WOKINGHAM Borough Council’s plans to bring its public protection partnership services back inhouse will see it work alongside police in a bid to stamp out anti-social behaviour.
Council leader John Halsall said that this partnership builds on its work with the voluntary and health sectors during the coronavirus pandemic. And the work has already begun with the localities team patrolling parks, including the Carnival area.
“I think we have an obligation to find a way of getting through to them, I don’t have all the answers but nobody in 10,000 years of history has had the answers. Youth is by definition youth: funny and rebellious.”
“We need to find new solutions. My children were enveloped by sport. Nowadays, that means no smoking, no drugs, no regular drinking: it controls your behaviour. That’s the sort of activity we need to find.
“We’re very blessed, we’ve got a huge number of football teams, wonderful leisure facilities and a lot of open space.
“The task is to redirect energy into those positions.”
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At the last council meeting, teenager Rio Elms wanted to know what the council was doing to help younger people find safe places to meet. Cllr Parry Batth suggested restaurants and cafes.
Cllr Halsall said “The answer was that we’re looking at it. There’s some pressure to revive the youth centre which we own, whether that’s the right thing to do or not remains to be seen. There’s no point in the borough council recreating a youth centre if it’s not an activity which people of that age would want to participate in.
“But the question is very timely because we do have a problem, particularly in the urban areas, of people hanging out non-productively.”
He added: “The great thing about Wokingham Borough is these problems are not everywhere, they’re in pockets which should be solvable and that’s what we’re trying to do.
“The borough council has to be active in areas where residents see there is an issue or a problem. It’s not true that the borough council can resolve all these problems, but in a sense it needs to draw the line.”
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And Cllr Halsall is excited at the possibility that the new inhouse PPP can bring.
“I’ve said before that we’re the golden thread that runs through the borough, the indispensable partner. We need to make that work as well as we can,” he said. “It’s a big programme, It’s a big ambition.”
How can Wokingham Borough Council afford it at a time when budgets are being stretched?
“We do a very good job of managing our finances,” Cllr Halsall said. “We are in rude health. The combination of (executive member for finance) Cllr John Kaiser and (deputy chief executive) Graham Ebers is second to none.”
