Croydon’s doomed £10k anti-antisocial drink initiative

Croydon is one of ten problem areas singled out for a £10,000 government grant to ‘test innovative ideas that will help reduce problem drinking and related antisocial behaviour, improve how communities work together and make real changes to their area.’

But it’s another of these so-called ‘partnership’ ideas that are a) nothing of the kind and b) doomed to fail.  Worse, the fuzzy idea of local police, community activists, local authorities and retailers getting together to tackle the problem is described as ‘grassroots.’  You just know, don’t you, that jargon like this describes pie in the sky? I predict a few meetings, a clutch of platitudinous leaflets and some cash in a few people’s pockets … but no real difference.

£10k is Mickey Mouse money and just a distraction from the cuts in police numbers.  This is where more cash is needed – more cops, more prosecutions and more video evidence.  We’ve had loads of ‘campaigns’ – they don’t work.

Poor Baroness Newlove, the Government's ‘Champion for Active, Safer Communities’, says the money will go to “new grassroots projects (that) are genuine community coalitions of local police, community activists, local authorities and retailers. Each area has identified the issues that are of greatest concern to their communities and have developed local solutions to test out ideas that can be built on to help transform their neighbourhoods.”

Inevitably these initiatives are ‘partnerships’ with local schools, youth centres and hospitals.

With no hint of irony, this anti-anti social drink initiative complements something called ‘Newlove Neighbourhoods’.  Yes folks, named after the good baroness! These will … read the description in its full jargonautic awfulness …

“Celebrate and support all the hard work that communities are putting in, allowing (them) to share ideas and best practice across the country, and together, solve common problems and identify the red tape holding them back.”

The baroness, who has threatened – promised – to ‘mentor’ these new initiatives goes on, “I am convinced that the solution to underage and binge drinking and the crime and anti-social behaviour that comes in its wake can only be found when everyone, those affected and those paid to stamp it out, come together with total resolve to tackle it head-on. It's not about huge amounts of money either, some of the best most effective approaches involve pooling resources, sharing information and improving existing communications.

"These ten areas, like the original ten, have impressed me with a local plan involving community activists, police, health workers and the retail trade and I want other communities facing similar problems to learn from their innovative example.

"For too long, a small minority has impacted adversely on our happiness, health and security. We have to change society's tolerance to this unacceptable behaviour and the fight-back will be sown in these grassroots partnerships.

"Their success will be helped by the range of community powers available to them through new Government legislation and I shall be mentoring them and encouraging them throughout."

The ten areas form part of a national network of communities working to tackle binge and underage drinking and anti social behaviour which Baroness Newlove will be supporting, including the ten areas announced in May that are sharing a £1million fund and the 'Newlove Neighbourhoods'.

This network will celebrate and support all the hard work that communities are putting in, allowing them to share ideas and best practice across the country, and together, solve common problems and identify the red tape holding them back.

Notes

1. According to a 2010 Home Office Impact Assessment, alcohol-related crime is estimated to cost £8billion - £13billion a year.

2. On 14 May 2012, Baroness Newlove announced that ten areas would receive funding available to local authorities to spend over a two-year period with each receiving in the region of £45,000 per year.

3. These further ten areas announced today will receive up to £10,000 to spend over one year to spend on discrete projects to test innovative ideas to tackle binge drinking and antisocial behaviour.

4. In her most recent report, Baroness Newlove set out the importance of tackling the damage associated with problem drinking and announced her intention to give up to ten areas in England the money and extra resources for projects to make their neighbourhoods safer and better places to live. The report also highlighted the good practice already out there, such as the community based projects based in East Belfast, Derry, Maidstone, and Newquay that are ‘successfully dealing with problem drinking head on’. More information here.