Communities across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough are tackling local issues that matter to local people thanks to major investment by Police and Crime Commissioner Darryl Preston.

Since the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough PCC announced a £730k funding boost for the county’s six Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs), a raft of prevention measures has been rolled out to deliver stronger action against the public’s top priorities.

The investment has not only stepped up the response to local issues such as anti-social behaviour (ASB), fly-tipping and road safety across the county, it is also helping to divert young people away from offending in the first place and preventing nuisance behaviour escalating into more serious crime.

CSPs are made up of local partners including council, police, fire and community representatives who work together to address local issues that the police are unable to solve alone.

Some of the Commissioner’s funding has paid for Problem-Solving Coordinators for three years to work with communities and partners to resolve issues and help the PCC meet the priorities set out in his Police and Crime Plan.

These efforts are boosted by the PCC’s Safer Communities Fund which allows CSPs to apply for a grant of up to £5k for initiatives that aim to alleviate common community problems including ASB, road safety, bike theft and fly-tipping.

Highlights of the safety work include:

• A series of Youth Fusion events hosted by East Cambridgeshire CSP focused on safety. The summer holiday sessions covered a range of youth-related concerns including knife crime, county lines and cybercrime/bullying and offered free security marking for cycles and scooters alongside basic repairs.
• New multiagency meetings to address a ‘hotspot’ area of Cambridge where people were gathering in communal spaces such as bin storage areas or by garages to use drugs. The partnership approach led to a significant decrease in individuals misusing the area and improved confidence among residents and retails. A re-deployable CCTV camera was also installed for a period of three months, further reducing the fear of crime and improving safety.
• Funding to purchase a trolley to enable eight volunteer Street Pride groups in Fenland to pick up discarded nitrous oxide cannisters around the district and also carry their equipment. The equipment has already been used to remove 50 discarded cannisters that had been dumped in a lane in Wisbech.
• The delivery of a short-term outreach project by Huntingdonshire Community Safety Partnership (HCSP) to proactively address ASB in Huntingdon Town Centre. A total of 15 sessions were delivered and involved more than 65 young people which discussed safeguarding, the impact of behaviour on others and identified alternative activities for the cohort to move them away from potentially dangerous situations.
• The funding of two taxi marshals at weekends in Peterborough during the 2022 festive period to reduce illegal ‘pick ups’, control taxi queues, improve the safety of vulnerable people and safely deal with confrontational situations. Due to its success, the same scheme is running in 2023.
• The purchase of 1,000 bike marking kids by South Cambridgeshire CSP to tackle increased incidents of bicycle theft across several villages following complaints by residents and parish councils. Through the BikeRegister database - local neighbourhood police officers and the CSP organised bike marking sessions across the area to help promote the reporting of cycle thefts and increase the chance of bikes being returned to their rightful owners.

Darryl said: “The success of these projects speaks for itself and is just a snapshot of the positive work underway by our CSPs to respond effectively to the localised and persistent problems that cause misery for residents.

“The police cannot fight crime by themselves, and this investment recognises that partnership working is crucial to delivering a meaningful impact on public safety. When communities stand united against crime and ASB, the solutions are much easier to identify and implement and deliver maximum value.

“I am grateful to all our CSPs and wider community partners for embracing this opportunity and working harder than ever to protect local people respond swiftly to the issues that cause them harm. The challenge now is to keep up the good work and build on the foundations of this positive start to achieve our longer-term ambitions.”

To contact your local CSP visit:

Fenland CSP
Safer Peterborough Partnership
Huntingdonshire Community Safety Partnership
East Cambridgeshire CSP
Cambridge CSP
South Cambridgeshire CSP