Agenda item

Report of the Director of Neighbourhoods and Development attached.

Decision made (Unanimously):

1.    Cabinet supports the implementation of a two year pilot costed programme of youth activities and initiatives as outlined in the report to effectively tackle crime and disorder.

2.    Cabinet supports the creation of a new two year fixed term post of Youth Support Officer to lead on the new programme. Post to be filled through a secondment process.

3.    Cabinet supports the development of a Youth programme done in partnership with Community Safety partners and the South Ribble Partnership to ensure sustainability and long-term measurable outcomes are achieved for individuals, groups and local communities within targeted areas of South Ribble.

4.    Cabinet authorises revenue expenditure on this scheme over a two year period up to the overall budget value of £120,000, in year one and a second revenue cost of £85,000, to be funded from the Sports Development reserve budget for the two years of the initial project.

The Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member (Health, Wellbeing and Leisure), Councillor Mick Titherington, presented a report of the Director of Neighbourhoods and Development that set out a programme of proposed activity to support targeted groups of young people in South Ribble.

The report proposed how the programmes of activity would be set up and costed for an initial period of two years. The proposed initiative is part of a wider programme to support vulnerable groups using physical, social and wellbeing activity as a catalyst, to be led by our Sports Development and Leisure Services teams supported by the Community Involvement team to improve health and wellbeing along with reducing anti-social behaviour.

The proposal will meet the aims of the Corporate Plan and additionally will support key partners to provide a public health focus response, with the addition of diversionary and educational activities.

The new approach is supported by the local police who have recently remodelled their Neighbourhood Policing Teams, to meet current demands with the ambition to ‘keep people safe and feeling safe’.

The new initiative and policing model was fully supported, however there was still other sources of funding available that the Council could tap into and the  Cabinet Member was urged to keep lobbying the Police and Crime Commissioner, through the Police and Crime Panel to ensure that South Ribble received the right amount of funding for the area.

Decision made (Unanimously):

1.    Cabinet supports the implementation of a two year pilot costed programme of youth activities and initiatives as outlined in the report to effectively tackle crime and disorder.

2.    Cabinet supports the creation of a new two year fixed term post of Youth Support Officer to lead on the new programme. Post to be filled through a secondment process.

3.    Cabinet supports the development of a Youth programme done in partnership with Community Safety partners and the South Ribble Partnership to ensure sustainability and long-term measurable outcomes are achieved for individuals, groups and local communities within targeted areas of South Ribble.

4.    Cabinet authorises revenue expenditure on this scheme over a two year period up to the overall budget value of £120,000, in year one and a second revenue cost of £85,000, to be funded from the Sports Development reserve budget for the two years of the initial project.

Reason(s) for the decision:

To bring forward a tangible programme of activity, working with our Community Safety Partners to look at how we can fund activities that effectively tackle crime and disorder. This is a key part of the Corporate Plan to ensure that our residents can live in a place where they can be happy, healthy and safe. Where we see poverty, we can tackle it, where we see poor health we will offer opportunities for wellness, and where people want to learn and develop we will do what we can to provide opportunities to grow.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

The Council could choose to do nothing in this area of work. There is no statutory duty to provide programmes of activity to young people. However, the Crime and Disorder Act 1988 (s.17) states that local authorities should exercise its various functions with due regard to the likely effect of the exercise of those functions on, and the need to do all that it reasonably can to prevent (a) crime and disorder in its area (including anti-social and other behaviours adversely affecting the local environment); and (b) the misuse of drugs, alcohol and other substances in its area; (c) re-offending in its area.

If the option to do nothing was agreed, progress against the Corporate Plan would be jeopardised.

The Council could choose to financially invest in PCSO’s. However, in consultation with the local Neighbourhood Chief Inspector, there is an appetite for the council to provide an offer which supports the police and local communities in improving Health and well-being outcomes and addressing anti-social behaviour