for all City of York Council staff and Elected Members and ensure that this is refreshed every 2 years. To place particular emphasis on training for schools, including independent and faith schools.
5. To review the success of referral pathways and adapt training plans to address any emerging trends or gaps.
6. To seek and promote good practice venue hire with partners, community groups and sports and leisure facilities.
7. To ensure that there is a systematic process in place to respond to breaches in IT policy, where searches have indicated links to a possible link to radicalisation and that notification of such breaches is sent to Prevent staff.
8. Through a York & North Yorkshire Prevent Communications and Engagement Group Task & Finish Group, develop a joint engagement and communications plan.
9. Establish a dedicated City of York Council Prevent Group to ensure that knowledge of the Prevent duty extends across all council departments.
Protect & Prepare
Via the York Protect and Prepare Group, ensure the following actions:
10. Review and raise awareness of existing safety and security measures that have a Counter-Terrorism outcomes.
11. Encourage City of York Council’s adoption of preparedness measures and ensure awareness and understanding of these, particularly amongst community-based organisations.
12. Working with the York & North Yorkshire Prevent Training Task & Finish Group, deliver ACT and SCaN training for staff and partners.
13. Work to ensure the implementation of Martyn’s Law (Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025) to secure York’s venues and events against the risk of terrorist attack.
14. Work to implement ACT for Local Authorities, working with Planning & Development, Transport & Highways, Emergency Planning, Licensing and Community Safety to consider security and preparedness across those services.
15. Work with voluntary and faith groups to provide protective security advice related to places of worship or religious gatherings.
16. Through the York Safety Advisory Group (SAG), ensure that Event Management Plans give due consideration to the above Counter-Terrorism mitigations.
DELIVERY
York Prevent Local Delivery Group
York & North Yorkshire Prevent Partnership Board
York Protect & Prepare Group
York Safety Advisory Group
York Hate Crime Partnership
North Yorkshire & York Inclusive Communities Joint Commissioning Group
SAFE, SUPPORTED AND COHESIVE COMMUNITIES
The creation of safe, supported and cohesive communities is fundamental to improving the quality of life for residents, businesses and visitors in York.
To achieve sustainable reductions in crime, fear of crime and anti-social behaviour and reduce community tensions, efforts must be made to support and build strong, resilient neighbourhoods where everyone feels connected, supported, valued and able to thrive, whether born and brought up here or having arrived more recently.
Cohesive communities are those where residents are more likely to look out for each other, spot and report suspicious activity, provide support systems to help the vulnerable (including young people) to stay away from crime, reduce the potential for hateful narratives to take hold, value where they live and take care and protect their surroundings and environment.
Central to their delivery in York is the work of the York Community Safety Hub, the development of the York Neighbourhood Model and the York & North Yorkshire Hate Crime & Community Cohesion Strategy, 2025-8.
The York Community Safety Hub
Community Safety Hubs exist in localities across York and North Yorkshire and consist of co-located council and police teams. Their purpose is to work together and coordinate partner activity to address crime and anti-social behaviour in neighbourhoods, targeting hotspots and known persistent offenders.
Work is delivered using a multi-agency, early-intervention, problem-solving approach, facilitated by a range of Multi-Agency Problem-Solving (MAPS) meetings focussing on people and places, with the involvement of a wide range of partners including Neighbourhood Policing teams, Housing, Social Care, Safeguarding, Homelessness Services, Probation, Youth Justice and Local Area Coordination teams.
The York Community Safety Hub (CSH) consists of council Anti-Social Behaviour (tenancy enforcement) and Neighbourhood Enforcement (enviro-crime and public-space ASB) teams and a dedicated North Yorkshire Police team.
The priorities of the CSH align with those contained within the community safety strategy, acknowledging that the work of the CSH extends across all its priorities. The CSH will work responsively, realigning to significant emerging trends or changes in focus following the annual community safety strategy review and refresh.
York Neighbourhood Model
Delivering cohesive communities requires strong local infrastructure and neighbourhood-level engagement. The York Neighbourhood Model will align services to localities, bringing together communities and partners to identify and respond to local priorities. It will help support problem-solving at neighbourhood level, strengthening the community voice, and building local resilience. It will help ensure that community safety interventions are tailored, preventative and informed by the differing needs of York’s communities.
York & North Yorkshire Hate Crime and Community Cohesion Strategy 2025-28.
The York Hate Crime Partnership reports to the York & North Yorkshire Inclusive Communities Joint Commissioning Group to deliver the York & North Yorkshire Hate Crime and Community Cohesion Strategy. The strategy includes priorities to support victims, increase understanding and respond to underlying causes of Hate Crime and community tension.
AIMS
1. Work with the York and North Yorkshire Community Safety Hub Joint Development Group to review the role and delivery of CSHs across York & North Yorkshire.
2. Align the work of the York Community Safety Hub to the York Neighbourhood Model localities.
3. Maximise the tools and powers available to CSHs.
4. Identify York CSH Key Performance Indicators to improve performance reporting.
5. Following feedback by the Housing Regulator, review and update working arrangements between the Community Safety Hub and CYC Housing Services to ensure that there are streamlined, effective arrangements in place around tenancy enforcement.
6. Work with Registered Social Landlords to develop a shared, staged approach to tenancy enforcement, to achieve consistency of escalation levels, with an emphasis on early intervention and prevention.
