Trust in police in Peterborough area improves thanks to project
Police said Lincoln Road was chosen for the project based on data that suggested there was a "concentration of organised crime in that area", the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.The council says 700,000 illegal cigarettes have been seized in the area, as well as 20,000 vapes and £115,000 in cash.New drug needle bins were also installed.However, in the report by the council to a scrutiny committee on Thursday, Alliance struggled to make inroads with local groups.
'Limited interest'
There was "limited capacity and interest within community groups to engage with Alliance," the council said, making it "challenging to gain more widespread community involvement".The Home Office said that, nationally, it found "no evidence" the initiative "improved community perceptions" of policing, despite having a "positive impact" on crime.It also conceded that not offering funding alongside the Clear, Hold and Build framework was a "key barrier". Police said the agencies involved in Alliance would continue to look for funding for the project in Millfield, but would not immediately implement it elsewhere in the city as it was an "intense project about longevity and sustainability".Insp Sam Tucker, from Cambridgeshire Police, said: "We can definitely use some of the concepts in there but to use this initiative in its entirety is unlikely."Peterborough City Council have also been trying to create a cafe culture along Lincoln Road through upgrades including widening the pavements, introducing new pedestrian crossings and adding planters and benches.
Follow Peterborough news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Telegraph
7 minutes ago
- Telegraph
British Gas boss warns Miliband against ‘outrageous' energy bill divide
Forcing households with gas boilers to pay higher green taxes than those with heat pumps would be an 'abomination', the boss of British Gas has warned. In a stark warning to Ed Miliband, Chris O'Shea said that removing net zero levies from electricity bills would punish the poor and amount to a 'terrible distortion of the market'. It comes amid reports that the Energy Secretary is considering stripping green levies from electricity in a bid to encourage the adoption of heat pumps. Instead, the costs would be moved on to gas, making a boiler more expensive to run. Mr O'Shea, the chief executive of British Gas owner Centrica, warned Mr Miliband to resist such an 'outrageous' overhaul and instead focus on protecting billpayers from the soaring cost of net zero. 'It's a preposterous idea,' Mr O'Shea told The Telegraph. 'The idea you'd put the levies on gas bills will mean those better-off people with heat pumps will be subsidised by those poorer people with gas boilers. That's nonsense. 'I think those of us with the broadest shoulders should help those of us who have the most need. 'To put them on gas bills would be an abomination, outrageous and a terrible distortion of the market. It would also be unfair because the people [who have] gas boilers the longest will also be those who can least afford to pay higher bills. 'I have heard the argument that it will encourage more people to use electricity. But encouraging people to use subsidised electricity by forcing gas users to pay just doesn't make any sense.' Mr O'Shea said the Government should shift the cost of green levies on to general taxation rather than creating an energy bill divide between households. 'Hostage to fortune' The Climate Change Committee, a Government quango, has urged Mr Miliband to remove the taxes from electricity bills to encourage more people to buy heat pumps and electric cars. However, experts have warned such a move risks increasing the average gas bill by £120 a year. Mr Miliband is considering the reforms as part of a radical rethink on clean power, as he fights to defend Britain's goal of reaching net zero by 2050. An announcement is expected this autumn. Mr O'Shea's plea to protect households with gas boilers came as he warned that Mr Miliband's net zero targets would be challenging. 'I don't think they are a work of fiction, and it's good that we have stretching targets,' he said. 'But even if you were to speak to those who helped to set them, then even they would say it will be difficult. But I don't think it's impossible.' The Centrica boss also cast doubt over Mr Miliband's pledge to cut household energy bills by 2030, supposedly aided by Britain's move to a greener economy. Mr O'Shea said he was sceptical that the Energy Secretary's promise to lower bills by £300 this parliament was 'achievable'. 'The energy transition is not cheap and it is not simple,' said Mr O'Shea. 'If it were, then we would have done it already. He urged the Government to take a more honest approach when it came to net zero. 