Projects to make people feel safer on the Carsic Estate, Sutton, will be launched thanks to funding from the Safer Streets Fund.

Ashfield Community Safety Partnership, including Ashfield District Council and the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner, have secured £216,000 from the fund.

The new funding will be used in a number of proactive ways to improve feelings of safety for women and girls, tackle neighbourhood crime, address anti-social behaviour, and support vulnerable residents on Carsic Estate, Sutton. These include:

• A burglary reduction scheme
• The Vulnerable Adult Support Scheme (VASS) which has successfully supported 40 residents over the past 12 months in Kirkby
• New, and improved, street lighting
• Environmental improvements
• Environmental crime operations
• Additional hi-visibility patrols by the Council and police
• Targeting of offenders
• Safe Space Accreditation Scheme which now has over 80 businesses across Sutton, Kirkby, and Hucknall signed up to provide refuge on the high street.

Coun Tom Hollis, deputy council leader, said “We are pleased to have been trusted to deliver more Safer Streets funded projects. We have seen the difference the funding has made across Sutton town centre and Coxmoor Estate, Kirkby, and we are looking forward to making the streets of Carsic Estate safer.”

In 2021 and 2022, the council and partners were successful in two bids, worth a combined £1.3m of funding from the Safer Streets Fund. It was used to tackle violence against women and girls, anti-social behaviour, vehicle crime, and supporting vulnerable residents across the New Cross area and Sutton town centre, and on Coxmoor Estate and in Kirkby town centre.

Coun Helen-Ann Smith, lead executive member for Community Safety and Crime Reduction, said: “It is important that residents feel safe within the communities they live. This money will allow us to continue to tackle ongoing issues with violence against girls and women, residential burglary, and anti-social behaviour on the Carsic Estate. The council, as part of the Ashfield Community Safety Partnership, is committed to continuing making Ashfield a safe place to live, work and visit.”

Caroline Henry, Police and Crime Commissioner, added: “This is brilliant new for people across the county because it means that we have even more investment coming into Nottinghamshire which will make our public places even safer when out and about.

“This additional £1m will make a real difference to people across the county as we have seen through the success of the previous Safer Streets projects. As well as preventing crime, the scheme also aims to make people feel safer too by making public spaces more welcoming.

“I was also keen for our partners within the city to not miss out on being able to continue their Safer Streets interventions and so have chosen to commit an additional £333,000 from my office of the Police and Crime Commissioner budget to continue the amazing work being done in the city and maintain the fantastic working relationships we’ve built with all eight local authorities in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire and we could not deliver this project without them.

“I have seen first-hand the amazing innovation in tackling antisocial behaviour and increasing feelings of safety in the county, with a country first CCTV Refuge Point Camera system, our Safer Gyms scheme designed specifically to tackle violence against women and girls, and much more.”