A £10,000 cash boost will help tackle evening anti-social behaviour in Lancaster by increasing patrols on the streets by the city centre's BID Warden.
The money will be used to extend the working hours of Max Dior, the Lancaster Business Improvement District (BID) Warden, to ensure visible patrols on all days of the week.
The grant was awarded to Lancaster BID by the Lancashire Police and Crime Commissioner as one of the first grants awarded from his new Safer Lancashire Neighbourhoods Fund.
The project received the maximum £10,000 available and was one of only eight projects across the county to receive funding.
Mr Dior's hours will be extended by an extra 15 hours per week spread across five evenings.
In his role as BID Warden, he works closely with local businesses and partners including the police, and is also a familiar face to the public having often helped people who have had an accident or who need help finding somewhere in the city centre.
The BID Warden post began in 2020 and has been successful in tackling shoplifting and improving communication between businesses in the city centre.
“This funding is a recognition of the success of our Safe and Secure agenda supporting city centre businesses to tackle anti-social behaviour," said Tony Johnson, Lancaster BID manager.
"It will ensure the BID Warden is available to work even more closely with Lancaster Police to deter antisocial behaviour and catch more of the frequent offenders to make the city centre a safer and more pleasant place for everyone to visit and do business.”
Lindsay Brown, partnership officer at Lancashire Police, said the funding "will enable existing measures to combat anti-social behaviour to extend from the daytime into the early evening and night-time economy".
"We are determined to ensure that Lancaster is as safe and welcoming place as it can be for people to live, work and visit," he said.
Lancaster BID has also recently introduced the Disc App to the city centre.
This app allows businesses to share details and images of shoplifters and other offenders in a GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) compliant manner. It helps to highlight the most prolific offenders who can then be issued with banning orders from city centre businesses.
Any city centre businesses that wish to hear more about how they can benefit from Lancaster BID’s Safe and Secure work are encouraged to get in touch at info@lancasterbid.org.
Lancaster BID Ltd is a not for profit company which aims to create a more prosperous city centre.
All business properties with a rateable value of £10,000 and above within the BID area pay an annual levy of 1.5 per cent of the rateable value of their business. These payments generate a budget around £220,000 per year to spend on improving and promoting the city centre
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