Safe Community Chelmsford

Name of the Community: Chelmsford
Country: Essex , England
Number of inhabitants: 167,000
Programme started year: 2008
International Safe Communities Network Membership: Designation year: 2010

Full application report:

For further information contact:
Averil Price
Director of Safer Communities
Chelmsford Borough Council
Civic Centre, Duke Street
Chelmsford
England CM1 1JE

Phone: +44 1245 606473
E-mail: averil.price@chelmsford.gov.uk

www.chelmsford.gov.uk/communitysafety

The programme covers the following safety promotion activities:

For the age group

Children 0-14 years:

•  Crucial Crew- a series of interactive workshops focusing on personal safety

•  Reality Roadshow- a programme to increase awareness of road safety

•  Many interactive dramas looking at road safety, alcohol, drugs, bullying, speeding, e.g. ‘Second chance', ‘Too Much Punch for Judy', ‘Thrills, Pills and Automobiles',

•  Operation Piranha- a speed project targeted at 10 year-old students

•  2SMART Roadshow- a project addressing alcohol, drugs, bullying and knives

•  Visits to CCTV Control Room to see how it creates a safer town 24 hours a day

•  Xtra play- the provision of specialist fixed play equipment for children with disabilites

•  Child Safe: a safety scheme to assist parents in finding children who have been separated from them whilst shopping in the town centre

•  Play strategy to provide a variety of safe play provision for children throughout the Chelmsford Borough

•  Chelmsford Mencap Daybreak providing activities in a safe environment for vulnerable children

Youth 15-24 years:

•  Supported lodgings scheme to prevent homelessness for young vulnerable people

•  Under 18s events to educate, promote safer drinking and prevent injuries and crime

•  Youth Counselling- a preventative tool used for vulnerable young people

•  Young Persons' Rape and Incest Crisis Centre to offer help to vulnerable young people

•  Roadrunner- a programme designed to prevent dangerous driving and decrease casualties

•  Young Drivers road safety campaigns

•  Young Rider Pit Stops- a programme to prevent injuries through road safety checks and education

•  Young Rider Day-an educational event to deliver road safety messages

•  Chances Motor Project- a car maintenance and driving project to discourage offending

•  Young Fire Fighter course to offer early intervention to children from the ‘middle income' family background, which may not be benefit from other activities.

•  Visits to CCTV Control Room to see how it creates a safer town 24 hours a day.

•  Stay Safe initiative to prevent incidents and provide a safer environment.

Adults 25-64 years:

•  Nominated Driver Scheme- addressing safety of groups of people going out and drinking

•  SOS Community Shop to provide services to the community during day and night hours

•  International Day of Disabled People

•  Employers' Forum on Disability

•  Disability Awareness Day

•  Chelmsford Borough Council work around new migrants coming to Chelmsford

•  Chelmsford Black History Month

•  Mobile Customer Information Service that offers information services to isolated communities

Elderly 65+ years:

•  Older Persons' Information Days to educate about safety, prevention and available services

•  Older Persons' calendars with various safety messages and useful contacts page

•  ‘Young at Heart' and ‘Falls Stop' to decrease the number of falls

•  Free electric blanket testing to prevent injuries and ensure safety at home

•  ‘Older Drivers' educational campaigns and driving related health checks

•  ‘Message in a Bottle'- a programme to address safety of older people living alone

•  ‘Heart and Sole' walking scheme to prevent falls through better physical condition

•  Home fire safety visits specifically for older people to ensure home safety

•  ‘Welcome Project' for older people to help them maintain independence and improve mobility

•  ‘Village Agents' to provide face-to-face information and help in isolated communities

•  Fish and Chip Supper- addressing fear of crime and anti social behaviour on the Halloween night

•  Partnership Action Group that deals with issues specific to older people

At the following environments:

Home:

•  Community Safety Day that focuses on safety at home for families, e.g. fire and emergency safety

•  Falls prevention programmes for older people targeting falls at home

•  Work carried out by Health Visitors and Community Nursery Nurses to increase safety at home

•  Home fire safety visits to reduce fire related incidents and prevent injuries

•  Neighbourhood Watch to reduce the level of crime and encourage a ‘neighbourly' spirit

•  Architectural Liaison Officer offering specific advice on design of new buildings (lighting, walls, proximity of buildings) to reduce crime and prevent injuries

