South Yorkshire's PCC: There's no 'quick fix' when it comes to reducing serious violence
We've been speaking to Dr Alan Billings after the Government published their 'Levelling Up' agenda yesterday
It's thought 'there's no quick fix' when it comes to reducing serious crime across South Yorkshire.
The region's Police & Crime Commissioner has been speaking to us after the Government announced their plans to 'level up' the country yesterday.
One of their targets is to clamp down on violent crimes in deprived areas by 2030, but Dr Alan Billings says that won't be easy:
"To achieve something like this, you've got to have some really serious funding that's guaranteed over a long period of time.
"If you're going to tackle these things, they're not things that can be turned around in five minutes-there needs to be a long-term plan in place.
"There's been growing inequality across the country for the last ten years, and South Yorkshire is one of the areas which has suffered the most.
"We can only welcome the aspirations with the levelling up proposals, as our region's probably one of the worst affected areas in Europe right now when it comes to regional inequality.
"Whether it's practical or not is another matter. We'll have to see.
"This agenda comes after ten years of levelling down. We've seen public services get cut, year on year for the last decade-including things like youth services.
"This has coincided with a rise in criminality across South Yorkshire over the past ten years.
"It'll take many years to get rid of this kind of activity from areas with real urban deprivation."
Meanwhile, Sheffield has been picked as one of the first areas in the country to benefit from a share of the regeneration funding.
You can read the Government's levelling up plan in full below:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-unveils-levelling-up-plan-that-will-transform-uk