Barnsley Council’s £650,000 town centre safety plan including CCTV, wardens and police hub for night time revellers

A report to the council said that a space within the town centre will be identified, which will become a safe space to report crime to police.

The space will be open between 10pm and 4am on weekends, providing water and a place to charge phones, and will be a way to report any incidents to police.

To pilot the scheme, £25,000 will be set aside by BMBC each year in the next three years.

A council building will also be used to house a CCTV monitoring room with operators, in a bid to crack down on crime, at a cost of £150,000.

The report adds that although there is an ‘extensive’ CCTV network across Barnsley, cameras are monitored by police in Doncaster, who watch all cameras in Rotherham, Barnsley and Doncaster – and due to staffing, may not be actively monitoring cameras in Barnsley.

A further £160,000 will fund two extra town centre wardens on evenings and weekends – peak times for ‘disorder and anti-social behaviour’.

The report adds that the wardens will ‘make the area feel safer’.

The council has also proposed to extend the days that its nightlife marshalls patrol the town centre and taxi rank, managing queues, providing first aid and defusing situations before they escalate.

Other proposals include higher railings on bridges and extra lighting.

The plans will be discussed at the next meeting of Barnsley’s Town Board on May 16.