POLICE, FIRE AND CRIME PANEL REPORT
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Meeting Date |
7th July 2025 |
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Report Title |
Neighbourhood Policing |
Information should be accessible for all. If you require this information in a different language or format, please contact the Police, Fire and Crime Team at info@northyorkshire-pfcc.gov.uk.
Purpose of this Report
The purpose of this report is to provide an update on last year’s report and outline the changes to Neighbourhood Policing across York and North Yorkshire.
Background
Neighbourhood policing is the bedrock of North Yorkshire Police, and spearheads the delivery of community engagement, evidence- based problem solving, and targeted activity. It deters criminals, prevents anti-social behaviour and helps the community feel safe and connected to the police.
The Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee (NPG)
In April 2025 the Government announced details of their promise which was laid out in its election manifesto, to introduce the policing guarantee. The details set out:
· that every neighbourhood in England and Wales will have dedicated teams, with guaranteed police patrols in town centres and other hotspot areas at peak times such as Friday and Saturday nights.
· communities will also have named, contactable officers to tackle the issues facing their communities.
· That there will be a dedicated antisocial behaviour lead in every force, working with residents and businesses to develop tailored action plans to tackle antisocial behaviour.
The Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee provides a boost of over £200 million[1], with 13,000 more officers will be put on the streets of the UK by 2029, an increase of over 50%[2] according to the government announcement.
The early focus of the plan will be to establish named local officers, target town centre crime and build back neighbourhood policing.
Police.UK data shows there have been 14,021 recorded instances of Anti-Social Behaviour across York and North Yorkshire in the past year (May 2024 to April 2025)[3]. Almost 34% of the total ASB occurred in York.
For NY, the NPG means Neighbourhood Policing is set for a major uplift, which will see that 32 new Police Constables and 20 new Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) to be recruited thanks to a £1,946,579 million investment secured will be recruited into NYP [4].
As part of the NPG, College of Policing will be delivering dedicated training for officers and staff in neighbourhood policing teams across England and Wales.
The Neighbourhood Policing Pathway is currently being piloted in eleven forces and covers issues specific to the role of being a neighbourhood police officer or PCSO.
Local Context
In the chief constables 2025 Force Management Statement, Neighbourhood Policing was prominent in it stating it is the bedrock of NYP, and spearheads the delivery of community engagement, evidence- based problem solving, and targeted activity. Over the course of the past nine months, they have undertaken a comprehensive review of our neighbourhood delivery, including a community consultation which had over 4,000 responses. We have developed a business case that sets a clear direction for the delivery of our offer, to support delivery of the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee. The review has defined the tasks the public want our Neighbourhood Teams to undertake and the demand they must meet. We have delivered an evidence-based scientific approach to the number of staff and officers that comprised those teams. We have also refreshed our demand profile for Response Policing and implemented a clear abstraction policy.
Response to the NPG
In May 2025, the PFCD Online Public Meeting (OPM) focussed on Neighbourhood Policing and the government uplift.
The recording of the meeting is here: 15 May – OPM Neighbourhood Policing - YouTube
The slides for the meeting are here: 15 May - OPM Neighbourhood Policing Presentation
Along with this plan NYP have fully updated the NPT section on their website. The tab, ‘Your Area’ Your area | North Yorkshire Police directs users to essential information for their local neighbourhood. There were 11 neighbourhood policing teams each led by an inspector and as a result of the review, and since March 2025, these have been broken down into 38 areas allowing members of the public to find more focussed priorities and information for their community. These areas can be found in Annex 1.
Once users have identified their
area the page links to the relevant ward area and includes an
online contact form, stations and offices information, crimes and
priorities for your area and ‘on the team’. This team
area identifies all officers, PCSOs, inspectors and sergeants in
your local area, with photos of officers the public can feel more
connected to their neighbourhood team.
NYP showed the geographic deployment of new formation relating to Neighbourhood Policing Teams in the last OPM.