'What renewables will do is give you more price stability,' he said. 'You will get fewer highs and fewer lows. Home-grown renewables give you more security than imported gas. 'But I wouldn't have made the £300 statement because it makes you a hostage to fortune.' As Britain's second-largest energy supplier behind rival Octopus, Centrica takes an 'agnostic' view when it comes to net zero, according to Mr O'Shea. That means the company is as comfortable building gas-fired power stations as it is investing in heat pumps. However, he said the business has abandoned wind and solar investments in the UK because they do not make enough money. Instead, Centrica is exploring wind investments in Ireland. Mr O'Shea was also critical of Mr Miliband's pledge to ban all new drilling in the North Sea, even though Centrica no longer conducts any exploration activity in the basin. 'I don't agree with the decision,' he said. 'If you take it from an environmental point of view, we import LNG [liquefied natural gas]. 'If you produce gas domestically, then it will have a lower carbon content than the LNG that we import. And the reason is the cost of shipping and the cost of turning the gas into a liquid.' Zonal pricing row By taking a less fiercely aggressive approach on net zero, Mr O'Shea has set himself apart from Greg Jackson, his counterpart at Octopus, who has made a virtue of being a clean-energy champion. This distinction came to the fore in recent months amid the fierce debate over zonal pricing. Unlike British Gas, Mr Jackson was a vocal supporter of plans to divide up the country into different energy pricing zones in an effort to incentivise developers to build wind and solar farms where demand – and prices – are highest. However, the proposals were highly controversial because they would have in practice meant higher bills in the South for electricity than in the North. 'It has been a very divisive debate,' said Mr O'Shea. 'We did not want a postcode lottery.' Mr Miliband recently abandoned the proposal, which British Gas believes was the right decision. Octopus disagrees and claims the Energy Secretary missed a vital opportunity to lower bills by billions of pounds. Mr O'Shea said: 'There was one very, very vocal proponent of it, and I think the benefits were all quite theoretical. 'For a company that purports to put the customer first, I don't know why they would want a system that would be more complex. I think they missed the point. 'I don't know why they went so hard on it and why they were so vicious about the Government's decision. One of their guys made a post on social media saying 'good game, well played'. This is not a game. People are struggling to pay their energy bills. 'I think that a lot of things have become too polarised. And energy is no different.' Rough decisions Now that the battle over zonal pricing is over, Centrica is turning its attention to Rough, the gas storage facility it runs 18 miles off the coast of East Yorkshire. It accounts for about half of the capacity the UK has to store gas. However, Mr O'Shea has warned that Rough risks closure by the end of the year unless ministers agree to help fund the site's redevelopment. 'Rough is going to lose about £100m this year and we can't sustain that,' he said. 'I think we have probably got to see something by the end of this year. 'If we get towards the end of the year and we've got a situation whereby we've got no prospect of making a profit, then we're just throwing good money after bad. It would be like a charitable donation, and that's not our business.' Rather than securing a handout, Centrica has asked ministers for a so-called cap and floor mechanism to help transform the 40-year-old site to store hydrogen as well as natural gas. This would provide a guaranteed minimum revenue level for the project - the floor – as well as limited excessive profits – the cap. Centrica has already stopped filling the facility amid mounting losses. Mr O'Shea said a full closure would involve the loss of hundreds of jobs. As well as impacting the local community, such a move threatens to deal a hammer blow to Britain's energy security, just years after the country recovered from one of its worst-ever energy crises following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Worse still, it also sends the wrong message to our allies in Europe, according to Mr O'Shea. 'If Rough closes, then the UK has just six days of gas storage available, compared to 100 in France, Netherlands and Germany. 'If we get into a crisis and the UK hasn't invested in gas storage, then I am not sure it will flow from the Continent. 'Politically, if you're the prime minister of France or Germany and you look at a country that hasn't invested in gas storage, then I am not sure that will work. There is a need for us to recognise the risk that no one likes a freeloader.'
