Council set to invest nearly £200,000 in bid to combat anti-social behaviour in Chesterfield

Chesterfield Borough Council (CBC), along with its partners, is set to introduce a number of new measures that will help to identify and resolve anti-social behaviour issues across the borough, before they become a problem for local people.

After successfully securing funding through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), CBC is set to invest in additional mobile CCTV cameras that can be used across the borough.

The new cameras will be an addition to over 300 static cameras already located throughout the borough, and can be quickly moved to monitor any problem hotspots – allowing for quicker enforcement action from both the council and the police when nuisance behaviour is happening.

Councillor Jill Mannion-Brunt, cabinet member for health and wellbeing, said: “Fortunately, Chesterfield is a safe place to live but, like all areas, we know anti-social behaviour can be an issue – and it can have a huge impact on people’s lives.

“Making Chesterfield a thriving borough is at the heart of everything we do, so we’re fully committed to working with our partners to do all we can to tackle the problem and we are fully committed to taking appropriate enforcement action against individuals or groups, if problems are persistent and are causing distress for local people.

“Listening to local communities, working more closely with the police and other partners, and making sure we have a visible and reassuring presence in our communities is at the heart of our new approach, and funding from the UKSPF will allow us to introduce new initiatives to help us achieve this.

Funding secured through the UKSPF will allow the council to recruit an additional community enforcement officer. Furthermore, the UKSPF, along with investment from the Community Safety Partnership and the Police and Crime Commissioner, will enable the continuation of a further enforcement officer post for the next two years.

The creation of these roles will allow for a closer working relationship with the local police, as well as a stronger visible presence in the community – including patrolling the town centre and other key locations where anti-social behaviour has been identified.

Close partnerships with the police, police community support officers and other teams from across the council will ensure that a coordinated and integrated approach to addressing issues within the borough can be taken.

Following the approval of its new anti-social behaviour strategy, the council has also refreshed how it works and responds to incidents, in order to tackle the root causes of nuisance behaviour.

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Previously, anti-social behaviour and any community issues were either handled by the community safety team, or the council’s housing service, depending on whether the individual involved was a council tenant.

The new approach will see these two services working closer together, to provide a single point of contact for reporting issues and ensure that all members of the community receive the same level of service – allowing the council to be more proactive in its response to incidents.