Littlehampton community wardens pilot having a ‘worthwhile impact’ on the town

The Littlehampton community warden project was discussed during Arun District Council’s housing and wellbeing committee meeting on Monday (24 Jan).

The pilot, which started in April last year, sees three community wardens take to the streets.

The wardens work with residents and Sussex Police to improve safety and reduce crime by building relationships and carrying out enforcement.

Community wardens also identify ‘anti-social behaviour hotspots’ and carry out engagement work with young people.

Between April and October, the wardens spent more than 1,300 hours on patrol; submitted 43 police reports; found 22 incidents of anti-social behaviour; and held 30 community events and drop in surgeries.

Council officers said the wardens ‘are not seen as a replacement for police resources in tackling crime’.

“They do, however, provide a highly visible boots on the ground presence across all town wards,” they added.

Housing and wellbeing committee chair and deputy council leader Jacky Pendleton (Con, Middleton-on-Sea) said the project is ‘one of the most worthwhile’ she has seen.

“I was lucky enough to be able to go around with your community wardens, all around Littlehampton, and see the work they do first-hand,” she said.

“And to see the response of our residents to those people- it was exceptionally good.

“They know people, people know them, people feel safe when they’re around.”

Steve Goodheart (Arun Ind, Hotham) wants to see the pilot expanded to Bognor Regis and officers said this could be a possibility.

Mr Goodheart also wanted to know how the wardens worked alongside the police.

Officers explained that there is a ‘very strong’ relationship between police officers and community wardens.

“Our senior community warden meets regularly with the inspectors locally and the wardens themselves go out on joint patrols with uniformed officers,” they said.

“One of the key aspects of that role is information sharing – both ways – just to make sure that everybody is aware of what’s going on and where particular hotspots may be so that we can react accordingly.”

In March, a full review of the project will take place to see if key objectives have been met and to determine the future of the scheme.

Current funding comes from Littlehampton Town Council, the Safer Arun Partnership, and ADC.

On Monday, the housing and wellbeing committee gave provisional approval for £100,000 to fund the project over the next year.

If partners agree to further funding, it could see the project extended.