Community impact

The CSP continues to work closely with partner agencies, including

Northamptonshire Police
The Office of the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner
East Midlands Ambulance Service
Youth Offending Service
Northamptonshire Fire Service
University of Northampton
Housing providers
Probation service
Health and Community organisations
Voluntary and Faith organisations

to deliver activities that will tackle our strategic priorities and deliver improved outcomes for our communities across West Northamptonshire.

Some examples of activity delivered by the partnership over the last 12 months include the following.

Domestic abuse and sexual violence

Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Board set up, Needs Assessment completed to identify gaps in support, especially for those who are in specialist domestic abuse accommodation, Domestic Abuse Strategy and Action Plan developed, to meet our statutory duties in relation to the Domestic Abuse Act 2021
Dedicated Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Coordinator role created, to ensure the delivery of the Strategy
Domestic abuse training has been provided across the services within West Northamptonshire to ensure all employees have the skills to respond quickly and appropriately to domestic abuse and sexual violence
16 Days of activism annual campaign delivered
Hate Crime Week of Action delivered, including engagement stands in high footfall areas in Northampton and Daventry, ward visits from Northampton Partnership Homes and the Northampton Partnership Homes Daphne bus; Information sent to schools for them to take part in a hate crime activity whereby they learn about what a hate crime is

School engagement

Community Safety-Young Peoples Animation went live at the start of October and is being used by more than 70 primary schools across the West. The programme covers Fire and water safety, Knife crime and gangs, Personal safety and crime prevention, Child exploitation and online safety, Hate crime, Road and rail safety and Mental health
‘I’m Still Me’ LGBTQ training conference delivered with over 40 school staff signing up to take part in the event
We continue to work with Northampton International Academy to address some community safety issues alongside partners from Education and Youth Offending service. Safety Mapping workshops were completed in partnership with Free 2 Talk (F2T) in October and engaged with 130 pupils across several sessions. A report was produced by F2T which has been incorporated into the multi-agency action plan with the school to support ongoing improvement including the delivery of one of four youth justice fund projects led by Free 2 Talk, engaging young people at risk of entering the criminal justice system early on

Community engagement

Sixty engagement events, bringing our communities together held throughout the year, including Holocaust Memorial Day, International Women’s Day, Ukraine Independence Day, Srebrenica, International Youth Day, International Day for People with Disabilities and Pride
Community and engagement newsletter – issued bi-weekly through our community engagement network, providing community safety messages and campaigns, guidance and details of events

Safer roads

The Road Joint Action Group has considered 36 new problem localities during the year, with issues such as road layout at accident hotspots, speeding, HGVs in restricted areas and parking.

Anti-social behaviour

Our anti-social behaviour officers are working in partnership with the local policing team, in tackling anti-social behaviour, serious organised crime and youth violence.
- 41 CPW’s (Community Protection Warning Letters) have been issued – 24 for neighbour disputes, 4 for verbal abuse and threatening behaviour, 7 for youth nuisance, 3 for street drinking & being drunk in public, 1 for urinating/defecating in public, 1 for nuisance phone calls/ ringing the police unnecessarily and being verbally abusive and threatening, and 1 for entering the grounds of a primary school and causing alarm and distress to children and staff
- 12 CPNs (Community Protection Notices) have been issued – 6 for youth nuisance, 1 for a neighbour dispute, 1 for urinating/defecating in public, 3 for street drinking and being drunk in public, and 1 for verbal abuse and threatening behaviour
- 2 CBOs (Criminal Behaviour Orders) were issued on 2 individuals who were the prolific ringleaders of a large group of youths in a specific neighbourhood, causing harassment, alarm and distress to local residents. Since the CBO’s were granted there has been a huge reduction in Anti-Social Behaviour in this area of Northampton
Supported the first national Anti-Social Behaviour Awareness Week

Knife crime

Two-week campaign against violence with the visit of the Knife Angel in May. Activities included different agencies at the Angel delivering themed sessions (including youth services and domestic abuse agencies). Two well attended major bleed control sessions were held at the Guildhall, along with an introduction to Trauma Informed Practice, 3 sessions for parents on what to look out if their child was getting involved with gangs, an anti-violence day at Daventry and an anti-violence march followed by entertainment on the Market Square.
- Promoted and supported Police with a number of knife amnesty events
- Purchase of knife amnesty bins
- Knife arch and additional policing resources jointly funded with the Office of the Police and Fire Crime Commissioner and deployed in the night-time economy
- Supported Police Operation Sceptre Week of Action against Knife Crime including a re-launch of the Knife Angel section of the Explore Northampton app, updated with new videos, information for both young people and parents and links to relevant websites. The links include the map of bleed packs across the county funded and developed by charity Off The Streets, work also included highlighting to staff the kinds of blades that are now illegal to own, particularly important to Officers who may be going into people’s homes.

