New street wardens to tackle antisocial behaviour in Worksop

The wardens will focus on dealing with street drinking, substance misuse and aggressive begging, through high-visibility patrols across the town centre and the Canch.

As well as having powers to issue fixed penalty notices, they will gather evidence of anti-social behaviour and criminal activity and report incidents to Nottinghamshire Police and Bassetlaw Council’s anti-social behaviour team for further action.

They will also signpost people with complex needs, including substance misuse, to support services in a bid to keep them off the streets and prevent re-offending.

The street wardens are being funded by the Home Office’s Safer Streets scheme, following a successful bid by Caroline Henry, Nottinghamshire police and crime commissioner, Bassetlaw Council and the police.

Phil Gilbert, Safer Streets project lead for the commissioner, said: “Having this extra resource will give a real visible and tangible improvement to safety on the streets of Worksop.

“They will be on hand in the right areas at the right times to deal with issues quickly and effectively, while providing an extra uniformed presence that will be reassuring for people as they go about their business.

“By sharing information and working closely with the police, the council, the CCTV control room, ShopWatch and PubWatch, these wardens will bolster support for everyone.”

As well as the wardens, Worksop will also benefit from £40,000 of improvements to street lighting, making the area brighter and more reassuring for people at night.

The funding will also be used to pay for Women’s Aid’s Stand By Her training programme for staff at licensed premises in the town, to learn how to prevent violence against women, and support those affected.

Mrs Henry said: “I am passionate about preventing violence against women and girls in public, neighbourhood crime and antisocial behaviour and this funding is a massive boost for our efforts in these areas.”

Coun Julie Leigh, council cabinet member for neighbourhoods, said: “This will be a great opportunity for us to pilot new Safer Street wardens in and around Worksop whose focus will be providing a visible presence to offer public reassurance while dealing with anti-social behaviour.”

Worksop also benefitted from the previous round of Safer Streets funding, which saw the installation of five refuge point camera systems in the town centre earlier this year.

Inspector Hayley Crawford, Nottinghamshire Police’s Bassetlaw district commander, said: “These wardens will be a great asset to Worksop in providing even more reassurance to residents.

“We have been working hard over recent months and years to ensure people feel safe with the help of the Safer Streets scheme and cracking down on anti-social behaviour and the impacts this can have on residents in the area.

“The introduction of four wardens is a great addition to my officers who are always out patrolling the streets and making sure the people of Worksop are kept safe.”

To find out more about becoming a Safer Streets warden, see bit.ly/3ThSLCq