•  Home Repair Assistance for small works of repair or minor adaptations for specified types of residents (e.g. low income)

•  Disabled Facilities Grant to adapt homes to the needs of disabled people and prevent injuries

•  UV light marker pens & Selecta DNA home kits to prevent crime at home

•  ‘Future Homes' – a strategy to address the housing needs of older people

•  Chelmsford Independence at Home offers adaptations and repairs for older people

•  ‘Nominated Neighbour Scheme' targets safety at home for older people

•  ‘Man in a Van' scheme targeting safety at home for older people

Traffic:

•  ‘Community Wheels' – a mobile classroom that goes into the community to discuss and deliver road safety educational messages.

•  Road safety campaigns- an ongoing programme to increase awareness of road safety, e.g. Don't Drive Tired', Speeding, ‘ Drink Drive ' , ‘Drugs and Driving', Seat Belts and Mobile Phones

•  Road safety operations to cut down numbers of killed or seriously injured on roads, e.g. Operation Nash, Operation Calypso, Operation Twister, Operation Mermaid, Pit Stops

•  ‘Automatic Number Plate Recognition' cameras are used as a road safety and crime prevention tool

•  Various bike safety on the roads activities, e.g. Bikability, Bikesafe, Operation Velo, Bike Wrapping Scheme, Cycle Proficiency, etc.

•  ‘Wearing Seat Belts' campaign to increase awareness was designed by young people

•  ‘Drink Impaired Driver Programme'- an educational initiative to stop drink-driving and reduce re-offending

•  Green links- a safe cycle network to avoid riding on roads and decrease the number of accidents

Occupational:

•  Safety at work campaigns, e.g. ‘Vehicles at Work Safety'; ‘Lighten the Load'; ‘Height awareness'; ‘Why Watch Your Step?'

•  Migrant workers project looking at Health & Safety of hand car washers

•  Potentially Violent Persons (PVP) Register to prevent injuries of employees visiting the public

•  Supporting businesses with training around domestic violence

•  V Music Festival organisation- ensuring event safety, food safety, etc. on a very large scale with 180,000 visitors during both days of the festival

•  ‘Managing safely' certificates and safety around event organising to prevent injuries and crime

School:

•  Continuous delivery of road safety and prevention of injuries educational activities delivered in schools and colleges through interactive road safety dramas

•  Ongoing fire safety educational visits to schools

•  Ongoing programme of education and prevention regarding the causes and effects of anti-social behaviour/ crime and improving personal safety

•  Police Community Support Officers visit schools on a weekly basis to prevent injuries and crime

•  Neighbourhood Environmental Action Teams running a activities to educate and involve children in environmental issues, e. g. bulb planting, river cleaning to improve safety of the local area

Sports:

•  ‘Accident Prevention Project' at Chelmsford Riverside Ice & Leisure Centre

•  Summer term activities aimed at children to increase confidence and prevent injuries

•  4x4 Fun Day injury prevention and safety promotion event for disabled children

•  Nacro Community Sports Project provides young people with activities to stop them from becoming a victim or perpetrator of crime

•  ‘Forever Active Day' for older people to prevent injuries through better physical condition

•  ‘Running Sisters' provide a safe environment for female runners

•  ‘Live Life' programme for young and older people to increase nutritional awareness and improve health

•  Multi-sports sessions to improve health of over 55s and prevent falls

Leisure:

•  ‘Face the Public' event to raise general awareness of community safety

•  Chelmsford Active Families Days giving local residents an opportunity to take part in affordable and accessible activities including those focussed on community safety

•  Chelmsford Water Safety campaigns to improve safety and prevent injuries

•  Chelmsford Community TV to target local community with up to date safety advice, including emergencies and prevent crime and injuries through better information

•  Designated No Drinking Area to make the town centre a safer place, prevent injuries and crime

•  Community Safety Accreditation Scheme to improve the quality of life for residents and prevent crime and disorder

•  Test purchasing- a crime and injury prevention tool to ensure that retailers are not selling products like alcohol, tobacco, knives, fireworks and imitation weapons illegally to underage age customers

•  ‘Behave or Be Banned' scheme to discourage alcohol fuelled violence, persistent offenders are banned from the licensed premises

•  Publink and Townlink initiatives to prevent injury and crime, e.g. from alcohol / drug consumption, etc

