Agenda item

Presentation by Assistant Director Community Services

The Assistant Director, Community Services gave a presentation (previously circulated) on community safety, detailing the concerns and response of Darlington Borough Council to community safety in Darlington.

Members were advised that a significant reduction in funding had impacted on the co-ordination and leadership of work to keep Darlington a safe place however following consultation as part of the Medium Term Financial Plan, community safety had been identified as a key priority and as a result additional resources had been put in place and the Community Safety Unit established.

Members were advised of the staffing structure within community safety which included Civic Enforcement, Licensing, Private Sector Housing, Trading Standards and Community Resilience. A Systems Data Analyst was also in place to provide accurate and timely data in respect of community safety and had access to Police and Fire data sets, in order to identify threats and risks within communities and to ensure resources were deployed according to those identified threats and risks. Reference was made to the 2019/20 community safety priorities.

Discussion ensued in respect of door to door sales and fly tipping; the importance of residents reporting any concerns to community safety to ensure resources were deployed; knife crime, which was not a concern in Darlington; and that Darlington was a safe and vibrant place to live.  

RESOLVED – (a) That the thanks of this Scrutiny Committee be extended to the Assistant Director, Community Services for his informative and interesting presentation.

(b) That an update on community safety be provided at a future meeting of this Scrutiny Committee.