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MAKING WINCHESTER SAFER:

A safe and secure environment is essential for people to work, shop, visit and invest in any city. The city, after five years of the BID, is characterized by low level crime including shoplifting and purse snatching in the daytime and the perceived threat of violence and anti-social behaviour at night.

The BID will continue to manage and extend the already successful Shopwatch and PubWatch crime reduction partnerships. Everyone will benefit from advice, regular communications, incident recording and the targeting of Winchester’s most persistent offenders.

Winchester BID works closely in partnership with Hampshire Constabulary and Winchester City Council to make Winchester as safe as possible. Recent projects include handing out FREE lanyards to visitors and the elderly to reduce the risk of pruse thefts in Winchester. Since the project began we have seen positive reduction in purse thefts.
 

POLICE COMMUNITY SUPPORT OFFICERS (PCSO’S)

Winchester BID has worked with Hampshire Constabulary to create and fund a permanent presence of 3 additional PCSO’s in the city centre. The BID has also achieved external funding through Hampshire Police Authority in support of this additional activity to match fund the investment made by the BID. As a result of the funding BID can provide dedicated support to the city centre with flexible working patterns to tackle issues relating to both the daytime and evening economy through the support of the PCSO’s, employed by Hampshire Constabulary.
 

SHOPWATCH

Winchester BID coordinates the Shopwatch scheme. It is a radio link that connects over 50 retail businesses directly to Police, Winchester CCTV and other businesses. The scheme meets regularly to discuss current crime trends and key issues that affect the City. Shopwatch has been heavily involved in reducing purse thefts in Winchester and fund purse lanyards for residents and visitors. Through BID funding Shopwatch has offered major discounts to shopwatch members such as £200 off of CCTV equipment.

The Winchester Shopwatch scheme has gone from strength to strength. In January 2009 Shopwatch launched an exclusion order system to reduce retail crime and anti social behaviour with the city centre. Under the new exclusion order, subjects that have been cautioned or arrested for retail theft or anti social behaviour within the city will be banned from entering over 55 Shopwatch member premises. The ban stands for 2 years.

PUBWATCH

Winchester BID coordinates the PubWatch scheme. Over 35 licensed premises are involved in the scheme that directly links them to Police and CCTV through the radio link. Winchester pubWatch meet regularly to discuss current licensing issues and run a strict ‘banned from one, banned from all’ policy. Pubwatch run a number of campaigns to promote responsible drinking, I.D aware schemes and anti-drug campaigns.

Winchester Pubwatch was runner up in 2009 in the Safer Drinks retailing awards. In 2010 Winchester PubWatch won PubWatch of the Year award through National Pubwatch.
 

STREET PASTORS

The BID will continue to work with the local churches to fund a group of street pastors to work on the streets in the evenings. This project is working well sowing a reduction in violent crime in the evenings and the BID continue to fund it.

A scheme which will see street pastors patrol Winchester to help out late-night revellers is to get under way.
The church-run initiative, to be launched on 18th June, has been welcomed and joint funded by Hampshire Constabulary, Winchester City Council and Winchester Business Improvement District (BID).

The 45 trained volunteers will be on hand in the city centre to assist people who may be vulnerable. 4 Street Pastors will be in the city between 9:30pm – 3:30am every Friday and Saturday night to offer help, advice and care to people that need their assistance. Winchester is now one of 9 towns in Hampshire to co-ordinate the Street Pastors Scheme.

Mark Hibbert-Hingston, Coordinator, Winchester Street Pastors, comments:
“The idea of Street Pastors was first raised 2 years ago, so it’s been a while coming. I am delighted that the scheme is finally introduced in the city and we can’t wait to get out on the streets and make a real difference to Winchester.
As well as helping the general public by handing out water, flip flops and directing people to taxis, the volunteers will also be building relationships with pubs and clubs in the city centre. The scheme will have direct contact with all PubWatch members and local Police.

Chris Turner, Executive Director, Winchester BID, comments:
“The new Street pastor scheme – sponsored in part by the BID – is a wonderful project that puts trained people on the streets in the evening to work with the Police to make sure that care and support is provided to get people home at night who are facing problems of any sort. The BID is proud to be sponsoring the project from its beginning and believes it reinforces the view of Winchester as a safe place for people to enjoy themselves in the evening”

Where the project has been introduced in other towns and cities, statistics show that the level of crime and anti-social behaviour has fallen. A recent independent survey carried out in Portsmouth showed that late-night revellers feel safer on a night out as a direct result of the scheme.
 

SPARE CHANGE FOR REAL CHANGE

Winchester has one of the longest established ‘Diverted Giving’ schemes in the country. The existing scheme, now retitled ‘Spare Change for Real Change’, has been enhanced under the BID to raise the profile and encourage managed giving to those most in need by diverting funds from the street to local charitable organisations working with the disadvantaged.
As with the existing scheme 100% of funds donated will be passed to local charities. No donated funds will be withheld for administration or other purposes.
 

PURPLE FLAG AWARD

Winchester has achieved Purple Flag status due to the results of excellent partnership working across the city. Without the relationships which are in place, the city centre would not be the welcoming, vibrant place it is today.

For the local business community, Winchester Business Improvement District (BID) takes the lead, strongly supported by Winchester City Council and the Hampshire Chamber of Commerce. These three partners are in regular contact about a variety of subjects – from planning and parking, through to special events and business networking. This enables open conversations to take place to ensure all partners are aware of the needs of the local business community, and their role and responsibilities to make it the desirable place it is to work.

The cultural life of the city centre is paramount to attract visitors, and to give local residents an enjoyable and educational place to spend their spare time and socialise. The special events which take place bring a wonderful atmosphere to the city centre, but are only achieved through clear relationships between festival providers, the Council’s tourism marketing team, Winchester BID and our historic attractions such as the City Museum and Winchester Cathedral. These organisations come together to plan events throughout the year, link their marketing and promotions, and make a clear offer to visitors and residents alike.

Throughout both our special events and our regular evenings and weekends out and about, safety and security are of upmost importance. Linked with the local Community Safety Partnership and Winchester BID, are the very successful Pubwatch and Shopwatch schemes. These partnerships in themselves bring local retailers, restaurateurs and publicans together with CCTV operatives, security firms and Hampshire Police. They deliver city wide campaigns and projects to focus efforts on common problems, which would not be achieved without such partnership working.
 

SAFER PARTNERSHIP WORKING

Through partnership working the BID will work with Winchester Community Safety Partnership, Hampshire Constabulary, Winchester City Council, Neighbourhood Wardens, the further & higher education sector and others to maintain and aim to develop safety and security in Winchester.