Crime chief’s £1.1m to improve Wellingborough estate and make nights out safer for women in Northampton and Kettering

Nearly half of a £1.5 million Government-backed war chest to be spent fighting crime in Northamptonshire will go towards improving Wellingborough’s Queensway estate.

More than £460,000 from the Safer Streets Fund will also help fulfill another pledge by Police, Fire & Crime Commissioner Stephen Mold to make Northampton and Kettering town centres safer for women on nights out.

Approval of the two schemes netted nearly £1.2 million of Government cash with commissioner Mr Mold adding another £500,000 to the pot.

North Northamptonshire Council won just over £260,000 for improvements in the All Saints and William Knibb areas of Kettering.

Another £99,000 awarded to West Northamptonshire Council will be spent in Blackthorn and Bellinge.

Work in Northampton and Kettering town centres will include:

■ Creating a night safety charter

■ Increasing safety of pedestrians in Bridge Street, Northampton

■ Extra lighting and blocking alleyways

■ An app to help map areas where people don’t feel safe so that they can be improved

■ ID scan technology for around 30 venues in Northampton and Kettering to share information about people who behave inappropriately or dangerously.

Additionally, a ground-breaking partnership will see ‘Stand by Her’ training for young men in education to help them understand the impact of harassment on women and give them skills to challenge safely and offer support.

The Commissioner will also provide a second SNOvan – Safer Nights Out van – for volunteers in the north of the county to support anyone who finds themselves vulnerable.

Another £689,000 of the Government cash is earmarked for a number of security improvements in the Queensway estate which, it is hoped, will deliver tangible safety benefits to residents in the same way previous Safer Streets schemes have.

Around 650 properties in Kiln Way and Minerva Way will have new security doors fitted and alleys in Shelley Road will be gated.

Security lighting will be fitted to some properties and there will be a significant roll out of security products to residents.

There will be a major extension of the council’s CCTV scheme with up to 18 new cameras on the estate.

Commissioner Mold said: “I’m thrilled that the bids we have put forward for additional funding to tackle crime in Northamptonshire have yet again been successful.

“This money will be used on practical measures to tackle crime and make people safer and will focus on the priorities that local people have told us they want to see dealt with.

“We’ll be working in partnership with other agencies and with local communities to make Northamptonshire safer.

"I’m pleased to have been able to bring more money to the county to do this and to have the opportunity to do even more to directly protect local communities and to focus on preventing crime.”

Overall, it means that more than £4 million will have been invested across the county since the first round of Safer Streets funding in 2020 — including £500,000 for West Northamptonshire Council last year to spend on safety improvements in and around The Racecourse and Beckets Park.