The Space scheme has been hailed a huge success after the number of youth anti-social behaviour incidents dropped by nearly 41 per cent throughout the county.
Space was introduced by the Staffordshire Commissioner for Police, Fire and Rescue and Crime, Matthew Ellis, to bring together public, voluntary and private sector organisations to help nurture, support and guide youngsters across the county.
This year’s programme was the most ambitious and successful yet with a record number of places for eight-to-17-year-olds being filled during the summer holiday period throughout Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent.
Initial figures show a county-wide reduction in police-recorded youth-related anti-social behaviour incidents throughout Staffordshire, with a 40.6 per cent drop on last year – which was on top of a significant drop between 2016 and 2017.
There were 1110 recorded youth-related ASB incidents in the county in 2017, with 659 registered this summer.
The most significant drop came in Newcastle, where there were 69 recorded youth-related ASB incidents during the recent summer holidays – compared to 147 during the corresponding period last year. This represented a drop of 53.1 per cent.
Stoke-on-Trent (north and south) recorded reductions of 48 per cent and 33.9 per cent respectively.
East Staffordshire had a 40.8 per cent decline, with Stafford (37.6 per cent), Cannock Chase (52 per cent), Tamworth (40 per cent) and Lichfield (37.3 per cent) also seeing dips in the number of record youth-related ASBs.
Staffordshire Moorland had 68 recorded youth-related ASB incidents during the summer holidays – down from 75 during the same period in 2017 (9.3 per cent decline).
The south of the county registered a 44.3 per cent drop.
Mr Ellis said: ‘When I brought Space back in 2015 I couldn’t have imagined the success and the scale it would be in 2018.
‘Valuing youngsters, providing new experiences and encouraging responsible citizenship is at the heart of what I hoped for.
‘The figures for Space 2018 are extremely pleasing and the very essence of what we want to achieve.
‘We had a huge turn-out of young people, a 41 per cent reduction in anti-social behaviour across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent.
‘This has been the biggest Space since its relaunch with 1500 events across Staffordshire. I would like to thank everyone who was involved in this year’s activities.’
