Neighbourhood Action Group

Improving community safety

The Neighbourhood Action Group, or NAG for short, is a monthly meeting that aims to tackle local community safety issues in Burngreave and Fir Vale. The Group includes representatives from services providers and local organisations who can can work together to take action to tackle the issues raised by the local community.

Who is involved?

Services that attend the NAG include South Yorkshire Police, Sheffield City Council, from departments including Safer Neighbourhoods, Area Action, Streetforce; Sheffield Youth Offending Services; Children and Young Peoples Services; East Regeneration Team; and Local Councillors. There's also South Yorkshire Fire Service; Sheffield Primary Care Trust; Sheffield Futures; Local Housing providers, including Sheffield Homes and Arches. Some of the local organisation representation includes Burngreave New Deal for Communities (BNDFC), Burngreave Community Action Forum (BCAF), Pakistan Advice Centre (PAC), The Burngreave Messenger, and Local Tenant and Resident Associations (TARA) representatives.

What issues are tackled?

The Neighbourhood Action Group (NAG) focuses on anti social behaviour and low level crime. Issues can include poor street lighting, which may contribute to an increase in crime at night on a specific street. With this type of problem Streetforce may visit to find out why the lighting in the area is so poor, perhaps because of over hanging trees obscuring the lights or just lights needing to be replaced. Flytipping is another issue that is often raised. Any new hotspot area would be brought to the attention of Environmental Services, who would then monitor and clear the area so that it does not have time to become a potential focus for arson attacks.

Main priorities for the next year

Over the next 12 months there will be three priorities for the Burngreave and Fir Vale NAG. This does not mean that the police and other services will not deal with other issues that are of concern, but these three priorities will be focused on in 2009 because they need different organisations to work together and require a particular focus.

The current Burngreave and Fir Vale NAG priorities are:

1 To divert young people away from the gang culture

2 To reduce levels of anti social behaviour and street level drug dealing in the locality of the Wensley Estate, Page Hall and Owler Lane

3 To review and improve the approach to tackling drug dealing in Burngreave

So why these priorities?

Young People and gang culture

The NAG chose and agreed the first priority because of the impact of gun and knife crime on the community and a lack of referrals for young people on the periphery of entering a gang to support services. This priority will help services work towards diverting young people away from activities that put them at risk.

Focus on Fir Vale

The NAG chose and agreed the second priority because of concerns over the high levels of antisocial behaviour in the area. The South Yorkshire Police (SYP) and Police Authority survey ’Your Voice Counts’ regarding the local area revealed that this was high on people’s agenda. The NAG is working hard to make sure that the relevant services and organisations are represented at the NAG to achieve the improvements, especially on the environment and enforcement issues. The NAG and others like Fir Vale Friday, are also working on improving letting and tenancy management in Fir Vale.

Tackle drug dealing

The NAG chose and agreed the third priority because low level drug dealing is a concern for residents throughout the area. This priority will involve identifying any gaps in tackling this issue. The NAG has already had a commitment from Sheffield NHS (via Health Matters) to undertake drug awareness training in all the local schools, and elsewhere in Burngreave.

What can you do?

The NAG is in place to work for local residents, which is why residents are encouraged to feed in to it so that the right priorities are set for the future. If you have any new ideas or issues that need action, there are several ways to get it raised:-

• Leave a message for the Police Safer Neighbourhood Team on 252 3994

• Talk to Burngreave Community Action Forum (BCAF) on 272 8008

• Report crimes to 220 2020 or confidentially to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111

• Report issues to your local TARA

• Report problems on your estate or street to Sheffield Homes on 293 0000

• Report problems on your estate or street to Streetforce on 273 4567