Agenda item

(This is an opportunity for the Scrutiny Panel to discuss areas for further investigation with Claire Seabourne, Safer Communities Service and Graeme Butler, Road Safety Partnership)

The Scrutiny Panel received an update from Sara Barry, Safer Communities Manager, in relation to the involvement of Safer Communities in this Review.  It was reported that the role of the Safer Communities team was to ensure that the County Council addressed its duties in relation to crime and disorder in relation to the prevention of crime and addressing the fear of crime.  It was also noted that there was a very small team who supported the Community Safety Partnership.

It was reported that prior to the start of the Street Lighting Transformation Project, the team had been asked where the high crime areas were in the county, and it had been difficult to identify these areas in Lincolnshire, as it was generally a safe county.  However, the team was able to provide data on a detailed basis to the Street Lighting Team.  Some research of the situation nationally had also been carried out for those areas where street lights had been turned off, and it was noted that Lincolnshire was one of the last areas to implement this policy.  This research showed that in a lot of cases crime had fallen, however, there was no data regarding the fear of crime.

It was the intention to carry out some research once the lights had been changed for some time to examine how crime patterns had changed.  It was noted that the Team would be able to access Police data.

The responsibility of the Community Safety Partnership was to engage with the community to understand the issues which were concerning them.  Some research was carried out the previous working with the PCC, and of 858 responses, only 14 mentioned street lighting as a problem or a fear of safety in their locality.

The Panel also received an update from Graeme Butler from the Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership (LRSP).  It was reported that the LRSP was a data led organisation in terms of accident reporting, and worked very closely with the Police.  It was felt that there had not been enough time to gather statistics relating to street lighting.  However, the Police collected all data at the site of any injury accident, including information relating to street lighting, such as whether there was:

·         Daylight

·         Darkness with street lights lit

·         Darkness with street lights not lit

It was thought that there could be some useable data by January 2018, but it was noted that it was still a very short time to make any meaningful comparisons.  It was suggested whether this data could be used a data check mechanism instead, to compare with responses that would be received from the questionnaire.

It was also noted that just because the police may record at an accident that it occurred in darkness, it did not mean that was the cause of the accident, the road could have been icy, or excess speed could have been involved.

It was noted that the Safer Communities team would be happy to work with Community Engagement about the fear of crime aspect, as it was important to be able to take this forward to look at methods of reassurance and to provide information about what was actually happening rather than what people think is happening.

RESOLVED

            That the update be noted.