Safer Streets shows its value
In 2022, Torbay Council was awarded £750,000 from the Government!s Safer Streets Fund to carry out work and take action to discourage antisocial behaviour (ASB) and violence against women and girls (VAWG).
This was Torbay’s first successful Safer Streets bid and since being successful, work has been ongoing to deliver the funded projects. “The funding allowed us to introduce a number of new projects into the night-time economy,” said Victoria McGeough, Torbay’s Partnership Manager for Community Safety. “We have been able to develop a number of dynamic and diverse projects more quickly than we would have been able to without it.
“This has been particularly helpful in the night-time economy where we want to be able to continue to keep people safe.”
As the funding period ends, Ms McGeough says its success shows that by working in partnership we can improve safety for all. “To get the full benefit of the work we have started it’s going to need the ongoing commitment from businesses and all other partner agencies to continue to work together,” she said. “Throughout the project we have been looking at data and feedback from a variety of sources and at the end of the project we will undertake a full evaluation to identify what worked well and what we can learn from and improve for the future.”
Harbour revamp underway at last
Torbay Council’s long-awaited regeneration of the town’s harbourside gets underway this month. This momentous step promises to transform the area into a well-connected, high-quality, modern, and vibrant place. It’s the biggest transformation project that Torquay has seen in decades.
The project, secured with £21.9million of Town Deal Funding, will be delivered in five phases of work, which is expected to be complete by September 2024.
Information on the programme of works can be found on the council’s website. Stay updated on the project by following the Council’s social media channels or by signing up to the Torquay Projects newsletter
Fast acting marshals have made town safer
Street marshals have been a regular sight in Torquay town centre and harbourside at weekends over the summer.
On Fridays and Saturdays, marshals patrolled areas where they know there could be issues that impact safety. “We try to act early to stop antisocial behaviour,” said marshal Sandy Clark. “We try to help people who are injured or unwell, or who need support to get home safely. “We’ve dealt with strokes, we’ve dealt with people experiencing mental health difficulties, cuts, fights or domestic disputes. “We can get to an incident as something is happening and prevent escalation. “We seem to have been busier on a Saturday night - sometimes dealing with 15 incidents and about 65% of them we will take to the Safe Space for further support which stops them needing to go to A&E for treatment.”
The marshals are in regular contact with the council’s CCTV room. Read below to find out more about Safe Space.
New cameras a great addition
It's more than a quarter of century since Torquay got its first CCTV cameras and now, thanks to funding from Safer Streets, the town has a state-of-the-art system to keep residents safe.
The investment has seen 13 brand new cameras installed to increase coverage and produce better images, improvements in the control room and the purchase of two mobile units which can be deployed quickly where needs arise.
Steve Farley, the town’s CCTV manager, said: “The new cameras mean we can now follow offenders for longer and get police or security resources to them. “The cameras have very high resolution which produce good images which can be used as evidence in court. They are high resolution images - gone are the days of grainy images of unidentifiable people. “We use the cameras proactively to monitor areas and pick up on vulnerable people and get resources to them when they need it.”
The new cameras mean that Torbay is now covered by around 300 cameras in total. Just recently the new cameras played a key role in providing evidence following a robbery in the town centre.
Following the prompt call from CCTV, a man was picked up and arrested by police within minutes of the incident. CCTV footage has been provided to support the prosecution.
Businesses asked to sign Charter
Businesses operating in Torquay’s night-time economy will be asked to sign up to a new Charter which demonstrates their commitment to keeping women and girls safe on their premises and gives them suggestions and tools to be able to achieve this.
Pubs, clubs, restaurants, bars, taxi companies and fastfood outlets will all be asked to sign the Safety of Women at Night (SWaN) Charter. “Women are telling us they don’t feel safe when they go out at night - by signing this charter businesses can show they are doing something to put a stop to that,” said Jason Preece, Torbay's Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Project Manager. “Any business that operates at night-time, where women attend or use that service, should be signing up. They all have a duty to protect their customers. “All staff at signed-up venues will receive training through Torquay Shout-Up. “If we are going to have a charter, we need to ensure that everybody linked to that charter is confident and trained to deal with any crisis.
"A signed up business will display a SWaN sticker in its window and posters around the establishment. If you don’t see that in your pub ask them why not.” Licensed venues can sign up to the Charter.
Safe Space is major success
TORQUAY’S Safe Space has prevented 52 visits to accident and emergency during its eight weeks summer pilot at the harbourside.
Working alongside street marshals, paramedics from Event Paramedic Services (EPS) saw 64 patients nearly all of whom would otherwise have resulted in a visit to Torbay A&E.
Figures suggest this is a saving of at least £41,000* to the local health economy. They have also helped a variety of other people, who had become vulnerable for one reason or another, and helped them to get home safely. Help ranges from charging a phone, handing out bottles of water or signposting to other services for more in-depth support.
Charlie Herbert, operations director for EPS, said: “We’ve delivered everything from first aid to full medical care. “It’s not just people who are intoxicated, we’ve treated strokes and serious head injuries as well as more minor first aid for cuts etc. “We’ve seen numerous patients with mental health needs. “This isn’t a place to treat people with significant mental health issues but sometimes the immediate care and advice that we can give will prevent an episode from escalating. “The Safe Space has delivered excellent value for money. “The impact we have had on the local health economy by reducing A&E admissions is significant. “It seems clear that a permanent Safe Space is required in Torquay.
This visible resource, a mobile medical centre right on the harbourside, is ideal.” *A trip to A&E in an ambulance costs around £785* - so 52 visits avoided has saved almost £41,000 (*Source the Kings Fund May 2023).
Five get help from grant fund
MURALS, repairs to fencing and landscaping are among five projects that tabled funding bids to the Safer Streets Community Innovation Fund. Just over £13,000 was awarded to the projects which will help to make the town a more pleasant and vibrant place - and discourage antisocial behaviour.
The five successful bids are as follows:
- Groundwork South - resident-driven improvements such as bin stores, way markers and an art trail at Warren Road, Warren Hill and Melville Street
- Artizan CIC - a mural at Temperance Street café and hub.
- Torquay Community Partnership - enhancements to the Lucius Street area with sustainable, year round planting.
- Torre and Upton Community Partnership - a mural on the walls and ceiling at East Street and the installation of solar lighting.
- Ellacombe Community Partnership - the repair and replacement of broken or unsafe fencing around the new community garden in Ellacombe Park.