Vulnerability

Target hardening of properties of vulnerable residents, that have been victims of anti-social behaviour, hate crime or domestic abuse
Continuous promotion and development of the Good Neighbour Schemes across the West, working in partnership with Northamptonshire ACRE to help alleviate social isolation and loneliness
Promotion of Action for Happiness Network and Happy Cafes
100 Warm Welcoming Spaces - partner working group evolved into an advisory board to help with the cost-of-living crisis, working with parish and town councils and partners in the voluntary and community sector to create a network of Warm Spaces, a group of non-judgemental, safe and welcoming places where people in West Northamptonshire can come together to stay warm. Many support organisations involved including partnership working with Northants Fire Service on home fire safety visit packs.

Safer streets

Two new CCTV cameras installed at ASB hotspots in Towcester linked back to Omega One control room
Safer Streets 3 Home Office funding bid, brought £513k into Northampton town centre specifically to improve safety of Women and Girls. The funding supported 20 specific projects, including:
- Environmental improvements £291,488 – CCTV coverage of the Racecourse, ANPR in the car park, improved lighting, fencing, trimming of shrubbery and crown lifting
- Capable guardianship - £112,000 – University of Northampton student safety schemes and Park Watch schemes
- Education and awareness - £109, 722 – security packs for students and the community, bystander programmes delivered by Suzy Lamplugh Trust, community engagement events, drama and animation production, improvements to the Safer Route with new lamppost flags and campaign materials targeted at students
Delivered bike marking and personal safety awareness pop ups in parks under Safer Streets 3, in Northampton town centre and at Northampton hospital with a focus around the topic of violence against women and girls.
Creation of the It Only Takes One campaign, creating a range of resources to challenge violence and harassment, all available on a website including information on the Safer Nights Out van, Shout Up project and the Safer Route
Op Push in Northampton town centre, where officers and neighbourhood wardens stopped cyclists and scooter users on Abington street, to issue fixed penalty notices and confiscate illegal scooters
Work continues to deliver the Safer Streets 4 bid in Blackthorn and Bellinge. A new CCTV camera has been installed in a crime and ASB hot spot area of Spinneyside Walk in Blackthorn which coincided with the start of the police Operation Revive tackling gangs and crime across Northampton East and Kings Heath. Reinstatement of CCTV in Bellinge and Blackthorn around the shopping areas is imminent. Lighting upgrade to LED for specific underpasses is also imminent
Some adjustments have been made to the aspects of the town centre Safer Streets bid being delivered by the council and progress is being made. A full consultation on the Public Space Protection Order to gate Francis Jetty has been completed and is currently awaiting planning permission. Exploratory land searches for a future periodic road closure have been arranged and orders raised for works to install over 20 new lanterns, across an estate adjacent to the busy evening economy, alongside the removal of shrubbery to improve visibility. These works were identified and prioritised following partnership working with Northampton Partnership Homes and Northants Police
Street Pastor Scheme continues to operate in Northampton Town Centre, on bank holidays and pay weekends
Purple Flag reaccreditation scheme for the Town Centre achieved

Well Northants

The Well Northants project is taking a community-based approach to address health inequalities in West Northamptonshire focusing on those who are most vulnerable. We aim to build resilience within local communities so that people are empowered to take action together on health and the social determinants of health and reduce the health inequalities faced by those who are most disadvantaged or excluded. The Well Northants communities are St David’s, Blackthorn and Kings Heath in Northampton and Southbrook in Daventry. During the year community development workers have been meeting people, visiting community groups and hosting world café events to understand local priorities. The priorities have been reviewed by local communities and developed into local action plans for delivery. As part of our targeted inclusion work, we have engaged with specific communities (Sex workers and Gypsy Romany Travellers) and have started to map community needs and build actions plans to address needs

High crime areas

Focus on our high crime, priority areas continues
Developed focused neighbourhood working groups in priority areas
Northampton East (with smaller task and finish groups as required), Bouverie, St. David’s and Kingsthorpe, Briar Hill and Castle. Action plans have been developed through these groups that include ASB targeted enforcement around fly tipping, burglaries, car crime, theft, gang and knife crime. Partnerships established with the schools and there is an identified focus on contextual safeguarding. Some of the activity delivered through these groups include:
- 21 partnership engagement events, working with Northampton Partnership Homes and Northamptonshire Police held
- 18 bike marking events held, these have involved the distribution of bicycle crime prevention packs to residents and the marking of several 100’s of bikes
- Continue to encourage target communities to report, whether that be to the police or anonymously to Crimestoppers or Fearless
- Violence and Vulnerability Review carried out for Blackthorn and Kings Heath

Last updated 02 May 2023