Issue - meetings

The Assistant Director for Housing & Community Safety to present a report which summarises the partnership’s Community Safety Strategy 2017-20 including the current trends, emerging priorities and the implications of the strategy.

Resolved:  That the content of the Strategy be noted and that the Executive support the Council in delivering the priorities contained within the Strategy.

Reason:     In accordance with the requirement in Section 6 of the Crime and Disorder Act for the Council to have a community safety plan for the City.

The Assistant Director for Housing and Community Safety presented a report which summarised the Safer York Partnership’s (SYP) Community Safety Strategy for 2017-20 (the Strategy).

The Strategy, attached as Annex 1 to the report, had been approved by the SYP Board on 27 June.  It set out actions against SYP’s chosen priorities of: river and road safety, keeping the city centre safer, protecting people from harm, tackling anti-social behaviour, tackling serious organised crime, and tackling substance misuse.  Building on the 2014-16 strategy, it continued to reflect the potential risks to community safety of high profile events such as terrorism, as well as more ‘everyday’ crimes.  Detailed action plans were being prepared to draw together new and existing activities supporting the Strategy; these would provide a framework against which to monitor performance.

The Executive Member for Housing & Safer Neighbourhoods commented that the themes of the new Strategy were broadly similar to those of the previous one but with more emphasis on early intervention and prevention.  With regard to the perception of York city centre as unsafe due to drunken and anti-social behaviour, it was noted that police statistics showed York to be the safest tourist city in the world, with a 30% reduction in alcohol-related incidents since 2015/16.

Resolved:  That the content of the Community Safety Strategy 2017-2020 be noted and that the Executive support the Council in delivering the priorities contained within the Strategy.

Reason:     In accordance with the requirement in Section 6 of the Crime and Disorder Act to have a community safety plan for the City.