Clear, Hold, Build officially launches in Ipswich

Ipswich is the latest town in Suffolk to officially launch Clear, Hold, Build, an initiative to tackle serious and organised crime and support communities.

Clear, Hold, Build is a tactic developed by the Home Office to tackle serious and organised crime, and build more resilient communities.

The latest project for Suffolk focuses on the Gipping and Westgate wards in the town with efforts starting back in March. This 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.

Tim Passmore, Suffolk’s Police and Crime Commissioner said: “I welcome the expansion of this innovative partnership approach into Ipswich. Clear, Hold, Build brings together a whole community to tackle issues within a designated area. It is already up and running in Felixstowe and Newmarket, and has proved successful in reducing crime and anti-social behaviour.
“Ipswich is our county town and extremely important for the Suffolk economy, so I am very pleased to see this additional focus in the area.
“For this scheme to be successful it will rely on everyone pulling together and providing support for the great work delivered by charities and voluntary groups. This is where the crime disorder and reduction grants awarded by my office have great potential to help deliver long term positive results.”

Superintendent Andy Martin said: “We have been carrying out lots of work in the clear stage, as we move forward with our period of enforcement.
“The aim is to rid our streets of serious and organised crime and leave more resilient communities as a result.”
“We know what damage can be done to an area by a relatively small number of criminals, and the effects anti-social behaviour, violence and the supply of drugs have on a community.”

The tactic relies on a partnership approach and is designed to reduce serious and organised crime and the harm it causes in communities. This brings together the public, private and voluntary sectors and puts the community at the centre of the response. It ensures a unified and joint approach to make the community safer.

CLEAR – targeted activity and crime disruption.
HOLD – stabilising the area to stop criminals moving in to fill the void through partner interventions and continued enforcement.
BUILD – partner and community-driven action to address the causes of criminality and prevent it from happening again.

Clear, Hold, Build projects have been running across the country and initiatives have been shown to reduce the prevalence of organised crime groups; reduce crime and violence, improve partnership work and community relationships and also reduce anti-social behaviour (ASB).

The project is being run jointly by police and partners. Suffolk Constabulary and Ipswich Borough Council are jointly leading the tactic, supported by other key agencies.
Officers have been involved in a wide range of activities in the area since March. Between March and July there were 90 arrests, with 18 of those charged. In total eight warrants were executed, while officers conducted 31 stop searches. Results so far include three out of court resolutions, seven court convictions, with three addresses closed with notices for 24-48 hours to safeguard occupants and the community. Eight Traffic Offence Reports were handed out and 16 vehicles were seized.
There were 36 premises visits alongside other agencies, with 18 home invasion safeguarding checks, commonly described as cuckooing. This is a practice where people take over a person’s home and use the property to facilitate exploitation, for example using the home as a base to deal drugs from.Other highlights include £200,000 worth of cocaine being seized at one location, two cannabis factories being located and dismantled and weapons including crossbows and knives being seized. Three brothels were also identified, with females safeguarded and brothel managers arrested.

Much of the work is aimed at continued future improvement. With this in mind, there have been a number of engagements with the community and partners in the area, including the Maple Park Sports Project, Let’s Clean Together, ASB Awareness Week, Future Female Society, school inputs and the Suffolk Ethnic Police Association community event to name just a few.

Partnership working has included Ipswich Borough Council’s ASB and environmental health teams, Trading Standards, Immigration and HM Revenue & Customs.
Ipswich Borough Council has been working alongside Suffolk Constabulary as part of this.
This has included the securing of £43,500 of funding from the Serious Violence Duty.
Funds have been used to increase CCTV coverage in the project area, while the council and police are now using a joint system to aid information sharing.
Working in collaboration as a key partner, the council’s focus has included parking enforcement, including cars being repaired on the road, as well as littering issues within Maple Park.
Officers from the ASB, Environmental Health, Licencing, Private Sector Housing and Waste teams have been mobilised to support the programme, bringing their specialisms and various powers of enforcement within the Clear phase and in the planning for Hold and Build.
The council’s Community Participation team will play a role in engaging community groups and individuals and designing further engagement opportunities in partnership with police colleagues.

John Cook, Ipswich Borough Council portfolio holder for Communities and Sport endorsed the programme, saying: “Ipswich is a place where everyone should feel safe and welcome. A town that is a welcoming place for people of different cultures and religions. A town with a sense of community resilience and cohesion. Clear, Hold, Build aims to make this a reality in this part of our town.
“The council and police will work together with resident groups, local businesses and other community stakeholders to make sure that every phase of the initiative not only addresses the criminal activity but also ensures that long-term the area is vibrant, safe, and attractive both in the daytime and at night. We look forward to working with residents and community organisations to make a real and positive difference.”

There are currently two other Clear, Hold, Build projects taking place in Suffolk, Future Felixstowe and Newmarket Together.
You can find out more about Clear, Hold, Build and the different projects taking place in Suffolk by visiting: Clear, Hold, Build | Suffolk Constabulary