•  Street Pastors- assist vulnerable people on Friday and Saturday evenings to prevent injuries

•  Comprehensive CCTV coverage and increased street lighting to prevent crime and injuries

•  Park Mark award demonstrates safety at Chelmsford Borough Council car parks

•  Parks and green spaces programme to maintain continuous safety for all residents

•  Annual River Spring Clean and River Care programmes by NEAT to make local areas safer

Natural Disaster:

•  ‘Chelmsford Flood Alleviation Scheme' addresses the risk of floods

•  Preparation and exercising of various contingency plans at Chelmsford Borough Council

•  Promotion of community resilience and injury prevention, including business continuity planning

•  Chelmsford Emergency Planning Centre and website

•  Business Continuity Programme at Essex Police

Violence prevention:

•  Domestic Abuse Training Programme

•  Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC) to provide a coordinated response for those at the highest risk from domestic violence

•  ‘Domestic Abuse Awareness Week' / seminars to increase awareness and prevent injuries

•  Domestic abuse campaigns to increase awareness and prevent injuries

•  ‘The Sanctuary Scheme' to help victims of domestic violence to remain in their homes and feel safer

•  Joint Referral Panel to ensure working in partnership to prevent homelessness

•  Homophobia prevention activities also focusing on improving reporting, on-line reporting of incidents

•  ‘Witness Support Packs' are provided to victims of anti-social behaviour to report incidents

•  ASB Minimum Standards, and on-line reporting of incidents

•  Violent extremism and protection from a terrorist attack activities to prevent injuries and crime

•  ‘Project Argus' addressed contingency planning and educated retailers around terrorism issues

•  Reducing re-offending through programmes targeting domestic violence, drink driving, aggression management

•  Chelmsford Holocaust Memorial Day

•  Chelmsford BME forums

Suicide prevention : Indirectly through:

•  Chelmsford Street Pastors -assisting vulnerable people returning home on Friday and Saturday evenings

•  R.I:S.E. is a new service assisting people who have been made redundant or are facing redundancy and may suffer mentally through this experience

•  Suicide/Avoidable Deaths Prevention Steering Group that initiates a wide spectrum of issues relating to suicide across Mid-Essex

•  Improving Access to Psychological Therapies- an initiative aimed at reducing waiting times for those seeking help for mild to moderate depression, anxiety or stress

•  “Get your life back….books can help”- a comprehensive list of self-help books that offer another way of dealing with various emotional health issues at home

•  Essex Police approach to deal with people suffering from mental health problems

•  Fit for Business-as part of this programme an email was sent to all Chelmsford Borough Council employees to make them aware of services available to sufferers of stress and depression

•  Hate Crime Awareness activities and National Anti-Bullying Week

Programmes aiming at “High risk-groups”:

•  Chelmsford Borough Council Disabled Go scheme providing accessibility information about over 700 venues across the Chelmsford Borough

•  Chelmsford Area Access Group promoting interests of disabled people

•  Chelmsford Borough Council gives grants to Mid Essex Branch of the Alzheimer's Society, Chess and Victoria Club to provide various activities for vulnerable people

•  Tackling Inequalities Across Chelmsford Plan and Community Action Groups address the needs of disadvantaged people across the Chelmsford Borough

•  Chelmsford Taxi Marshal Scheme to provide a safe environment for those coming home late at night

•  ‘Firebreak' scheme targeting vulnerable young people highlighted as either victims or perpetrators of arson since 2005

•  Police officers leading on ‘Every Child Matters' agenda work to prevent injuries for missing children and to gain an early identification of young people who may be vulnerable

•  Addressing needs of offending children through Police officers working with children and their families/schools and to improve their behaviour

•  Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Community Forum addresses the needs of this group

•  Inspections at caravan sites to ensure there is compliance with health and safety at the sites

•  Westminster Drug Project and Open Road in Meadgate addressing the needs of people suffering from substance misuse

•  Various national campaigns to tackle substance misuse, e.g. ‘Know Your Limits'

•  Essex Pride event that addressed h ate crime prevention, safety and increases community cohesion

Surveillance of injuries:

