2019

2019 has seen the Neighbourhood Network strengthen its partnership working and engagement; continuing to build strong working relationships with those from the public sector and community and voluntary sector in order to provide the best support to its member groups and wider communities. This partnership approach enables groups to benefit from a reduction in crime, develop good community spirit and create safer environments where people are neighbourly and look out for each other.

Partnership work in 2019 has seen the charity continue to be part of the Engager’s network, co-ordinated by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner. This network has brought together key organisations to support each other on sharing key messages and campaigns. Focus has included ‘empowering communities to be the changes it wants to see’ and considering ‘combined community resources’.

The Hull Fraud forum was a new idea for 2019 and the Neighbourhood Network is very much a part of this; sharing key information both ways by encouraging its own members to report scams and passing it on to help provide an accurate picture of local scams and by sharing key messages down to its members. The group is led by Humberside Police and administrated by the OPCC and it promotes open communication on the latest scams both locally and nationally.

The Neighbourhood Network team have continued to be part of the Hull Champions network and have taken advantage of networking events they organised in both April and July 2019.

Engagement with other community and voluntary sector organisations in Hull is important and throughout 2019 the NN team has attended events to network, make valuable contacts and promote the charity which include attendance at a social Enterprise Fayre in April, #thehullwewant event in July, having a presence at the Hull KR game in September and being part of the ‘Release Potential – returneeship’ in November.

Partnership work with Hull City Council and Humberside Police has continued strongly in 2019. The NN team attended a number of Humberside Police Demand Reduction Initiative events, as in previous years with staff in early June attending a burglary reduction event on Bransholme. As with other activity days, the staff were paired with a buddy from community safety partners such as staff from the police, council and Humberside Fire and Rescue and allocated several houses to visit to conduct a home safety survey. The residents were advised about target hardening and given the opportunity to have a shed alarm fitted on the day.

In April The NN team also took part in an arson prevention initiative on the Ings estate, engaging with lots of young people, whilst selling target hardening equipment to residents.

The Cycle Crime Reduction Initiative with Humberside Police is in its third year, with the gold quality sold secure bike locks being promoted at every opportunity.  The NN sold 490 bike locks in 2019, continuing sales through 6 Hull City Council leisure/community centres (identified as cycle theft hotspot areas) and 5 secondary schools across Hull and East Riding on a ‘sale or return’ basis.

Significant work with Hull City Council has seen work around victim support within the West Carr Ward of the city. The NN has received funding from HCC to support those deemed vulnerable that would benefit from the provision of crime reduction equipment. These residents are identified by either Humberside Police, Ward Councillors or the housing team and referrals sent into the NN team. The equipment is delivered as per the request, during this year, we have provided crime reduction equipment to 23 residents. At the end of 2019, the project was reviewed and extended into 2020, also including the neighbouring wards.

One of the NN teams highlights of 2019 was again on the West Carr Ward, with the organisation of a West Carr Ward Neighbourhood Fun Day. The idea of this event was to bring to the ward a family fun day bringing together some of the local activities available in the ward such as sports availability, along with community safety partners such as the police and fire brigade to interact with local residents. The event was very well attended and deemed a success by all. It is hoped this event could become a yearly event in the area or potentially recreated in different wards of the city.

Training was an important part of 2019 and is included in the NN’s remit to educate groups and residents of Hull to build safer and stronger communities.  With this in mind, the team began to look for opportunities that would benefit the wider community and enable the NN to achieve the aims of the charity.  At the beginning of the year we were approached by Yorkshire Ambulance Service as they were looking at delivering First Aid training in the community, a partnership was formed and the training sessions were well received within our network with additional sessions were added due to the demand.  The team then began to build other connections with trainers across the city covering a variety of topics which are listed below:

First Aid Training delivered by Yorkshire Ambulance Service – 2 sessions – 30 Attendees in total

Health MOT’s – 15 individual appointments made within 4 hours

Scam Awareness delivered by NatWest Bank – 2 sessions – 16 attendees in total

Cancer champion training delivered by Humber, Coast & Vale Cancer Alliance – 2 sessions – 8 attendees in total

This is definitely an area that the team intend to develop further in 2020.

The 2019 Annual Neighbourhood Awards event took place centrally at the Guildhall on Wednesday 22nd October.  The event was attended by over 150 guests and the team organised stands of interest to be present from; The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner, Love Your Street, ReNew, Trading Standards, Humberside Fire and Rescue Service, Hull CVS.

Speakers on the night included the current High Sheriff of the East Riding of Yorkshire Sue Stephenson, of which she explained her role and what her plans where for her time in office.  We also had DS Ben Robinson from Humberside Police to talk about fraud and the work of the Hull Fraud Forum.

For 2019 the team organised for Brendon Smurthwaite of KCOM (sponsor), Lord Mayor Steven Wilson, Sue Stephenson High Sheriff of Hull and East Riding, Adil Khan from Humberside Police, Trustees Terry Carter, Debbie Fagan and Sharon Porter to present the awards. The winners on the evening were as follows:

Voluntary Group of the year – Hull Street Angels Trinity

Health and Well-being award – Hull and District Diabetes Support Group

Project of the Year – Pennine Community Centre

Volunteer Champion of the Year – Pete Abram of Wicketz

Neighbourhood Watch Contribution Award – Sue Whittaker of Newland Park Residents Association and Residents of Scholars Gate

Above and Beyond Award – Marlene Prosser of Sutton and Hull Northern Social Club

Special thanks where given to the funders of the event which where KCOM, The Tribune Trust and Hull Community Safety Partnership, without the continued to support from our funders we wouldn’t be able to host this event year after year

2019 saw the NN continue their work with the other unitary authority Neighbourhood Watch supporting bodies in East Riding of Yorkshire, North East Lincs and North Lincs in the form of Humber Watch. 2019 saw the NN Team meet quarterly throughout the year to share resources and best practice. In November the NN Team were re-elected for the joint roles of secretary and treasurer. Unfortunately, due to workloads, the annual event scheduled for June 2019 was rescheduled to June 2020 making it a bi-annual coming together of Humberside wide groups moving forward.

14 new community groups joined NN in 2019 bringing the total membership to 470 at the end of the year.