Hartlepool Borough Council bosses to ‘face the public’ over crime and health in the town

Hartlepool Borough Council bosses have agreed to host both the Safer Hartlepool Partnership and Health and Wellbeing Board Face The Public events back-to-back on March 11.

The day will provide council bosses a chance to update residents on work during the past year and future plans and challenges the area faces.

It will also allow them to develop key partner strategies and plans for the borough, and the public will be invited to ask questions on their work and plans.

It will take place on March 11 at 5pm in the council committee suite at the Hartlepool Civic Centre.

Last year two separate events took place for the Safer Hartlepool Partnership and Health and Wellbeing Board but a decision has now been made to hold them consecutively on the same day.

This comes after responses from attendees and will allow resources to be shared and duplication removed.

Speaking at the latest Safer Hartlepool Partnership meeting, council leader Coun Christopher Akers-Belcher backed the idea.

He said: “I think some of the feedback from previous events is you get the same people predominantly, a lot of the staff from the partners are the same.

“Also some of the concerns from the public have been very much the same for the Health and Wellbeing Board and the Community Safety Team in terms of being around substance misuse and things like that.

“It’s really important we have these together, we’ve never done it this way before, but I think there is merit in trying out back-to-back events when the majority of people are running the same events.”

The Face The Public events took place in February last year and marked the official launch of the Hartlepool Community Safety team bringing police, fire and council officers together.

The full details of this year’s event will be released closer to the time.

Nic Marko , Local Democracy Reporting Service