The Council’s Community Safety Team – on behalf of the Bexley Community Safety Partnership (BCSP) – has made a successful bid to extend the Community Capacity Building fund for delivery in the borough up to March 2024.
The funding from the Mayor’s Office for Policing & Crime (MOPAC) Violence Reduction Unit aims to increase resilience within the community where crime analysis shows there is an increased risk of serious violence occurring.
Thanks to the extra funding, the existing project in Erith Ward is being extended to include Slade Green. In partnership with Charlton Athletic Community Trust and Bexley Moorings, the project will deliver assertive outreach to known hotspots for anti-social behaviour, through engagement with the wider community and funded diversionary activities for young people, their families and the community as a whole.
Councillor Sue Gower MBE, Cabinet Member for Communities and Housing said:
This is very welcome news and a tribute to the hard work and vision of our Community Safety Team in extending this project to neighbouring areas of need.
The empowerment of our voluntary and community sector, working in close collaboration working with the wider community, will be invaluable in addressing the issues at hand and helping to make Bexley even better.”
The BCSP hopes that the project will encourage empowerment and ensure that solutions that are put in place are community led, actively involve statutory partners to help resolve them, resulting in increased trust and confidence among everybody involved.