Community groups in Portsmouth to team up with Hive to tackle safety and crime issues

Following a series of workshops with local group members that finished in March this year, the city council has approved the collaboration of community organisations and the Hive volunteer network to address issues in individual areas of Portsmouth.

Key problems that were raised in the workshops included activities for children and young people, policing and community wardens, community cohesion, road safety and public transport.

Plans to improve these will then be carried out by the partnerships with the building safer communities fund of £90,000 that was allocated by Portsmouth City Council in March 2019.

Speaking at a virtual community safety meeting today (July 30), Lisa Wills, the partnership support manager, said: 'This is a really limited pot of money, it's a one-off, so it's about using it in the most effective way possible.

'Projects then developed by the Hive and community groups will be brought to a meeting with council and residents.

'The Hive will act as a seed pot to attract other funding that is not available to the council but to smaller voluntary organisations.'

Councillor Cal Corkery, the Labour spokesman for community safety, said: 'I am generally supportive of this project and the approach taken, it's been inclusive. I am pleased to see the resources will be targeted in the areas of need.'

Portsmouth City Council's community safety boss, Cllr Lee Hunt, said: 'We have been interrupted by Covid but have now got to a good place despite the crisis.

'We want to make sure people have a voice in what we are doing, we believe this will encourage residents and groups to better support their own communities.

'Our communities know their neighbourhoods best, rather than the council telling them this is how the money will be spent.'

As previously reported the city's community safety survey from 2018 showed that 35 per cent of respondents from Portsmouth had been the victim of a crime, compared to 18 per cent in 2016.

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