One million pounds of funding could be on its way to tackle violence against women and girls in County Durham
Durham's Police and Crime Commissioner is being provisionally allocated the funding
Projects tackling Violence Against Women and Girls in County Durham and Darlington are set to get more cash.
It's part of the Safer Streets funding by the Home Office- which is now on it's 5th round.
County Durham and Darlington has been allocated a provisional £1m grant to invest in projects between 1 October 2023 and 31 March 2025.
County Durham and Darlington PCC Joy Allen will now work closely with partners to pull together detailed proposals on how she intends to invest the funding.
It's for use in projects tackling VAWG in public spaces, but also anti-social behaviour and neighbourhood crime.
It is the first time in the Safer Streets scheme that PCCs have been directly awarded funding rather than competing for a share against other areas. However, they are still required to submit their plans to confirm they meet the requirements of the fund.
Previously, County Durham and Darlington received a total of £3.4m in the first four Safer Streets rounds.
The North East including Teesside dealt with the highest rate of sexual offences recorded by the police last year, and is one of the worst areas for domestic abuse reports as well.
Commissioner Allen said: “This is fantastic news for our communities in County Durham and Darlington. It will enable me to build on the huge progress we have made so far since launching a multiagency crackdown on ASB, neighbourhood crime and VAWG – crimes that matter a great deal to the public.
“The most recent performance figures show neighbourhood crime (robbery, residential burglary, theft from the person, vehicle crime) fell -32.7 per cent (2,373 offences) in the 12 months to March 2023 compared to 2019-20 (pre-Covid). ASB, meanwhile, fell -26.6 per cent in the 12 months to March 2023 (4,886 fewer offences). Clearly, previous Safer Streets funding and a continued focus on these areas is making a difference.
“Tackling VAWG and providing better protection for women and girls was a key election pledge and I have funded a wealth of new resources to deliver increased support and safety measures to victims of these offences. This funding will enable us to expand on these improvements and help create communities where women and girls can live their lives with confidence and without fear.”
PCCs can apply for up to £465k in 2023-24 and up to a further £535k in 2024-25. They must contribute a mandatory 50 per cent in matched-funding support.
Like previous projects, the round will be concentrated on geographical areas of the county which are disproportionately and persistently affected by neighbourhood crime, ASB and VAWG and evidence will be needed to support individual projects.