Hodge Hill Constituency stretches some 4 miles east from Saltley Viaduct to the City’s boundary with Solihull and has a resident population of around 81,900 (1991 Census).

The Local Delivery Group for Hodge Hill district has been operational since February 2005 with representation from the following agencies:

• Community Advocates
• Hodge Hill District Officers
• Housing
• Local Fleet & Waste Management Services
  

West Midlands Fire Service West Midlands Police Youth Offending Services Youth Services An action plan was formulated on the basis of crime and disorder data from police, fire, ambulance and the Health services in the Constituency area. The following priorities were identified: Anti-Social Behaviour Burglary (Domestic Dwelling)

• Environmental Issues
• Young people

Work Carried Out to Date

Anti-Social Behaviour, Hodge Hill is a ‘Together Action Area’ and has worked closely together with the Home Office (now) ‘Respect Unit’ and with the Birmingham Anti-Social Behaviour Unit (BASBU). In the summer of 2005, £60,000 was allocated to Hodge Hill district in response to the anti-social behaviour issues and an Officer was seconded from BASBU to work specifically on district issues. Recently a programme of work has been developed alongside colleagues in the Police and Youth Offending Services to ensure maximum gain from this investment.

Burglary, Hodge Hill Constituency is home to one of the best burglary reduction projects in the city, if not the country. Operating out of Shard End police station Operation Gatewell is a sophisticated project which carefully risk assesses homes after a burglary and carries out a programme of target-hardening to reduce the likelihood of repeat burglary, if needs be on a 24 hour response basis. The project also follows up with local enquiries which provides much better information than is normally possible. Another innovation is addressing the insidious problem of burglars posing as officials and gaining entry into homes, usually preying on older and vulnerable people. Substantial progress has been made in this difficult area. The project staff are also very proactive in raising awareness within the local community and maintaining contacts with service providers to the types of people sought out by burglars, such as shops, the Post Office and the local Chiropodist!

Environment, Hodge Hill has some very challenging areas. A particular problem is that some people put domestic waste outside on days when no rubbish collection is organised. A developing initiative is to site ‘big bins’ where domestic waste can be dumped without cluttering up pavements or encouraging vermin. The bins are emptied on a routine basis. Another issue is that of cars being stolen and set alight. This practice ties up Fire Service workers who may be needed to save lives. Working together with the Environmental Crime unit, local police and district staff are securing wide areas of open land so that cars cannot be driven on to them (to set them alight), which should also have the benefit of stopping noisy mini-motos and other vehicles being driven over the same spaces. A further development is the imposition of a Tow Away Zone in certain streets where scrap dealers leave old cars out which then attract vandalism.

Young People, the Hodge Hill Constituency is actively delivering work to address young people whose behaviour is unacceptable to the wider community and to assist other young people from becoming victims of bullying and violence. The district is unique in having two Youth Intervention projects, one in Shard End and the other in Washwood Heath which work together with schools, Police and Social Services to identify 50 young people from the local area whose behaviour signals a bad future for them and for the community. There are only four such projects in the City - to have two located in the district shows how much work is going on in this difficult area.

The Future of Hodge Hill Local Delivery Group

The key development is the appointment of a full-time Community Safety Co-ordinator, probably in January 2006. The LDG has come a long way in a short time. LDGs in other districts have re-structured to manage their business and it may be that Hodge Hill will reflect that pattern.

Contacts

The Constituency office telephone number is 0121 303  9282.

Geoff Taylor - Community Safety Co-ordinator

Phil Grainger - Constituency Community Safety Manager - 0121 675 1062