Castles and Coasts Housing Association’s (CCHA’s) Head of Housing, Anna Bates (pictured above, left), took part in the official launch of the new Cumberland Community Safety Partnership (CSP) on Friday (4 August), pledging to make communities safer.

The partnership aims to prevent and reduce crime and disorder by creating healthy and secure communities.

The CSP will set out a strategy to prevent crime, disorder, and reoffending, and tackle substance misuse, antisocial behaviour, and serious violence. The strategy will focus on key areas such as violence against women and girls, hate crime, antisocial behaviour, sexual abuse and exploitation, reoffending, and domestic abuse.

It will also look to create strong communities, safer roads and improve resident’s health and wellbeing.

The CSP board comprises of six statutory partners and works with the voluntary and third sector including social housing providers, voluntary organisations, and community groups, such as CCHA.

Board members, including Anna, attended the Cumberland Health and Wellbeing Festival in Whitehaven to launch the partnership and speak to the community.

Anna said: “At CCHA we’re passionate about providing safe and sustainable communities for our residents, so it’s a privilege to be part of this exciting new partnership.

“We already work really hard to support residents and tackle issues like anti-social behaviour but the best results always come from partnership working, so it’s really important for social housing providers to be involved in initiatives like this that are committed to making Cumberland a safer place. Working together, I hope we really do make a difference for our communities.”

There is more information on the launch and the new partnership here.