The Home Office has announced that the Thames Valley Police & Crime Commissioner has been awarded more than £970,000 in extra funding following a successful bid to the Government’s £25 million Safer Streets Fund – delivering on a key Conservative manifesto commitment.
The Safer Streets Fund forms part of the Government’s concerted action to tackle crime, and aims to stop offences that blight communities and cause misery to victims from happening in the first place.
The extra funding will be aimed at improving security in areas particularly affected by acquisitive crimes such as burglary, vehicle theft and robbery.
These offences are the crimes that often most concern the public, and they are estimated to cost society billions of pounds every year.
The £972,264 of new funding will go towards two pilot projects seeking to cut crime, with an evaluation to follow to see measure the impact locally.
Police and Crime Commissioners were invited to bid for a share of the £25 million Safer Streets Fund in January, with each project eligible for a grant of up to £550,000.
Bids were evaluated against a set criteria and bidders were asked to outline a plan to reduce crime within a local crime hotspot, demonstrating value for money, evidence of community engagement and long-term sustainability.
This additional funding comes alongside the Government’s commitment to recruit 20,000 additional police officers over the next three years, and the £1.1 billion funding boost for the policing system for 2020-21.
Commenting, Matthew Barber said:
“This Government was elected on the promise to crack down on crime and make our streets safer, and announced today of nearly a million pounds of additional funding for Thames Valley Police will help deliver that.
“I want people everywhere to feel secure in their communities and be able to live their lives free from the threat of crime, and this extra funding for Thames Valley will help make that possible. If successful and the schemes demonstrate value for money I hope that we can replicate more projects like these in other local areas.”
Home Secretary Priti Patel said:
“I will not stand by while criminals inflict fear and misery on our communities.
“That is why I set up this fund to ensure we are doing all we can to prevent people falling victim to these crimes.”
