Issue - meetings

(a)       That the contents of the report be endorsed; and

(b)       That the Committee look forward to receiving the report on future CCTV provision, when it is available, together with an update on the implications of new legislation on Anti-Social Behaviour.

The Chief Executive introduced a report outlining the activities of the Community Safety Partnership (SCP) over the past year.  In acknowledging the challenges in tackling anti-social behaviour issues, he said that the Council’s record had been excellent and that the Partnership’s role transfer to the Local Service Board had helped to sharpen focus.

The main points of the presentation were:

·         Background to the partnership

·         Performance statistics compared with 2012/13

·         Local Developments

·         Links with the Council’s Improvement Plan

·         Details of the Community Safety Team

·         Regional Developments - making a difference through collaboration

The Team Leader - Community Safety highlighted the key priorities within the North Wales Safer Communities Board Plan for 2014-17 which had been adopted by Flintshire’s CSP.  The Plan reflected the recommendations of the regional Strategic Assessment together with the findings of the Substance Misuse Needs Assessment which had identified the misuse of alcohol as one of the main areas of concern.

Overall crime and disorder statistics for 2013/14 indicated a steady reduction from the previous year.  The Team Leader - Community Safety pointed out that figures for victim-based crime reflected ongoing operations resulting from reports of historic incidents both in Flintshire and Wrexham.  The increase in burglary dwelling incidents reflected an emerging trend throughout North Wales, however figures for Flintshire had levelled off during the first quarter of 2014/15 as a result of intervention work with Police colleagues to identify key individuals and task group working with involvement from Neighbourhood Wardens.  A reduction in anti-social behaviour statistics from 2012/13 had been further reduced by 21.5% during the first quarter of 2014/15.

On local developments, the Chief Executive spoke of positive progress by the CSP on the ‘People are Safe’ priority, focussing particularly on tackling alcohol abuse.  More detail could be shared with Members outside the meeting.

The achievement milestones for 2013/14 in the report indicated a ‘green’ status on all areas apart from substance misuse.  Mr Godfrey Hayes of Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board advised that employee sickness issues had mainly been resolved and that performance figures for the first quarter of 2014/15 had seen a significant improvement, with 99% of service users receiving treatment within 20 days.  He added that alcohol related crime was on the increase across the whole of North Wales.

During an update on team members, the Team Leader - Community Safety said that co-location had made communication easier between officers, Neighbourhood Wardens and Community Police Officers.  This would also be of benefit when the new legislation on Anti-Social Behaviour was due to come into force, on which the Committee would receive an update.

The Chairman thanked the Team Leader - Community Safety and her team for their hard work and asked about a breakdown of crime figures relating to drugs and alcohol.  Whilst Acting Superintendent Dave Owens of North Wales Police was able to provide some data on crime and anti-social behaviour, he advised that this may not reflect the true position as it was not possible to capture in every case whether  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10