Blackpool ward and Fleetwood town centre named as antisocial behaviour hotspots and given extra police patrols

The county secured £2m of additional government funding earlier this year when it was selected as a pilot location to trial a new approach to tackling the issue. The cash will be used to boost the uniformed presence in known “hotspots” like high streets, parks and public transport - and he first of the additional patrols hit the beat this week

Lancashire is one of 10 areas piloting the hotspots programme nationwide, but as The Gazette reported in May, the county’s Police and Crime Commissioner has eschewed the option of using other uniformed authority figures – as well as police officers – to make up the patrol numbers.

Having already started to provide cash for non-police roles via the separate Safer Lancashire Neighbourhoods Fund, Andrew Snowden said that he wanted the full £2m to be spent “on [an] increased policing presence in local communities”.

The first hotspot areas - which includes the immediate vicinity of Fleetwood town centre - have gone live in the same week as Operation Centurion. That is a broader overhaul of how antisocial behaviour is tackled by the police in the county,in order to ensure that it is more co-ordinated. That operation includes an increased use of civil powers – such as injunctions – to target individuals and geographical areas.

In addition to Fleetwood and the Brunswick ward – which is just east of Blackpool town centre and includes Devonshire Road and a stretch of Caunce Street - the other areas of the county that are initially being focused upon are the town centres and adjacent streets of Preston, Chorley, Padiham and Accrington.

Another eight locations will be announced later in the year, meaning that there will be one for every district in the county.

Elsewhere, Lancashire has also just received £1.4m from the latest round of the government’s Safer Streets Fund, which will be invested in crime prevention measures including better CCTV and street lighting, or local community projects – with a particular focus on driving down antisocial behaviour, preventing more burglaries and making the streets safer for women and girls.

The money will build on the previous four tranches of cash from that fund – totalling £2.6m for Lancashire – which has seen investment in six projects to date.

Andrew Snowden said that those initiatives had been shown to be “making a real difference in people’s lives”.

“We will utilise this [new] funding efficiently and effectively, supporting the delivery of my Fighting Crime Plan, working closely with Lancashire Police to back enforcement and ultimately prevent innocent people becoming victims.”