•  iQuanta – Policing Performance Analysis

•  Safer Essex Annual Strategic Assessment

•  Safer Chelmsford Partnership Strategic Assessment

•  Local Area Agreement tagets

•  Chelmsford Community Plan targets

•  Various Chelmsford Borough Council data

•  Chelmsford Borough Council's Place Survey

•  Public Health Annual Report

•  NHS Mid Essex – Secondary User Service In-Patient Table

•  Eastern Region Public Health Observatory (ERPHO) data

•  NHS Joint Strategic Needs Assessment

•  Essex County Council's Road Casualty Reduction Board and Essex Police's Mobile Support Division data

•  Essex Fire and Rescue Service Annual Report

•  Various Essex Police data

•  Essex Ambulance data

•  Neighbourhood Action Panel key priority data

•  Census 2001 data

•  Essex Drug and Alcohol Team (EDAT) data

•  National CCTV Strategy data

•  Domestic Violence National Delivery Plan data

•  The Crime Pattern Analysis for Hate Crime Offences from the Police

•  The Ethnic Minority Achievement Service reports

•  Registered Social Landlord data partners and police data gathered by Neighbourhood Specialist Officers

Publications / Produced Information Material, Pamphlets:

Examples of include:

•  ‘A Guide to Support Services in Chelmsford ' concertina

•  ‘The Safer Chelmsford Partnership' leaflet explaining the role and functions of the partnership

•  Banners on the High Street

•  Domestic violence concertina

•  Domestic violence posters

•  Hate crime posters and leaflets

•  Anti-social behaviour posters, concertinas

• The Safer Chelmsford Partnership backpacks with fluorescent strips on the sides

•  The Safer Chelmsford Partnership drinking bottles

•  The Safer Chelmsford Partnership trolley key rings

•  The annual Safer Chelmsford Partnership Strategic Assessment

•  Safer Chelmsford Partnership Plan

•  ‘Migration from Eastern European Accession States in Chelmsford ' report

•  ‘Tackling Inequalities Across Chelmsford Plan'

Staff

•  Organisation: Chelmsford Borough Council Community Safety and Resilience Team

•  Number: 20 staff members, including Community Safety , Resilience and CCTV control room staff (16 full-time and 3 part-time)

•  Specific intersectoral leadership group: the Safer Chelmsford Partnership, including the Responsible Authorities Group, the Operational Group and six sub-groups

•  General public health/health promotion group: Health and Wellbeing Group within the Chelmsford Partnership

International commitments:

Study visits:

•  In autumn 2008 the Director of Safer Communities undertook an international exchange visit with Southland District Council in New Zealand

Participation in Safe Community Conferences: Where?

•  Safety 2010- 10th World Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion, 21-24 September 2010 in London

•  ‘Reducing Crime and the Fear of Crime' Conference on 24 June 2009 in London

•  National Community Safety Network Annual Conference in Leeds on June 9-10 2009

•  Annual national Home Office Conference on 12-13 May 2009

•  ‘Preventing violent extremism' event on 11 May 2009

•  ‘ Westminster Briefing Conference: The Future of CDRPs and Community Safety Partnerships' on 23 April 2009

•  CCTV National Conference in the spring 2008

•  Westminster Briefing Conference: Delivering Safer Communities For All: Creating Neighbourhoods Where People Feel Secure” on 22 October 2008 in London

•  The Local Government Association ‘Safer Communities Conference' in October 2008

•  ROSPA's 74 th Road Safety Congress

•  The Essex Partnership Conference on 9 July 2009

•  Basildon CSP's Face the Public event on 22 July 2009

•  Braintree CSP's ‘Being Safe' launch on 27 May 2009

•  ‘Preventing Violent Extremism' briefing in January 2009

Hosting Safe Community Conferences:

No

Hosting “Travelling Seminars”:

•  Hate Crime Awareness training February 2010

•  Traveller education services seminar January 2010

•  ‘Prevent' terrorism seminar in November 2009

•  Business Crime Seminar in April 2009 for all the businesses in Chelmsford

•  Face the Public seminar in March 2009, the next even will take place in the Summer 2010

•  MARAC training session in May 2009

Other, what?

•  Community Safety Peer Challenge in October and November 2009 Manchester and in London

•  Increasing Public Confidence through Social Marketing' conference in York on 11 November 2009

•  Community Safety training in Chester in October 2009

•  Evaluation Training on 14 July 2009 in Cambridge

•  MARAC Training in May 2009

•  Community Safety team visited Braintree , Colchester , Maldon, Uttlesford, St. Albans CSPs to learn best practice during the review of our Partnership in Autumn 2008.