Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Bulled, Campbell, Chesters, Henderson, Orange, Pearson, Yabsley and York.

(attached).

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meetings held on 25 November 2020 and 19 October 2021 (circulated previously) be approved as correct records and signed by the Chair.

(Please telephone the Corporate and Community Services team to prepare a form for your signature before the meeitng. Interests must be re-declared when the item is called, and Councillors must leave the room if necessary).

There were no declarations of interest made.

Report by Chair of the North Devon and Torridge Community Safety Partnership (attached).

Superintendent Toby Davies gave Members an update on the North Devon and Torridge Community Safety Partnership over the last year.  Unlike Cornwall, which was a unitary Council, Devon had both district and county level local government administrations.  The Community Safety Partnership was a district level partnership as well as a County level safety partnership.  This could prove challenging when bringing together different organisations. 

Over the last year the partnership had focussed on the following priorities:

·       Protecting the vulnerable

·       Sexual violence and domestic abuse

·       Substance misuse

·       Emerging threats

The approach of the partnership had always been preventative, high intensity, and trauma informed.  The partnership was unique in that it had very rural areas, urban and coastal, focus mustn’t just be given to the urban areas. 

There was still a prevalence of organised crime groups in the area with County lines and drug activities still a big area of concern.  Drug activities was a common theme for most authorities nationally as well as locally.  Bitesize training has provided front line workers with knowledge to spot signs of illicit behaviour.

Another priority that was concentrated on was sexual violence and domestic abuse.  The most likely way a female would come to harm in this area was what often happened behind closed doors in the home.  There is a sub group dedicated to victims of domestic sexual abuse.

Road safety was of considerable importance especially in light of the loss of three lives within the space of eight days in the Torridge area recently.  It had been found that the cause of most of the road traffic accidents over the year could be attributed to locals in the area.  The road safety initiative Operation Snap, whereby members of the public could upload their dash-cam footage to the police via their website, had proven to be very successful.  There would be two speed detection officers in vans dedicated to the area and mostly located on the link road.  The Community Speed Watch initiative saw communities working together and having an input which helped the police in local, rural areas.  If communities were experiencing speeding issues advice and help could be given to set up a local Speed Watch group. 

The final area that had a big impact on town centres was anti-social behaviour.  The Home Office had launched an app called ‘Street Aware’ which allowed the public to anonymously log areas of concerns over personal safety in the town.  Anti-social Behaviour (ASB) was an area of big concern for everyone and wasn’t just for the partnership to resolve.  An anti-social Behaviour steering group had been set up whose role was to identify and target individuals, who were street based, with the aim of helping them regain a role in society.  The use of Public Spaces Protection Orders was a useful tool in tackling anti-social behaviour in public places and in Torridge was being widely extended.  The use of Covid Marshalls patrolling the streets gave a sense of safety for visitors to the towns.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.