Call to action for revolution

Safer communities champion: Baroness Newlove (left) met people in Hampshire working on Street Watch – a police and community partnership that uses civilian patrols and promotes good citizenship

Inspirational community activists who help keep neighbourhoods safe are being called on to spread their good work by the Government’s champion for active, safer communities, Baroness Newlove.

Outlining her programme of work with a “call to action”,
Baroness Newlove is working with ministers to encourage
local people, businesses and front-line workers, like the police,
on what more they can do to make their communities safer.

The Baroness’ new role will involve:

• A series of visits to projects across the UK to meet people who have helped make a difference in their area, witnessing first-hand what works and what the barriers are to successful community activism
• A new blog to directly communicate with activists and the wider public, sharing ongoing learning from her visits, highlighting innovation and challenges and signposting people to useful resources
• Reporting back to ministers next year detailing how government
  and local agencies can empower communities.

Excellent work
Baroness Newlove said: “We want to start inspiring people all round the country to get involved, by showcasing the excellent
work already done and freeing people to take part.

“Over the next six months I want to discover what inspires
people all round the country to get involved in their communities – and what stops them becoming involved.

“The Government is creating the right environment for community-level activity to flourish by giving local people power over policing priorities and ending top-down government.

“But for a real revolution to happen, we need all the existing
groups to help spread their success far and wide – if every
group already doing good work now helps another, we will see
a real cultural shift.”

As part of her work Baroness Newlove will travel around
the country visiting areas with strong community engagement,
shining a light on good practice and encouraging others to follow the example.

Where communities face barriers, the Baroness will seek to bring services together to get work moving.

In the coming weeks around six neighbourhoods across the
country, which face real challenges, will be chosen to act
as a “test-bed” for galvanising local services to join forces with communities and tackle problems together.

Community empowerment

Home Secretary Theresa May said: “Antisocial behaviour ruins lives and scars communities; for too long it has been sidelined and communities have been let down.

“Baroness Newlove will be championing the active part people can play, alongside the front line, in tackling the problems that matter most in their neighbourhoods.

“She brings a wealth of experience to this important new role that really is at the vanguard of community empowerment. I look forward to seeing the results of her work, which will help us all build safer and more confident communities free from crime and antisocial behaviour.”

An important part of Baroness Newlove’s role will be to
build on existing successes by asking community organisations,
businesses and police forces and their partners to reach out and help more people get involved.

This includes community organisations, the network of almost
4,000 Community Crime Fighters and Neighbourhood Policing Teams.

Baroness Newlove explained “The majority of people want
to play a part in efforts to improve where they live and we
know there is a clear link between local community safety
schemes and crime reduction.

“We want to build an environment where neighbourhood
activism can flourish by inspiring the public and local businesses to step up and work hand-in-hand with the front line.

“There is real expertise and passion out there, from neighbourhood police to Community Crime Fighters, and local people who want to make a difference. We want to tap into that and spread the benefits of community activism far and wide.

“By sharing responsibility for what happens locally, active
communities – which means local people, the businesses
serving them and the authorities who support them – can
make real changes.

“I will be travelling the country meeting with groups like
this, and those facing barriers to successful activism, to learn what works well and what more can be done. As part of my work, I aim find to out what people need to feel empowered to build an environment where neighbourhood activism can flourish.”

Baroness Newlove will feed all this experience into a report
that she will be presenting to the Home Secretary next year.

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