Saturday, March 20, 2010

New Community Safety Task Group for Kensington and Fairfield (and Kensington Fields and Edge Hill)

Residents, police, youth services, housing associations, domestic violence workers, Liverpool City Council Anti Social Behaviour Unit, community wardens and Labour councillors were at a special meeting this week to create a new Community Safety Task Group for our area.

Kensington Regeneration has been hosting a similar group for over 6 years, based on the New Deal area. That comes to an end with the closure of the programme but residents and all the involved agencies were not prepared to see this vital work come to an end. Also ending is the As One group, which has focussed principally on providing and supporting diversionary activities for young people to keep them away from anti-social behaviour and whose chair, Gill, has been financed through Kenny Regen too.

We owe a debt of thanks to Maria Curran, Alan Kelly, Gill Passmore and her predecessors, also Lisa Shearwood-Vingoe of C7, they have achieved great things through the creation of the two groups and I know they are delighted that the work will go on.

Crime and anti-social behaviour have fallen significantly in Kensington over recent years, relations between community police and residents has never been better and people are very keen now to come forward and report crimes and concerns that they have.

After discussions and deliberations we have agreed to merge the two groups together and to widen the geography to include the rest of the Kensington and Fairfield ward.

Local residents and organisations in L6 will now be invited to join and Venture Housing Association have agreed to host and facilitate the meetings.

It is a real win win.

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