Neighbourhood Policing Review
In June 2024, NYP undertook a comprehensive review of neighbourhood policing delivery, including a community consultation which had 5500 responses received. Aiming to understand demand, current role of neighbourhood teams, what the public wants and how to deliver that service. This included public and stakeholder surveys, focus groups and a time and motion survey.
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This review, alongside the key performance framework and ward harm index, built a strong understanding of what NYP neighbourhood teams need to deliver. The graph below shows the highest priorities for neighbourhood policing being identified as High-visibility and proactive patrols, making arrests and tacking OCGs.
“At its best, neighbourhood policing is not something that is done to communities, it is done with communities” – Chief Constable Tim Forber
Clear, Hold, Build (CHB)
CHB is an innovative framework,
developed by the Home Office, to help police forces tackle serious
and organised crime. It reclaims and rebuilds neighbourhoods
affected by organised crime, makes areas safer and increases public
confidence in the police and partner agencies. It’s a system
of tackling crime in communities through disrupting criminality,
stabilising the area and building community resilience[5].
The first Clear, Hold, Build projects in North Yorkshire were
launched in March 2024 in Clifton- York and Barrowcliff -
Scarborough.
Before Clear-Hold-Build, March 23 – Feb 24, there was an average of 93.6 crimes per month in Clifton, since the initiative started, this has reduced to an average of 82.3 crimes per month, April 24- March 25 according to NYP.
The aim of CHB is to empower the community’s own voice to galvanise local capabilities to ‘claim back’ communities blighted by these gangs and build longer-term resilience and confidence to tackle future threats. The CHB initiatives are governed through the Local District Tasking and Coordination Group meetings.
Project Deployment
Project Deployment[6] is a Home Office funded ‘Hotspot Response’ policing initiative[7]. The additional funding has enabled NYP to boost patrols, with the proactive approach delivering positive results:
· 45 ASB hotspots were identified across North Yorkshire
· There was a 13.17%* overall ASB reduction across the ASB hotspots
· There were 6628 additional hours of high visibility police patrols
· A total of 14337 extra patrols
Some of the hotspot areas with the most significant reductions * in reported incidents were:
· York Ethel Ward, Haxby area – 76.92% reduction
· York: Foxwood Lane, Acomb area – 61.9% reduction
· Scarborough: Trafalgar Square area – 60.66% reduction
· Malton: Sycamore Avenue, Malton – 59.26% reduction
· Harrogate, Skipton Road - 50% reduction
· Thirsk, Market Place - 50% reduction
* % crime figures calculated from comparison data taken between 01 January – 31 December 2023 and 01 January – 31 December 2024
NYP have not seen displacement of ASB alongside these specific reductions, with North Yorkshire overall having a reduction. Further funding has been secured for 2025/26, and renewed analysis of anti-social behaviour is identifying the next hotspot areas.
Safer Streets - Summer Initiative
This summer, a specific focus, within the NPG, of tackling ASB, retail crime and street crime (namely personal robbery and theft from the person offences) in town centres and high streets areas that are often key to public confidence, economic activity, and perceptions of fairness and safety.
The Safer Streets Summer initiative will run from 30 June to the end of September 2025. The primary goal is to prevent crime and disorder and increase meaningful and visible consequences for the minority who feel it is acceptable to cause this scourge on society.
In this initiative monitoring will use existing national data, and supplementary local reporting to monitor how activity done by NYP, has impacted ASB and retail crime. This delivery plan is set out with the suggestion actions, and with data returned to the Home Office at regular intervals between the set dates.
Safer Streets – Rural Crime
The financial impact of crime in North Yorkshire’s rural communities has fallen by more than a fifth with new figures from a NFU Mutual national survey [8]shows the ‘cost’ of rural crime in Y&NY in 2024 was £1,476,000 which is almost half a million pounds less than in 2023, when the cost of rural crime was £1,910,000.
