Durham poised to net up to £1m to tackle public’s top priorities.

Police and Crime Commissioner Joy Allen has welcomed the prospect of a £1m funding grant to boost her public safety work.

The Home Office has released details of its Safer Streets 5 funding round which will inject a further £60m into crime prevention measures across England and Wales to reduce neighbourhood crime, anti-social behaviour (ASB) and Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) in public spaces.

County Durham and Darlington has been allocated a provisional £1m grant to invest in projects between 1 October 2023 and 31 March 2025. County Durham and Darlington PCC Joy Allen will now work closely with partners to pull together detailed proposals on how she intends to invest the funding.

It is the first time in the Safer Streets scheme that PCCs have been directly awarded funding rather than competing for a share against other areas. However, they are still required to submit their plans to confirm they meet the requirements of the fund.

Previously, County Durham and Darlington received a total of £3.4m in the first four Safer Streets rounds.

Commissioner Allen said: “This is fantastic news for our communities in County Durham and Darlington. It will enable me to build on the huge progress we have made so far since launching a multiagency crackdown on ASB, neighbourhood crime and VAWG – crimes that matter a great deal to the public.

“The most recent performance figures show neighbourhood crime (robbery, residential burglary, theft from the person, vehicle crime) fell -32.7 per cent (2,373 offences) in the 12 months to March 2023 compared to 2019-20 (pre-Covid). ASB, meanwhile, fell -26.6 per cent in the 12 months to March 2023 (4,886 fewer offences). Clearly, previous Safer Streets funding and a continued focus on these areas is making a difference.

“Tackling VAWG and providing better protection for women and girls was a key election pledge and I have funded a wealth of new resources to deliver increased support and safety measures to victims of these offences. This funding will enable us to expand on these improvements and help create communities where women and girls can live their lives with confidence and without fear.”

PCCs can apply for up to £465k in 2023-24 and up to a further £535k in 2024-25. They must contribute a mandatory 50 per cent in matched-funding support.

Like previous projects, the round will be concentrated on geographical areas of the county which are disproportionately and persistently affected by neighbourhood crime, ASB and VAWG and evidence will be needed to support individual projects.

The deadline for PCCs to submit their proposals is 29 August 2023.