A Stoke-on-Trent allotment has been given £1,500 from the Police and Crime Commissioner’s People Power Fund to help prevent anti-social behaviour.
Udallsfield Allotment Association has been awarded funding to expand their fencing around the perimeter of the allotments to provide a secure site for local residents and to prevent anti-social behaviour.
As part of his commitment to local communities, the Commissioner is providing £500,000 in 2015/16 through the People Power Fund in the form of grants of between £100 and £3,000.
The fund is supporting locally-driven community safety activities in local areas throughout Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent.
Mr Ellis said: “The Commissioner’s People Power Fund puts half a million pounds back into local communities and is easy and simple to apply for.
“It is clear that the residents spend a lot of time and effort keeping their plots only for some to suffer vandalism. The fencing is already helping to reduce anti-social behaviour and make the local residents feel safer.”
John Birch, Secretary of Udallsfield Allotment Association, said: “This is the final piece of perimeter fencing to be installed which will mean the site is totally enclosed. This has benefitted the local residents as it means the site is no longer used as a short cut between residential areas.
“There has now been a reduction in anti-social behaviour which used to plague the surrounding fields and woodland surrounding residents properties. Our plot holders are now able to enjoy their leisure time without fear of their hard work being trashed by unwelcome visitors.
“We have now signed a 15 year long lease which will allow us to invest in and secure a valuable local amenity for the benefit of current and future generations.”
The People Power Fund is one part of £2.5 million of Commissioner’s Community Funding for 2014/15. The Commissioner’s Locality Deal Fund has allocated money to local areas through working in partnership with local district and borough councils. Meanwhile, the
Commissioner’s Proceeds of Crime Fund is seeing 100 per cent of funding received by Staffordshire Police going back into local communities, through grants of between £3,000 and £15,000. It is made up of money seized from criminals as Staffordshire Police continue to strip offenders of their assets.
Successful projects in all three funding streams will deliver what’s important to local people based on the four priorities set out in the Commissioner’s Safer, Fairer, United Communities Strategy – tackling the root causes of crime through early intervention, supporting victims and witnesses better, reducing reoffending and increasing public confidence.
