£335,000 Home Office funding in action in Hartlepool ward

Cleveland PCC Matt Storey joins community partners on a walkabout in Victoria ward

Transcript

00:00Getting screenings on, working with the landlords, getting the landlords to make a little bit

00:13better than that, so eventually when I do show you the screen you'll see the difference

00:17this project has made and the work everyone's taken on has made a huge difference to the

00:21area.

00:23I think it's really, really impressive. I think the work that's going on will make

00:30our communities safer, it brings people together and we've seen a lot of the measures today,

00:34the alley gates, the wildlife cameras, seen all that in action, it shows how the difference

00:40that this funding can make to local communities.

00:43And is there any chance of any more funding like this coming to Hartlepool?

00:47Well we can't say for sure at the minute, I think the government's still working out

00:50exactly how they want to fund things like this going forward but we've seen the impacts

00:53here are very positive and I'm really keen to see more of this funding come through because

00:58in Hartlepool and in Middlesbrough and in Stockton where we've done this, we've seen

01:02our social behaviour reduce by over 40% so it has had a big impact so I would like to

01:06see it continue if possible.

01:08How important is the work that's going on with Safer Streets and the Victoria Ward?

01:12The Safer Streets 5 funding has been a huge boost locally for us to be able to manage

01:21the issues, fly tipping etc but also it's given us great opportunities and time to work

01:28with local people. Education takes a long time to materialise into positive action but

01:36it's been a real boost for us.

01:39What would your message be to residents in the area to help?

01:43My message is very clear, we will support those who are helping us in the community,

01:50who are getting rid of their litter etc in a legitimate way and it's important that we

01:57support those people. We will do education but I think we've got to make it clear that

02:02we'll also use any force that we have to tackle those who continue to mess up the community

02:09and mess up the back alleys. It's really unfair. I would ask people to see about recycling

02:16and doing more recycling in the area because that is a boost to us financially as a local

02:22authority and that will enable us to put our services back into these local areas and neighbourhoods.