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Housing association secures £550,000 to reduce crime
Ongo Homes has secured more than £500,000 from the government to reduce crime and make residents safer on estate that featured in TV show.
The Lincolnshire-based landlord bid for money from the Home Office’s Safer Streets Fund to improve the Westcliff Estate in Scunthorpe and reduce the number of instances of crime.
It featured in Channel 4 fly-on-the-wall documentary Skint in 2013, which focused on unemployment on the estate. Since then, Ongo has invested around £9m in building new homes and facilities on the estate, as well as improving existing homes.
The £550,000, which came through the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Humberside, will be used to cut acquisitive crime, such as burglary and robbery, and improve the security of homes in the estate and surrounding areas.
The money will be spent on installing new features including entrance doors and video intercom systems in all communal flats, cycle stores, and security fences and gates.
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An additional £20,000 is available for programmes that have come from residents’ ideas about how to make the estate safer.
The £25m Safer Streets Fund was launched in January this year to provide funding to tackle crime in areas that have had problems with theft, robbery and burglary.
The money has been distributed across the country’s 35 Police and Crime Commissioner regions. The biggest sum individual projects could receive was £550,000.
Jan Williams, head of opportunities at Ongo, said: “Over the years, the area has had lots of negative attention, but it is a great place with even greater people. This is a continuing commitment from us and our partners, and we are over the moon to hear about the huge sum of funding the area will be awarded.
“It will empower local people and support our mission to create a safe place to live, work and thrive in. We are so excited be involved in the project and can’t wait to see the difference it will make.”
