Horsham District Community Safety Partnership

 What has community safety got to do with the Council?

The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 placed a statutory duty on Horsham District and West Sussex County Councils, Sussex Police, Sussex Police Authority, West Sussex Primary Care Trust, West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service and Saxon Weald to work together to produce a Community Safety Partnership Plan. The current plan covers the Horsham District Council area for a three year period until April 2011.

In practice Police, partners and Councils have been working together for many years, the Act however formalised those arrangements. The Act also recognised that safer communities cannot be delivered without the practical support of the community. The Strategy therefore involves partners from many agencies; public, private and voluntary; who work together to ensure Horsham District remains a safer place to be. The public are also consulted through the Audit process and their views, fears and perceptions have been taken into account in developing the plan. The partnership is known as the Horsham District Community Safety Partnership (HDCSP).

Parish and Town Councils also have a duty to consider the impact of all their functions and decisions on crime and disorder in their local area.

The Directorate of Community Services has corporate responsibility for Community Safety.

Section 17 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998

‘Without prejudice to any other obligation imposed on it, it shall be the duty of each authority to which this section applies to exercise its various functions with due regard to the likely effect of the exercise of those functions on, and the need to do all that it reasonably can to prevent, crime and disorder in its area including anti-social behaviour, substance misuse and other behaviour adversely affecting the local environment.’ 

The Community Safety Manager, as well as implementing the partnership plan, will be working with departments within the Council to ensure community safety features in all their departmental service plans for 2008 to 2011.

What happens now ?

• The Community Safety Unit is also able to offer advice in the following areas:
• Secured by Design – designing out crime at the planning stage
• Personal and Staff Safety – training materials and talks
• Crime Prevention – advice and guidance for home, business and vehicle security
• Planning / Licensing Applications – community safety implications
• Grant applications for funding community based projects that make communities safer

Is Horsham a safe place to be?

Horsham District has one of the lowest crime rates in the UK and is the safest District Council area in West Sussex. The latest crime figures are available from the Sussex Police website.
The work of the Council can impact on community safety in many varied ways; the siting of a bus shelter, the location of a footpath on a new housing estate, or the provision of a service for elderly people.
Community Safety cuts across the entire work of the Council. For example the successful Neighbourhood Warden schemes at Ashington and at Steyning have now been joined by the District wide Street Scene Team.