An initiative to tackle serious and organised crime and help communities in the Maple Park area of Ipswich has been officially named Maple Together by community members during a day of action.
Clear, Hold, Build is a tactic developed by the Home Office to tackle serious and organised crime and build communities more resilient to these negative influences.
The latest project for Suffolk focuses on the Gipping and Westgate wards in the town with efforts starting back in March.
Now to be named Maple Together after Maple Park, the project encompasses an area west of the town centre, bordered by Norwich Road and Bramford Road in the north, Yarmouth Road in the west and West End Road in the South.
A community day of action was organised and ran on the 25 November in conjunction with Ipswich Borough Council (IBC) in the Surrey Road, Sirdar Road and Norwich Road areas.
Partners from police, waste management, environmental health, housing, education and anti-social behaviour teams attended, with more than 70 community surveys completed and more than 200 members of the community engaged with.
As well as positive engagement, it gave residents a chance to raise issues affecting them, including included littering, waste, parking, noise, door-to-door sellers and housing arrangements.
The day of action was also used to select the initiative’s new name.
Ipswich West Locality Inspector Naomi Lofthouse said: “It’s great that Maple Together was chosen by the residents themselves who told us of their desire to bring the community together and the importance of this project to improve where they live, improve community pride and relations, and to ensure it is a happy and safe place to live.
“Police, Ipswich Borough Council and many other partners have organised a number of different initiatives to achieve this, and from speaking to residents, this effort has been recognised and is very much welcomed.
“However, we cannot just stop and pat ourselves on the back. We are only in the early stages of what is a long-term ambition to clear out criminality and to rid these streets of those trying their best to disrupt the lives of law-abiding, peaceful residents. The aim then moves to holding on to and building upon this work for everyone to have a better future.”
Much of this focus is on improving the lives of the children and young people living in the Clear Hold Build area.
Across the spring, summer and autumn there were and continue to be funded football sessions held at Maple Park. There have also been regular visits to schools in the area, including giving educational inputs. Engagements with schools continue to build on those already positive relationships.
Other community activity includes:
- Regular, consistent foot patrols, creating positive relationships within the community, working on building trust in the police
- Engagements with local business and community hubs.
- Engagements with the HIVE community hub, including with members of the Suffolk Ethnic Police Association, learning and advising how police can improve engagement with diverse communities
- New IBC CCTV to enhance opportunities for preventing and detecting crime and anti-social behaviour, as well as acting as a safeguarding mechanism for the community
- Environmental survey
- Joint litter picking projects in the Maple Park, Surrey Road and Sirdar Road area.
- Regular pop-up engagements including in areas of Barrack Corner, Suffolk Retail Park and Maple Park, with positive feedback received from the local community.
- Joint days of action within the community including IBC waste team in which skips were placed in the community encouraging further members of the community to engage
- New joint initiative for police to issue Fixed Penalty Notices for littering in support of IBC who have lead responsibility for litter enforcement
- New joint parking patrols with IBC parking enforcement officers.
Suffolk Police and Crime Commissioner Tim Passmore said: “Clear, Hold, Build brings together the whole community to make the Maple Park area an even safer place for residents and visitors alike. I attended the launch of the project and was really impressed with the strong community spirit and shared ambition to make a difference.
"I wholeheartedly support this multi-agency approach and am particularly keen to assist through our PCC commissioning fund in the ‘build’ part of this important initiative when we reach that stage in the project."
Councillor for Alexandra Ward John Cook said: "Clear Hold Build has proved its worth elsewhere in Suffolk and now Maple Together is making a real difference here in west Ipswich.
"The Council is working hard alongside the Police and other agencies, community organisations and most importantly the community itself, to address many issues from organised crime to littering which have blighted the lives of those in the Maple Park area for too long.
"By working together we're making a much greater impact than when we work alone."