Press Releases

HASTINGS FIRST IN COUNTRY TO GAIN SAFER SOCIALISING AWARD

The Safer Socialising Award was piloted in Kent and its national launch was held in Folkestone, Kent on 6th July. Hastings has become the first town in the country since the launch to have accredited two licensed town-centre premises with their awards. Fluid nightclub gained a gold standard and The Priory pub a silver standard award. The Award will let customers know that the business complies with high safety and environmental standards and does not tolerate criminal or anti social behaviour. For those accredited with bronze and silver awards an action plan is attached to enable them to achieve even higher levels in the future.

Margaret Storer, Assistant Town Centre Manager said, “This is a fantastic achievement for Hastings. The award seeks to reassure customers and employees that their safety is a priority and indicates that a higher level of personal comfort can be found within. Businesses awarded the certificate will be more attractive than those without it and we would like to see a majority of businesses in Hastings carry the award to make the town more attractive to visitors.”

To achieve the award individual licensed premises must become a member of the Hastings Area Business Crime Reduction Partnership, agree to be inspected and to comply with the conditions of the award, make any improvements required by the inspection, maintain the standards agreed at the time of the award and support the work of the partnership, which is to reduce crime, disorder and alcohol related anti social behaviour and create a safe and secure environment for the day and evening economies.

Rob Woods, Town Centre Manager said “The distribution of the first Safer Socialising Awards to businesses in Hastings is one of a number of important milestones on the road to improving our evening economy. Businesses investing in the town and working with the public agencies, not relying on them is, in my view, the only way forward. Our future plans include late night bus services with onboard Police, taxi rank wardens and CCTV in the taxis themselves.

The Safer Socialising Award is audited annually by representatives from licensing and environmental health departments, the Police, the Fire and Rescue Service and Town Centre Management. The aim is to accredit a minimum of 10 town centre businesses before March 2007.

The Hastings Area Business Crime Reduction Partnership (HABCRP) - Press Release

Under age Drinkers who get arrested may find themselves banned from licensed premises until their 19th birthday under a new partnership initiative launched across the borough. The Hastings Area Business Crime Reduction Partnership (HABCRP) will involve Police, Fire & Rescue, Local Licensing officers, Safer Hastings Partnership along with Hastings and St Leonard’s Town Centre Management.

The aim of the partnership is to help reduce all business related crime including theft, anti-social behaviour, criminal damage and alcohol related crime. Working together they will be awarding Safer Socialising Certificates to individual businesses who demonstrate a commitment to making going out in Hastings and St Leonard’s a more comfortable and enjoyable experience.

The new partnership incorporates both the successful Shop Watch and Bar Watch schemes, which will be widened to cover the whole borough. Having already gained a Safer Business Award for the daytime economy the new partnership will be sharing information and resources to secure a Safer Socialising Award which is aimed at improving evening and night time business to create a safer environment for residents and visitors alike.

Margaret Storer, Assistant Town Centre Manager said, “We are confident that the reduction in crime we have seen in our Town centres can be repeated throughout the borough. Safer Socialising Awards are nationally recognised and go a long way to attracting new businesses and visitors alike. The Hastings Area Business Crime Reduction Partnership will play a key role in the regeneration of the town and welcomes new members who share our aims to make Hastings and St Leonard’s a better place to work, rest and play.”

Those businesses that achieve the Safer Socialising Award will receive preferential promotion through Town Centre Management. If businesses are interested in joining the partnership and the range of benefits it brings please contact Margaret Storer on 01424 205518.

The Hastings Area Business Crime Reduction Partnership (HABCRP) - Press Release

Hastings and St Leonards Town Centre Management has become the first in Sussex to install the National Business Information System (NBIS). Hastings is one of only 23 towns and cities in the country to have this leading edge tool against crime.

NBIS uses the latest Net technology to allow business partnerships nationally to share live offender incident data combined with powerful analysis tools for the management of information in the form of reports and photo albums. It links offender data and automatically notifies a partnership when another scheme has added data.

It also has the ability to provide direct connectivity to the police, probation service as well as other agencies giving untapped intelligence.

Members of the Hastings Area Business Crime Reduction Partnership will benefit by having on tap a vast array of information in the form of descriptions, photographs and graphs depicting offending trends to help them prevent crime before it happens. This information can only be provided to businesses who are members and who sign up to strict data protection procedures.

Members of the crime partnership receive many other benefits including use of the radio network to link them to the CCTV staff and Police, exclusion orders that apply to their premises and added value such as assistance with accreditation for the Safer Socialising Award and free 24/7 advertising on the Town Centre Management website.

Margaret Storer, Assistant Town Centre Manager said, “This is a fantastic piece of kit and is already proving to be an invaluable tool in helping to prevent crime against businesses. Every business in the borough of Hastings is eligible to join the scheme and receive the benefits”. Contact Margaret on 01424 205518.

Shop-Watch - Press Release

Swift action by members of the award winning Hastings Shop-Watch scheme brought a premature end to a mini crime spree in the town centre last Thursday when two purse-snatchers were arrested within 90 minutes of the first purse being reported missing.

Margaret Storer, Assistant Town Centre Manager said, “This incident demonstrates perfectly how effective the Shop-Watch scheme can be. Our members throughout the town centre were able to pass on descriptions of 2 females acting suspiciously and to monitor their whereabouts until police officers, also equipped with Shop-Watch radios, made the arrest”

Town Centre Management would like to reassure the public that organised purse snatching is a very rare occurrence in Hastings.

Margaret Storer said, I’d like to thank every one of our members who helped the police to make the arrests last Thursday. Given the time between the crime taking place and the victim realising their loss, it makes our members’ actions that much more remarkable. Shoppers and visitors can help themselves by keeping hand-bags closed and within sight at all times and ensuring that bankcards and pin numbers are not kept together”

The Shop Watch scheme works to reduce crime and make Hastings town centre a safer place to shop and work. Members of the town centre business community are equipped with radios to report and monitor suspicious activities. Police and Community Support staff also carry radios, which helps speed up response times.

Anyone interested in knowing more about the Shop-Watch scheme can contact Margaret on 01424 205518.

Safer Socialising Award (SSA) - Press Release

Hastings pubs, restaurants, theatres and clubs can now apply for a Safer Socialising award after the scheme was given a national launch yesterday. The Award will let customers know that the business complies with high safety and environmental standards and does not tolerate criminal or anti social behaviour.

Margaret Storer, Assistant Town Centre Manager said, “The award seeks to reassure customers and employees that their safety is a priority and indicates that a higher level of personal comfort can be found within. Businesses awarded the certificate will be more attractive than those without it and we would like to see a majority of business in Hastings carry the award to make the town more attractive to visitors.”

The award will be in three categories, Gold, Silver and Bronze reflecting standards achieved. To achieve the award individual licensed premises must become a member of the Hastings Area Business Crime Reduction Partnership, agree to be inspected and to comply with the conditions of the award, make any improvements required by the inspection, maintain the standards agreed at the time of the award and support the work of the partnership, which is to reduce crime, disorder and alcohol related anti social behaviour and create a safe and secure environment for the day and evening economies.

Rob Woods, Town Centre Manager, says “This is yet another example of how the public and private sectors work together to raise the bar and make Hastings and St Leonards a better place. We particularly thank Hastings Borough Council, Sussex Police, the Safer Hastings Partnership and Barwatch members for their input and support”

For more information contact Margaret Storer on 01424 205518.