7. Introduce regular Community MAPS meetings to align with Neighbourhood Model localities.
8. Delivery of the Hate Crime & Community Cohesion Plan, including a Hate Crime toolkit with wspecific actions related to Disability Hate Crime.
9. Continue to deliver Hate Crime Champions training in partnership with North Yorkshire Police.
DELIVERY
York Community Safety Hub
York Hate Crime Partnership
York & North Yorkshire Inclusive Communities JCG
York Gypsy & Traveller Group
CYC Communities & Equalities Team
North Yorkshire Police Hate Crime Team
York Multi-Faith Group
City of York Council Human Rights & Equalities Board
York Registered Social Landlords Forum
SERIOUS VIOLENCE
Serious Violence, including online Harm, has a profound impact on individuals, families and communities. It undermines feelings of safety and affects confidence in using public spaces.
The drivers of serious violence are complex and cannot be addressed by enforcement alone. They include mental health and substance abuse, previous exposure to violence, trauma, isolation and lack of support networks, exploitation and involvement in criminal activity.
The Serious Violence Duty (Police, Crime, Sentencing & Courts Act 2022) places a legal duty on statutory partners to work together to prevent and reduce serious violence, using a public health approach, focussed on prevention and early intervention.
Locally this work is coordinated by the North Yorkshire & York Serious Violence Duty Working Group convened by the Policing Fire & Crime directorate of the Combined Authority.
Its aims are to:
· Understand the extent of violence throughout North Yorkshire and York, through the analysis of characteristics, patterns of behaviour and the impact on the wider community.
· Establish the risk factors that increase the likelihood of violence, and how these factors can be reduced through prevention, diversion, and early intervention.
· Establish effective interventions in a variety of settings and monitor the impact on reducing serious violence these interventions produce.
The Serious Violence Duty does not contain a set definition, and each local area is encouraged to agree their own.
The definition of serious violence for North Yorkshire and York covers locally-identified issues, and their impact and prevalence.
The following crimes are included within the local definition of serious violence and were used as part of a Strategic Needs Assessment (SNA) to identify local needs:
· Homicide
· Violence with Injury (Attempted Murder, Endangering Life, Grievous Bodily Harm, Actual Bodily Harm, Administering Poison with Intent to Injure, Non-Fatal Strangulation and Suffocation)
· Domestic Abuse
· Rape and Sexual Offences
· Weapon Related Violence; including Weapon Possession
· Arson Endangering Life
· Stalking and Harassment; non-domestic
In addition, the following areas of thematic interest are considered within a wider profile:
· Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG)
· Young People
· Alcohol and Substance Misuse
· Mental Health
· Deprivation and Employment
· Education
North Yorkshire & York Violence Against Women & Girls (VAWG) Strategy
The North Yorkshire & York VAWG Strategy Group has been established by the Policing, Fire & Crime directorate of the Combined Authority to strengthen the local multi-agency approach to VAWG, enhance support services, increase public confidence and trust in the police and to enable continuous feedback and lived experience from residents of York and North Yorkshire.
Delivery is aligned with the North Yorkshire & City of York Domestic Abuse Strategy and the work of the York Domestic Abuse Local Partnership Board, given that domestic abuse is a key component in many VAWG offences.
Both the Serious Violence Duty and VAWG are supported by the Government’s Safer Streets mission to halve VAWG and knife crime within a decade
AIMS
1. Through the York and North Yorkshire Serious Violence Duty Working Group and York and North Yorkshire Joint VAWG Strategy Delivery Group, ensure that services and projects are commissioned and funded to meet identified needs.
2. Consider the establishment of dedicated York sub-groups to allow for more in-depth work at local level.
3. Ensure alignment of work with the Domestic Abuse Local Partnership Board.
4. Ensure alignment of work with the York Youth Justice Service Management Board.
5. Ensure alignment of work with the York Safeguarding Adult Board and the City of York Safeguarding Children Partnership.
DELIVERY
York and North Yorkshire Serious Violence Duty Working Group
York and North Yorkshire Joint VAWG Strategy Delivery Group
York Domestic Abuse Local Partnership Board
York Youth Justice Service Management Board
York Safeguarding Adults Board
City of York Safeguarding Children Partnership
York Community Safety Hub
CROSS-CUTTING THEMES
YOUNG PEOPLE
We are mindful of the need to consider the particular impact on or of young people across our strategic priorities, and of the additional risks facing our youth population, including:
· On-line harms, including cyberbullying, exposure to violent or explicit content, unwanted sharing of images, sexting, grooming, and exploitation and extortion (COM) networks
· County Lines – exploitation by Organised Crime Groups (OCGs), and risk of harm and criminality associated with illegal drugs
· E-bike usage and associated ASB (links to County Lines)
· Extreme misogynistic ideologies associated with the Manosphere and Incel culture.
· Arson & criminal damage
We will therefore create a dedicated Young People Community Safety Group, incorporating the views and involvement of young people themselves, to ensure that the community safety challenges facing our youth population are given the focus they require.
DELIVERY:
York Young People Community Safety Group
COMMUNICATION & ENGAGEMENT
A communication and engagement strategy will be developed to lift this document off the page and into meaningful activity through promotion, awareness, and engagement.
We acknowledge that people are more likely to benefit from and support initiatives if they understand them and feel included and involved. We are also keen to ensure that community experience and local knowledge is combined with analysis of police and partner-held data, to build a fully-rounded picture of the issues we are looking to address.
DELIVERY:
York Community Safety Communication and Engagement Strategy
Prevent Communication and Engagement Task & Finish Group