Introduction from the Chair, Richard Samuel

Welcome to Thanet Community Safety Partnership’s ambitious Partnership Plan for 2008 to 2011. The plan sets out what we have achieved to date, what the current priorities are for the Thanet District and what we are going to do about them.

A lot has been achieved since the Community Safety Plan 2005-08 was published and key agencies within the partnership have worked well together to make the district safer.

In particular, there has been a concerted effort to improve the appearance of the area with targeted operations to remove abandoned vehicles through Cubit, tackle graffiti through enforcement means and clean sweeps of key areas for rubbish.

There has also been good progress made in creating a partnership of agencies within youth work. Thanet Community Safety Partnership has supported the work of the Engaging Youth Forum that has successfully delivered excellent youth events such as the Easter and Summer Blasts and the SAINTS project (Safety awareness in Thanet Schools).

That said, there is a lot of work to do within community safety in Thanet and it is still recognised by both agency staff and residents alike that it is a big priority to improve on. The first Strategic Assessment for the district has been completed and it shows, using key data, that the five priorities for the partnership to tackle are: Violence in the night-time economy, domestic abuse, anti-social behaviour, criminal damage and substance misuse. These priorities have been reiterated at the consultation events organised with key stakeholders and residents.

During the next 12 months the partner agencies will look to work with residents to improve their quality of life and make them feel safer. The partnership will aim do this by targeting the priority issues with effective and proven actions and projects that will make a difference in reducing crime, tackling anti-social behaviour and in turn improve people’s safety.

Richard Samuel

Next: 2005-08 Community Safety Plan Summary