BBC News
7 minutes ago
- BBC News
Reform UK councillors obstructed by officials, Nigel Farage says
Nigel Farage has accused some council officials of obstructing the work of Reform UK councillors, as he defended the way the party is running local gained control of 10 councils in May's local elections in the party's leader told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme that in some areas Reform councillors were being "hamstrung" by existing has pledged to cut wasteful spending and improve the efficiency of the councils it runs but some of its spending decisions have faced criticism, while opponents say there has been little concrete action to reduce costs. In Warwickshire, opposition parties have criticised Reform UK for planning to hire political assistants at a cost of up to £190,000 a year, saying the money should be spent on front-line services council's interim leader, George Finch, said the move was necessary because council staff have been unable to come up with "imaginative ideas" to resolve key issues. The 19-year-old was put in charge of the council after Reform's previous council leader resigned, citing health over whether this was a good use of taxpayers' money, Farage told the BBC: "At the moment, we're finding that we're very, very hamstrung."We're going into existing administrations, we're facing obstructionism in many places."And Warwickshire is a very, very good example."He added: "It's better to have staff who support the will of the democratically elected councillors than it is to have public sector staff opposing them."Warwickshire County Council has been approached for said that in some areas Reform was "working reasonably well with existing administrations" but in others there was "genuine, deliberate obstructionism". He added that some officials "don't want to show us the books" and where money is being spent. Reform UK's Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) - modelled on the cost-cutting initiative set up by US President Donald Trump and previously led by billionaire Elon Musk - was launched in June. The unit is made up of about 15 unelected volunteers and is run by Zia Yusuf, who quit as party chairman in June, before returning to Reform to head up Doge days says Kent County Council will be the first to be audited but in other areas, such as Staffordshire, the council says it is still waiting for the unit to start the pace of progress, Farage said: "Bear in mind, we're not the Labour Party. We haven't got hundreds of staff."We're a party that's been really active for just over a year. We're growing in size."Yes, we have a Doge team who've not been everywhere yet. But you've seen already, us highlighting examples of extravagant expenditure." Farage was also challenged over spending decisions in Scarborough, where the town council has approved a 600% increase in the Reform mayor's allowance, from £500 to £3,500 a mayor has defended the move, saying the allowance helps to cover his expenses and allows him to carry out his duties said he had "no idea" about the situation in the Reform-run council, adding: "Is he doing it or she doing it as a full-time job? I've no idea.""What we could do is just get multi-millionaires to stand as candidates everywhere and indeed our Doge team are doing the work unpaid," he said."If people have got resources and they do it for free, that's great. I don't know the Scarborough Council situation." Sign up for our Politics Essential newsletter to keep up with the inner workings of Westminster and beyond.
The Guardian
7 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Yvette Cooper to create new offence to cover non-terrorist planning of attacks
A new criminal offence is to be introduced to 'close the gap' between lone, violence-obsessed individuals with no particular ideology and terrorism suspects, the home secretary has said. Yvette Cooper said an offence that would give police the power to apprehend the former long before they acted was needed in the wake of the Southport attack last year. Terrorism suspects can be jailed for life even if their plans are not fully formed. Axel Rudakubana, then 17, stabbed three young girls to death at a summer holiday dance class in July last year and attempted to murder eight other children and two adults who tried to protect them. Cooper told BBC Radio 4's State of Terror series: 'There is a gap in the law around the planning of mass attacks that can be just as serious [as terrorism] in their implications for communities, their impact, the devastation that they can cause and the seriousness of the crime. 'We will tighten legislation so that that is taken as seriously as terrorism.' She said police would get the power to prevent such individuals who did not have a clear ideology, in the same way they can with terrorism suspects. Under section 5 of the Terrorism Act, a person who engages in any conduct in preparation of a terrorist act is guilty of the offence, with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. At the bottom end of the scale, the offence includes engaging in very limited preparation for terrorist activity but there must be a link to an ideological cause. Cooper said: 'We've seen cases of growing numbers of teenagers potentially radicalising themselves online and seeing all kinds of extremist material online in their bedrooms. 'They're seeing a really distorted and warped online world. 'We have to make sure that that the systems can respond while not taking our eye off the ball of the more longstanding ideological threats.' The Prevent anti-terrorism scheme declined to take on Rudakubana's case three times, after teachers raised concerns about him from 2019 to 2021, three years before he committed the atrocity. His first referral was from his teachers after he admitted bringing a knife into school on 10 occasions to 'stab someone', researched massacres of children at US schools and made 'graphic' comments about violence. He later said 'the [2017] terrorist attack on the MEN [Manchester Arena] was a good thing'. While there was concern about his interest in violence, Prevent concluded there was no sign it was driven by a terrorist ideology. A public inquiry into the Southport killings began this month. Its chair, Sir Adrian Fulford, said it would examine the 'wholesale failure' of institutions to prevent 'one of the most egregious crimes in our country's history'. He said he would consider whether courts should be given powers to impose restrictions on individuals known to pose a risk but when there was insufficient evidence to justify an arrest. Earlier this year, David Gauke's independent sentencing review said the introduction of new offences and longer sentences was one of the factors behind the prison overcrowding crisis
