Community Safety and Serious Violence Strategy

Closed 5 Sep 2022

Opened 25 Jul 2022

Contact

Sarah Gardner

Community Partnerships Service

csp@reading.gov.uk

Feedback updated 16 Mar 2023

We asked

We asked the residents of Reading to comment on the priorities we developed for the updated Community Safety and Serious Violence Strategy 2023-2026.

You said

The majority of respondents felt the proposed strategic priorities were right (125 out of 191 responses – 64%).

There were clear themes in the feedback across the consultation. When asked ‘what would make Reading safer’, ‘what would reduce serious violence’ and ‘what measures would you like us to take’, many of the respondents made similar comments, which are themed below:

  • Road safety, including dangerous driving, speeding, anti-social use of motorized vehicles and traffic violations.
  • The appearance of local environments and feelings of safety, particularly cleaner, brighter and more welcoming streets.
  • More police resources to provide a visible presence on the streets and to actively engage with communities.
  • Tackling drug activity and begging through enforcement and rehabilitation.
  • Investing into education as a means of prevention and youth services, both in terms of services and safe spaces.
  • Working in partnership with community groups, to share information, access local knowledge and build trust.

We did

We shared these findings with the Community Safety Partnership, the multi-agency partnership that works to prevent and tackle crime and disorder in Reading. The Partnership brings together Reading Borough Council, Thames Valley Police, the Probation Service, Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service, Buckingham, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care System (BOB ICS), Brighter Futures for Children, Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust, and Voluntary and Community Sector partners.

The Partnership agreed to keep the strategic proposed priorities without amendment, however many of the issues highlighted in the comments are reflected in the wider Community Safety and Serious Violence Strategy 2022-2025, published on Reading Borough Council's website.

A number of respondents felt that road safety, environmental issues and additional police resources should be added to the strategic priorities. These have not been added as new priorities because they are already tackled through existing policies and activity. More information can be found in the full feedback report.

The Community Safety Partnership would like to thank everyone for their comments on the consultation.

Results updated 16 Mar 2023

Files:

Overview

Reading’s Community Safety Partnership is a statutory partnership that brings together Reading Borough Council, Thames Valley Police, Royal Berkshire Fire & Rescue Service, the Probation Service, Brighter Futures for Children and other organisations involved in preventing and tackling crime and disorder in the town. The partnership provides the platform for these groups to work together to address priority issues and make Reading a safer place to live, work and visit.

The partnership is developing its new Community Safety and Serious Violence Strategy.  An independent report, known as a Needs Assessment, was recently conducted into crime and safety issues across Reading that reviewed all recent crime statistics, alongside recent residents’ surveys about crime and safety. The assessment also contained feedback from interviews, which were carried out with key officers and representatives from organisations who work with perpetrators and victims of crime. The report also considered the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on crime and perceptions of safety.

From this report, we have identified a number of priorities to help us develop the new Community Safety and Serious Violence Strategy. Please read through these priorities and then complete the questions in the following section, to give us your views. Whether you live, work or study in Reading, this is your opportunity to give us your views about community safety in the town. 

Proposed Priorities (in no particular order of priority)

Community Safety Plan Priorities: 

  • Reduce crime in the top crime-generating neighbourhoods. 
    Community Safety resources are currently focussed on the top crime-generating areas in Reading. By reducing the crimes in these neighbourhoods, we will free up resources to focus on crime and safety issues in other neighbourhoods.
     
  • Improve the way the Community Safety Partnership works with communities to tackle anti-social behaviour and hate crime. 
    We will create a programme designed for better information-sharing to our communities, the pooling of resources across the partnership and the training of partners to use a supported problem-solving approach to anti-social behaviour and hate crime.
     
  • Reduce community-based drug related activity.
    This priority will focus resources on drug-dealing and drug-taking in neighbourhoods, streets and open spaces. 

Serious Violence Plan Priorities: 

  • Reduce knife violence, including the carrying of blades and their use in crime.
    We will work with partner organisations, community representatives and young people to develop a plan to prevent knife violence and knife crime.
     
  • Tackle organised crime gangs transporting illegal drugs across Reading’s borders, also known as ‘county lines’ offending.
    We will work with partners to tackle drug dealing by criminal gangs and safeguard the vulnerable people they exploit. 
     
  • Improve safety for women in public places and reduce sexually focused crimes and anti-social behaviour.
    Over the summer months we will be working with partners and community representatives to develop a plan to address concerns raised about safety for women and girls, especially in the town centre.

Joint Community Safety and Serious Violence Priority:  

  • Develop a strategy and plan to reduce persistent offending.
    Reducing reoffending brings positive results for communities. We will focus on persistent and repeat offenders of crimes, including violent crime and drug related offences. This will be aligned with the government’s programme for managing offenders (the Integrated Offender Management Model).

Once you have read through these priorities, you can complete the questions in the following section, by clicking on the link below. 

This survey will close at midnight on Monday 5 September 2022.

Areas

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