Funding being used to make Ashford town centre a safer place

Funding from the Home Office is going to be used to buy a range of equipment to make Ashford town centre a safer place.

The grant of £550,000 will be used to purchase security radios, brand new CCTV cameras, and will pay for presentations to be put on at schools to educate children on safety precautions.

A chunk of the funding has also gone towards the new Ashford Streewise app, which was designed to help women and girls take the safest routes around Ashford.

“the wide range of actions taken through this comprehensive project will reinforce the experiences of those who visit and enjoy our town centre.” – Councillor Peter Feacey.

As well as this, funding is being used to provide staff in businesses with bystander training, and ‘safe spaces’ are in the process of being created.

The grant was given back in autumn 2021, to be used to make the streets more secure and safe – in particular for young girls and women.

Councillor Peter Feacey, who is the portfolio holder for community safety and wellbeing, said: “Ashford has always been a safe place to live, work and play and the wide range of actions taken through this comprehensive project will reinforce the experiences of those who visit and enjoy our town centre.”

The Community Safety Partnership – which includes both the police, and officers from the Violence Reduction Unit – will be patrolling Ashford town centre between 8pm-11pm and will be offering advice to the public and handing out safety equipment.

Smarttag devices have also been handed out to licensed premises, which are handheld tools that ‘deploy a stream of forensic liquid to tag an offender with a unique forensic code.’

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