North Devon Council rescues Street Marshal scheme

The chief executive of North Devon Council says the authority will continue to fund a successful scheme to make its streets safer.

Police in North Devon have made clear they will not be able to pay for street marshals and that it will be the responsibility of the council to come up with the cash.

The cost of the scheme in Barnstaple, which was initially funded from the government’s safer street initiative, is being propped up by the council until the end of March next year.

The council’s chief executive Ken Miles said it is ‘a question of priorities’ as local authorities face more pressure on their finances.

Supporters say it has transformed the North Devon town which has seen a 30 per cent drop in anti-social behaviour. The initiative has recently been extended to Ilfracombe.

At a meeting of the North Devon and Torridge community safety partnership Mr Miles said the results were ‘startling’.

Anti-social behaviour incidents are down 17 per cent on last year.

“The street marshals have been such a benefit to Barnstaple that is difficult to see how we can remove them. If the district council does not fund them, it’s not going to happen and we do not want Barnstaple to go backwards and people don’t want to come into town.

“It’s a question of priorities for district councils and we will continue to fund it as long as we can.”

He said Barnstaple’s £6.5 million of Future High Streets funding was making a big difference but there is ‘no point in chucking millions of pounds’ into the town centre if it does not make people feel safe.

Street marshals have the same limited powers as police community support officers and are first aid trained to deal with medical incidents. They de-escalate anti social behaviour and provide a level of reassurance to the public and local businesses.

They are not part of the police force but are provided by a security firm working with the district council.

Neighbouring Bideford has long hankered for street marshals and pressure has been put on police and crime commissioner Alison Hernandez to help pay for them.

The police say they have a ‘small pot of money’ to provide street marshals over the Christmas period in Bideford, but superintendent Tony Davies, local commander for North and West Devon police, said if they are that important Torridge District Council would ‘have to find a way’ to fund them.

He said the policing team for Torridge and North Devon was being increased but it would be ‘enhancing the work’ of street marshals, not replacing them.

Cllr Joy Cann (Lib Dem, Bickington) said Barnstaple had a completely different feel from a year ago: “I believe it’s down to the work of the street marshals. Their presence has made the difference. I hope we can find the money to keep it going, because it really works.”

Police said rural policy would be a priority in the coming months as well as a focus on hate crime. They are looking at community hubs at Greens Lanes in Barnstaple and Jubilee Square in Bideford; a youth intervention worker had been employed to work in secondary schools, and self defence courses run at Petroc College.

They also work with pubs and taxi firms on safeguarding and spiking campaigns and there was an increase in street pastors.

A night bus between Bideford and Barnstaple during December is being used with 600 passengers already, the meeting was told.

The service has been part-funded by the Vision Zero South West road safety partnership as a pilot project, with the hope of reducing drink and drug driving over the festive period.

Councillors, who praised the service for helping young people to get home cheaply and safely, said they would like it extended to Braunton and Ilfracombe and are trying to get Stagecoach to continue the service beyond the pilot as it is commercially viable.

Supt Davies said North Devon is the safest area in Devon and Cornwall and has the highest level of what they call ‘partnership intelligence’ in cracking down on county lines, where illegal drugs are transported from one area to another.