£400,000 pledged to fight street crime in Eastbourne

The Devonshire area of the town will see £419,000 go towards projects which will tackle anti-social behaviour, theft, and burglary.

It comes as part of almost £900,000 secured by the Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner, police, and local councils to target crime in Eastbourne and Hastings.

The funding is from the Home Office’s ‘Safer Streets Fund’ and aims to tackle crime in areas that are disproportionately affected.

According to the PCC Katy Bourne, it will be used to improve the security of residential and business premises by installing CCTV, locks and new street lighting; providing local crime prevention awareness; and supporting smaller businesses in becoming members of Business Crime Reduction Partnerships.

Building on the ‘broken windows’ theory, funding will also be available to remove graffiti and ‘help to restore pride’, the PCC says, giving residents a sense of ownership in community development.

Mrs Bourne said, “I am pleased to have co-ordinated and secured this funding with partners for areas of Sussex.

“It means that we are now able to make lasting positive changes to the safety of the communities affected the most by these intimidating, invasive and sometimes traumatic crimes.

“As a partnership we will be working together to target-harden these areas and engage with residents there to address their biggest safety concerns by using innovative community safety tactics.

“I will be talking to residents, local businesses, our partners and police to gauge the impact of this range of measures over the coming year.”

Assistant Chief Constable for Sussex Police, Janye Dando said, “We are so pleased that the Home Office has agreed to award funding to support areas of Hastings and Eastbourne with higher levels of acquisitive crime.

“Crimes such as burglary and robbery can have serious emotional and financial impacts on their victims, and as a force we do all we can to support those affected and to prosecute those responsible.

“This money will support the work already ongoing by Sussex Police to prevent acquisitive crime in our communities, including measures to help residents make their properties more secure against criminals.

“The money will also be used for prevention initiatives to design out crime in localities, such as more CCTV and improved street lighting.”

CC Dando said there are Business Crime Reduction Partnerships up and running in both Hastings and Eastbourne, and the force will continue to work closely with these to make sure communities are safe and enjoyable places to live, work and visit.

Councillor Whippy, Lead Member for Equalities and Fairness and Community Safety for Lewes District and Eastbourne Borough Councils, said, “Securing this money is great news for the Redoubt area of the town.

“This funding will help build on the good working relationships we have with partners and we will now begin engaging with local communities and businesses, to agree how the money can best be used to design out crime and reduce anti-social behaviour.

“Improving the experience of living and working in this area will help make Eastbourne an even safer place in which to live, work and visit.”

Adam Godden, specialist advisor and member of Eastbourne BCRP, said, “This bid outcome is welcome news for the local business community.

“The available funding will help the town’s Business Crime Reduction Partnership support local shops and business by offering more patrols, providing advice and delivering improved security measures.

“We will now begin working with local shops, hoteliers and business owners to identify how the funds can best deployed over the coming months.”

A message from the Editor, Gary Shipton:

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news, I am asking you to please purchase a copy of our newspapers.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspapers.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.