The aim of the Safer Neighbourhoods Partnership is to improve the quality of life on the Isle of Wight with the development of safer and stronger communities through effective partnership working. Another service which plays a key role in the Safe and Well-kept theme of Eco Island, the Safer Neighbourhoods Partnership delivers a number of front-line services such as Dog Wardens, Town Centre Managers and the CCTV scheme which will be rolled out more widely across the Island as part of the Eco Island Action Plan.
In addition to improving the look and feel of local community areas (in co-operation with colleagues from the Council’s Engineering Services teams to improve local streets, pavements and facilities), the Safer Neighbourhoods Partnership works closely with colleagues in the police. This work focuses on reducing crime and anti-social behaviour, with the emphasis in the coming year being on early intervention in areas such as drug use and alcohol abuse by young people. Domestic violence will also be a key focus, involving work with colleagues in the Healthy and Supportive Island theme, to develop more holistic ways to help the vulnerable and to intervene to prevent violent situations worsening.
This Partnership will work closely with Parish and Town Councils and local communities, helping to strengthen the local sense of pride in localities, and helping people to feel safe. This work to reassure the public is a significant factor in the social sustainability element of Eco Island; people feeling safer and happier in their local communities rebuilds local pride and frees local communities to be ambitious and be more active and inclusive.
This service monitors the Island’s coastline, studying the movement of the Island’s geology and providing a public contact point for information about their work. This service is in the front line of Eco Island, because its role is to monitor the impact of climate change on the Island and to improve the Island’s coastal defences to withstand that impact over time. The tidal flow around the south coast of the Island is very strong, making this area of the sea very attractive as a test site for tidal power energy generation.
Consumer Protection incorporates the frontline services of Environmental Health (including Licensing) Trading Standards and Bereavement Services. The Council must administer and enforce a comprehensive range of laws designed to protect the environment, protect the economy and protect public health and safety. For example, the council is designated as the animal health authority, the food safety authority and the weights and measures authority. The Council also has to provide services related to the Coroner and to burials. All this work places the Service at the “front line” of Eco Island. This is because it plays such an important role in helping residents to feel safe, through the granting of licences, air quality monitoring, and helping to reduce doorstep and other local trader crime. In addition, the Service will be developing more flexible working practices, in co-operation with other licensing bodies, to help officers use their travel time and inspections routine more efficiently.
Eco Island will require everyone who lives, works on or visits the Island to behave differently in a range of ways. Transportation is a key element of Eco Island and the way in which cars are used, the types of cars and alternatives to the car, particularly emission-free alternatives such as cycle routes and greenways, must be encouraged and used.
All of these issues are covered by this Service area. It is the Highways authority, it maintains the roads, it is the liaison point with the local bus and rail companies, and it will be responsible for planning many of the physical responses to the Island’s changing way of life. The Local Transport Plan 2006-2011 is the strategic framework document for this service area, and it will shape the development of more sustainable transport systems for the Island. The Council, together with colleagues in the Island NHS Primary Care Trust, will be introducing and implementing its Green Travel Plan. As these two organisations are the two largest employers on the Island, this should have a significant impact on how people move around the Island for work. In addition, the conversion of the Council’s fleet vehicles to biofuel will be important in demonstrating the Eco Island message.
In addition, this Service is responsible for waste management. In co-operation with colleagues in the Council’s new Sustainability Unit, this Service will work with Island businesses to encourage an increase in the amount of commercial recycling, which will reduce the amount of commercial waste reaching landfill. This is crucial, because the current levels of commercial landfill waste are unsustainable.
This Service also provides and maintains the Island’s public conveniences. Through a major investment programme, public conveniences across the Island are being improved, with new facilities which will use “grey” water and be some of the most sustainable lavatories in the country.
Engineering Services includes the management of the One Million Blooms programme of community planting. Delivered in partnership with Ventnor Botanic Garden and local communities, this programme is supporting the Safe and Well-Kept theme by improving key public spaces, making them more attractive and keeping them safe, clean and positive areas.
The Fire and Rescue Service is committed to keeping the Island safe. It plays a key role in the Safe and Well-kept Island theme of Eco Island. In the coming year, it will provide prevention and protection services to those at greatest need and highest risk in the Island community. The service will be developed to reflect the core values of the Service, the Council and the ISP, being inclusive, tolerant of difference and aspiring for higher performance standards
The Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service will focus on prevention, particularly working with the most vulnerable people in our communities to avoid fires. It is acknowledged that fire and rescue services have a key role to play in building safer and stronger cpommunities by working closely with other public, voluntary and community organisations for the benefit of local communities.
The service will take up new technologies and good practice in the handling of waste, salvage, transport and firte protection. The service will also take an increasing role in education and safeguarding vulnerable groups from fires and accidents.
If you would like to comment on Eco Island or would like more information, please email info@eco-island.org.uk or visit the Eco Island contacts page.
