Priorities and plans

Community Safety Approach

The local area partnership has stretched resources and therefore has to consider how to prioritise actions. The strategy will therefore focus on the areas where the data shows:  

• There is most demand on public services
• The most harm is caused
• Outcomes need to be improved because we compare unfavourably to our statistical neighbours

Priorities 2021 to 2024

The Community Safety Partnership has three strategic themes that represent our overarching work, whilst the specific priorities are areas we'll try to concentrate on in more detail.

Strategic themes

Listening to the needs and concerns of local residents and taking action: 

We'll ensure that the partnership has a robust and clear approach to listening, monitoring, and responding to issues and concerns at a local neighbourhood level. The partnership aims to ensure that we place communities and neighbourhoods at the heart of our approach. 

We understand that many issues of local concern require a multi-strand approach involving several partner agencies. We will therefore take a problem-solving approach to help communities and businesses to address behaviours and incidents and crimes. This includes burglary, vehicle crime, and anti-social behaviour as well as other key issues that affect local communities including unauthorised encampments, and rural crime concerns. We will support Neighbourhood and Resident Action Groups (NAGS) to improve communication and engagement with residents. 

Intervening early and preventing issues from escalating:

We'll ensure all residents especially children and young adults have access to a range of support services and information. This will help to ensure that issues are dealt with at the earliest opportunity using a range of measures and interventions to stop them from escalating. We know that intervening early can help us catch young people before they go down the wrong path, encouraging them to make positive choices. Therefore, we fully recognise the importance of early intervention to tackle the root causes and provide young people with the skills and resilience to lead productive lives free from being drawn into anti-social behaviour, substance misuse, crime and exploitation including serious violence and knife crime. 

We'll provide targeted activity through the Supporting Families Initiative (formerly Troubled Families) working with partner agencies to support young people on the periphery of offending. This will include diversionary activities and mentoring offers that will underpin the partnership's work and delivery of the government's Violence Reduction Strategy. Where there is a need, we will take adequate and proportionate action including enforcement steps to address issues and protect communities.  

Working together to protect vulnerable residents:

We will ensure that all victims and the vulnerable have the access to help, information, and advice they need. This includes victims experiencing domestic abuse, anti-social behaviour, hate crime, vulnerable residents at risk of being drawn into exploitation and racialisation, and residents targeted by specific crime times including fraud. Through the Integrated Early Help Service, we will provide support to families, children, young people, and their carers with the skills to prevent them from becoming victims. 

As a partnership, we will ensure that services and information reach all sections of the community, especially those that may have additional barriers to accessing help such as ethnic minority groups and residents with protected characteristics. We recognise the wider social and economic factors influencing criminality, including those linked to housing, education and health. Vulnerable people and how we provide a range of assistance for a cross-section of communities is a priority for several boards. Including, featuring as a priority for the refreshed Wokingham Wellbeing Board Strategy. The partnership will work in close alliance to complement this workstream.   

Furthermore, we understand and recognise the benefits of physical and emotional well-being, especially those gained through health and leisure opportunities. Not only because they have a role to play in helping to keep residents healthy, but also in helping individuals make overall positive lifestyle choices. To assist some of the most vulnerable of our residents the Council’s leisure services team has enabled access to leisure facilities including swimming and gym membership free of charge to a wide range of vulnerable groups. In addition, the leisure services team will continue to deliver targeted programmes that address social isolation and health inequalities for those facing additional barriers to access and participation. This includes ensuring the new 3G pitch at Cantley and a state-of-the-art Boxing Hub facility coming online during summer 2021, will be available to targeted young people in order to bolster our diversionary activities offer.

Specific aims  

1. Work with communities to deal with crime and anti-social behaviour hotspots 
2. Reduce the harm caused by domestic abuse
3. Reduce incidents of serious violence and knife crime
4. Tackle the exploitation of children, young people and vulnerable adults
5. Reduce incidents of residential burglary and theft from vehicles