Hartlepool council ward receives more than £333,000 in Home Office funding to make streets safer

Up to £333,333 will be spent in the town’s Victoria ward to combat acquisitive crimes such as theft and burglary as well as environmental crime like fly-tipping.

Measures will include improvements to alley gates and funding a new community cohesion officer, who will ask residents what they want to see in their community and enable them to achieve it.

It is also proposed to appoint an environmental project officer to gather intelligence and investigate environmental crime and anti-social behaviour.

Just under £1m has been awarded to the Office of Cleveland Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) as part of the Home Office’s £43m Safer Streets Fund.

PCC Steve Turner said: “I am delighted that we have once again been successful in securing additional national funding to make Cleveland’s streets safer.

“These projects will deliver significant results in the communities that need them the most.

“The Safer Streets project demonstrates the power of agencies working together to reduce crime in hot-spot areas.”

It is the fifth time that additional funding has been successfully secured by Cleveland PCC’s office and partners from the Safer Streets fund.

Councillor Mike Young, the leader of Hartlepool Borough Council and chair of the Safer Hartlepool Partnership, said: “To receive such a large sum of money to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour in the town centre area of Hartlepool is great news.

“We have plans for a series of projects that will improve the lives of residents living in this area and we look forward to implementing them in the months ahead.”

Communities in Middlesbrough and Stockton are also getting similar amounts to tackle priorities in their areas.

Safer Streets will run from this month until March 2025, targeting five areas across Cleveland identified as crime and antisocial behaviour “hot spots”.

Since 2020, Cleveland has received £3.44m in Safer Streets cash to support 12 neighbourhoods.

In some places, crimes the funding was aimed at reduced by almost 50% following the project.

The latest Safer Streets announcement comes just one week after additional council patrols, also funded by the Home Office through Mr Turner’s office, were announced in the Victoria and Headland and Harbour wards.