The fall in the North Yorkshire Police area – 22.7% – is even greater than the national average fall of 16.5%[9].
Nationally, the cost of agricultural vehicle theft, quad bike theft, and GPS theft are all down. NYP’s Rural Task Force have been using forensic marking technology to protect such property.
Since 2024, officers have been distributing thousands of SelectaDNA kits, which are used to mark vehicles and equipment with an invisible solution. When analysed, it reveals a unique code that irrefutably links property with its rightful owner. Signs warning about the presence of SelectaDNA are posted prominently in farmyards and on agricultural buildings – so the system not only helps police recover stolen property, but it also deters criminals in the first place.
Officers have also been working with the National Rural Crime Unit to tackle the theft of agricultural GPS equipment – expensive devices often targeted by organised crime groups.
And NYP’s Neighbourhood Policing Teams have continued their work in the heart of local communities, offering security advice, passing on crime trends and alerts, and conducting high-visibility patrols.
Retail Crime
Activity
in towns and cities throughout Y&NY areas includes proactive
visits to shops, supermarkets and out-of-town retail centres;
drop-in sessions encouraging members of the public to sign up to
North Yorkshire Community Messaging; and extra high-visibility
patrols in busy shopping areas to deter criminals and provide
reassurance.
Officers are actively promoting NYP’s new digital evidence management system. Since its launch in July of this year, more than 460 accounts have signed up to the force’s NICE Investigate portal – of which 220 are local businesses. On top of that, many large national companies are also already members.
In April 2025, NYP also hosted their Retail Crime Symposium. The symposium was attended by the Chief Constable and several senior police officers, the Mayor and Deputy Mayor of York and NY, together with representatives from retailers and the security industry. This was to demonstrate the challenges facing the police in tackling retail crime and some of the initiatives now underway designed to meet those challenges head on.
Police, Fire and Crime Directorate (PFCD) Activity
The PFCD have supported the Rural Task Force with their work in funding the project in providing the SelectaDNA kits. We are also working closely with NYP to support their work on the Safer Summer initiative, by leading on the project and providing analyst support.
Assurance Framework
The PFCD will continue to utilise the Assurance Framework Assurance Framework to support the effective monitoring of activity (For example, the delivery of Neighbourhood Policing) by providing a structured and transparent approach to oversight across policing, fire and crime services. The framework, alongside the Mayor’s Plans establishes clear standards, performance indicators and accountability mechanisms that enable the Mayor/DMPFC to assess how well services are delivering against their objectives. Through regular scrutiny the framework ensures that services are aligned with public expectations, statutory duties, and budgetary constraints. This enables the Mayor/DMPFC to hold services to account, identify areas for improvement and drive effective, efficient, and responsive public service delivery.
Annex 1: Neighbourhood Policing Areas
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Previous Neighbourhood Areas |
Current Neighbourhood Areas |
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Craven |
Craven |
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Crosshills |
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Grassington |
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Ingleton |
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Settle |
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Skipton |
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Filey and Eastfield |
Eastfield and Filey |
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Hambleton |
Bedale |
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Easingwold |
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Hambleton |
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Stokesley |
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Thirsk |
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Harrogate Outer |
Boroughbridge |
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Knaresborough Rural |
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Knaresborough Town |
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Pateley Bridge |
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Ripon |
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Ripon Rural |
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Harrogate Town |
Harrogate North |
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Harrogate South |
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Harrogate Town Centre |
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Richmondshire |
Catterick |
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Leyburn |
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Richmond |
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Ryedale and Whitby |
Ryedale |
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Whitby |
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Scarborough |
Scarborough North |
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Scarborough South |
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Scarborough Town |
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Selby |
Osgoldcross |
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Selby South |
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Selby North |
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Sherburn and Tadcaster |
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York Inner |
York Inner |
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York Outer |
York Outer (East) |
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York Outer (North) |
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York Outer (West) |
Appendices:
North Yorkshire Police Briefing on Neighbourhood Policing.