- Staffordshire will receive £750,000 of new funding from the Government’s Safer Streets Fund, with Burton confirmed as one of the 5 locations set to receive an allocation in the County.
- The latest £50 million round of extra funding will go towards police forces, councils, and community groups – providing extra CCTV and streetlighting, protecting women and girls, and tackling neighbourhood crime.
- The fourth round brings the total awarded through the Safer Streets Fund and the Safety of Women at Night Fund to £125 million – making our streets safer and preventing violence against women and girls.
Burton’s Member of Parliament, Kate Kniveton, has welcomed the additional £750,000 awarded to Staffordshire through the fourth round of the Government’s Safer Streets Fund. Staffordshire’s Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner (PFCC), Ben Adams, has already confirmed that Burton is one of the 5 locations included in the successful bid with final allocations of funding and local projects in each area to be announced.
The funding comes on the back of assiduous campaigning from the local MP, working in collaboration with Staffordshire’ PFCC, raising the issue of knife crime in Parliament and with Government ministers, after a spate of violent crimes on the Staffordshire and Derbyshire border.
This funding, part of the £50 million from the latest round of the Safer Streets Fund, will go towards measures proven to cut crime, including extra CCTV and streetlighting in communities alongside engagement work to change attitudes and behaviours to prevent crimes being committed.
The Safer Streets Fund builds on the Conservative Government’s existing measures to keep our streets safe. Including: almost 14,000 more police officers recruited across England and Wales, increasing police funding to almost £17 billion, and preventing 49,000 violent offences across England and Wales since 2019 through Violence Reduction Units - protecting the public and breaking the cycle of crime.
Commenting, Kate Kniveton MP said:
“I am pleased that Staffordshire has received £750,000 through the Safer Street Fund, which will directly put resources into our local communities to increase the safety of public spaces through steps including targeted patrols, increased lighting and CCTV. I will be working with Staffordshire’s Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, Ben Adams, to ensure this money is spent most effectively in our town to tackle crime and deliver safer streets.
“Alongside the Government’s pledge to get more police on the streets, with almost 14,000 recruited in England and Wales – this investment will ensure people feel safer and our Police officers have the resources they need to tackle residents’ priorities such as knife crime.
“There is, of course, more to do but I am continuing to treat knife crime and public safety as a top priority, and I am reassured that we are now receiving additional resources to go further in tackling knife crime locally and the causes of knife crime.”
Home Secretary Priti Patel said:
“It has been one year since I launched our dedicated violence against women and girls strategy and in that year I have overseen incredible work to support victims, prevent violence against women and girls, protect citizens and deliver justice.
“Our essential work with specialist groups is delivering practical support and change for women and girls across our communities and the Safer Streets Fund continues to make a difference to the safety of women and girls at a community level.”
