How is the Protect Your Home scheme funded?
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The national Safer Streets Fund
The Safer Streets Fund is a national programme of funding which is made available for the purpose of reducing and preventing crime using proven, evidence-based interventions. It was launched in 2020 and was a manifesto commitment made by the Government.
The first ‘round’ of the programme called Safer Streets 1 was delivered in 2020/21, and this was followed by Safer Streets 2 which ran from 2021/2022. The objectives of each of the first two rounds of the programme were primarily to reduce neighbourhood crime. The focus was on ‘situational’ crime prevention methods/interventions in high crime areas.
Following the abduction and tragic killing of Sarah Everard in 2021, additional funds were made available in the form of Safer Streets 3, which focused on improving the safety of public spaces for women and girls.
The programme is currently in its fourth round.
Applying for Safer Streets Funds
The application process for each round has developed over time, but generally Police and Crime Commissioner’s (and some other organisations) can submit one or more ‘bids’ to receive funds to help them prevent crime in their area. The Safer Streets Programme is a competitive process so whilst a bid may be submitted, there is no guarantee it will be successful. The process of preparing and submitting bids is extensive and often includes a wide range of individuals from a diverse range of organisations. Bids can take around 8-10 weeks to prepare.
Although the national funding is referred to as ‘the Safer Streets Programme’, many Police and Crime Commissioners / Police, Fire and Crime Commissioners refer to the name of the projects/interventions that the fund enables them to deliver, rather than to the name of the fund itself. For example in North Yorkshire, we refer to our Protect Your Home Scheme.
The history of the Protect Your Home Scheme in North Yorkshire
In North Yorkshire, we have operated the Protect Your Home Scheme using funds which we have successfully bid for, from the national Safer Streets Programme rounds 1, 2 and now 4.
The aim of the Protect Your Home Scheme
The scheme aims to prevent burglary at residential homes and farms, and to support residents and farmers to feel safe.
What the funds will deliver
We will use the funds we have successfully bid for, to:
- ‘target harden’ residential properties and farms by installing a specific type of lock on doors, sheds, outbuildings etc
- improve ‘capable guardianship’ through the use of intruder alarm systems (farms only)
- ‘enhance defensible space’ through the use of automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras
A breakdown of what we will use the funds for:
| Deliver of burglary prevention advice | £14,550 |
| Residential property security upgrades | £490,000 |
| Farm security upgrades | £150,000 |
| Mobile Rural Watch investment eg signage upgrades | £7,000 |
| Project Management Costs | £33,990 |
| Purchase of ANPR cameras | £24,400 |
The timeline for the Protect Your Home Scheme
The funds from the national Safer Streets Programme must be spent by September 2022.
The areas covered by the Protect Your Home Scheme
The funds from the national Safer Streets Programme are limited which means that we cannot make the Protect Your Home Scheme available across all North Yorkshire and the City of York. Instead, we have to select specific areas. To help us select those areas we use a variety of information.
We know that burglary has a disproportionate impact upon rural communities across North Yorkshire with victimisation of farms a particular issue. Whilst North Yorkshire is overall a very safe place to live work and visit, it is bordered by some of the least safe making it vulnerable to cross-border crime.
We have used previous Safer Streets funds to deliver the Protect Your Home Scheme in what we refer to as our ‘rural borderlands’, and through this latest round of funding we want to continue to build on that work. Our selected areas cover 3033 households and border areas such as Bradford, Keighley and Burnley. Throughout these ‘borderlands’ there is an extensive network of minor roads and farm droves. The network connects farms and isolated dwellings and can provide easy access for criminals.
These areas have been selected by analysing local recorded crime data. We have also considered other evidence sources such as the National Serious Acquisitive Crime Unit which demonstrates that crime increased in rural areas during 2020 in contrast to the overall 40% decrease nationally.
In the areas we have selected, local Authority data shows just under 80% of residents in these areas are economically active and travel to work, leaving houses unoccupied.
A report from the Rural Crime Network also informs us that a third of rural people believe that crime has a moderate or great impact on their lives, with rural business owners, like farmers, most in fear of becoming a victim of crime. The same report also states that one third of crimes in rural areas go unreported to the police.
The parishes covered by the project are:
Craven
Clapham cum Newby, Cononley, Lawkland, and Lothersdale.
Harrogate
Allerton Mauleverer with Hopperton, Kirk Deighton, Kirk Hammerton, Leathley, Long Marston, North Deighton, Sicklinghall and Spofforth with Stockeld.