Pilot scheme for Wellington to have its own dedicated PCSO is backed
A pilot scheme to tackle anti-social behaviour, drug use and fly-tipping in Wellington has been backed by councillors.
Wellington Town Council has agreed to trial having its own Police Community Support Officer, who will exclusively manage their area for the next 12 months.
As part of the trial, the PCSO will focus on a range of locally documented public concerns, while working in partnership with the parish and borough council.
Superintendent Tom Harding, who spoke to councillors at this week's meeting of Wellington Town Council, said: "This will provide us with a useful tool and an additional resource to target and respond very quickly to a range of lower harm issues including anti-social behaviour and littering, that sometimes might potentially get overlooked by priority incidents."
The 12-month trial will see "half a PCSO" post in Wellington, spending 20 hours in Wellington and spending the remainder of the week in Newport.
"I know it doesn't sound like a great amount of time but actually it's 20 hours a week that will be spent targeting the key problems in the area. I think that's a really worthwhile resource for the local community," he said.
The scheme is being launched following the success of the 'integrated community management' project run in Shrewsbury under the name of Team Shrewsbury.
Supt Harding said: "I worked in Shrewsbury while the integrated community management scheme was being adopted there and it has proved a real success in the town, and identified a number of local issues including rough sleepers, drug use and anti-social behaviour."
As part of the trial, weekly meetings will take place to identify concerns and problems within the community.
The town council's backing of the scheme means that parishes and towns in the Telford area are moving a step closer to funding their own PCSOs If the 12-month trial proves a success, the model will cost £30,000 and will run over a six-year period. A grant from Telford & Wrekin Council will pay for the first three years, while towns and parishes will be expected to foot the bill for the remaining three years.
Welcoming the trial, Mayor of Wellington, Councillor Phil Morris-Jones said: "Any special project such as this, we will be there and we are behind it. Police visibility is so important to our residents with many saying they never see any police.We will be working in partnership with the police to make this work."
