Police and Crime Commissioner: Crackdown on anti-social behaviour in Bognor Regis announced after cash injection

The commissioner, Katy Bourne, submitted two applications, detailing a range of strategies for tackling anti-social behaviour, and both were accepted.

The Bids combine a number of initiatives, some will be action county-wide and others will be localised.

They include:

Development of safe space and community development activities in Eastbourne Town Centre;

Support to tackle street harassment in Brighton and Hove; Youth outreach in East Sussex; Tackling graffiti in Hastings; Working with the retail sector to discourage anti-social behaviour in Crawley; Focusing on anti-social behaviour in Bognor Regis and rolling out the One Touch Reporting Tool; Taxi marshal schemes in Hastings, Eastbourne, Crawley, Chichester, Brighton and Worthing;

Street Pastor schemes in Crawley, Eastbourne, Worthing and East Grinstead;

Safer Streets police patrols and additional CCTV support ;

Education programmes in schools in West Sussex and Brighton & Hove to look at healthy relationships.

“This is marvellous news for Sussex. Tackling neighbourhood crime, anti-social behaviour and violence against women and girls are top priorities for residents, Sussex Police and our partners,” said PCC Katy Bourne.

“The main thrust of our two bids was to provide dedicated resources to tackle anti-social behaviour and violence, particularly against women and girls. We have responded to community concerns which I hear about through my regular focus groups and online consultations.

“I am absolutely delighted that we can now embark on another round of ground-breaking work, building on what was started with earlier Safer Streets funding for our county.

“These new projects will include a blend of education and engagement as well as robust proactive work. The initiatives will be run with a range of partners throughout Sussex, including local businesses and schools.

“There is a strong focus on town centre spaces where people feel most vulnerable and where much of the reported anti-social behaviour takes place. Importantly, the impact of the new projects should become immediately visible in the night time economy where it’s vital for residents, workers and visitors to feel safe and protected.

“Overall this is great news for our county. I look forward to working with our partners to achieve these objectives over the next year, helping to make Sussex communities even safer.”

Alongside all this, the £1.5 million Safer Streets funding also provides for a task force manager and a project officer to work with communities to create localised solutions to and ownership of local problems.

This service should, ideally, complement the existing work of PCC-funded community safety partnerships, as well as the safer business partnership and key working groups within Sussex Police.

To give residents a chance to feedback to the PCC, the task team will host a range of engagement events over the next 12 months.

The announcement, made on July 25, came just days before a newly-renovated play park in Felpham was burned down in a deliberate blaze.

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