Building positive futures in Woking

Officers from the Woking Safer Neighbourhood Team joined partners at Buzz Theatre in Woking on 29 June to mark the successful conclusion of an innovative problem-solving project led by local schoolchildren.

The event celebrated an initiative called ‘Positive Futures’ with the aim to increase trust between police and young people and to empower them to come up with strategies to prevent and deter low-level crime in their communities.

The Woking project was led by eleven students from a diverse background, aged between 11 and 15, and was supported by several of our youth engagement officers. The students, all from Bishop David Brown school, were asked to identify an area that they thought could benefit from some crime prevention techniques.

The students chose the Alpha Road Playing Fields in Maybury as their point of focus, as historically there have been issues with anti-social behaviour, intimidation, drug-use, and littering.

The young people identified some of the main issues that needed addressing as a hole in the fence allowing 24/7 access to the fields, lack of appropriate signage and facilities that did not reflect the needs of the wider community.

Working with local officers and partners, the students came up with some solutions that they thought could make a positive difference to the area. Some of the proposals included:

• New signage that clearly states opening times and the rules of what is and isn’t allowed on the fields
• A dedicated smoking area to minimise littering
• More bins – including cigarette butt bins
• The defensive planting of roses near the fences to stop people breaking through when the fields are meant to be closed

These ideas are pending approval from the relevant stakeholders before they can be implemented.

Youth engagement officers, PC Michelle Carnie and PC Paul Wallman, were intrinsically involved in the project and commented, “This project was run for 11 weeks, and the students involved dedicated two hours a week to learn more about problem solving and to come up with some proposals on how to combat the issues identified. They have shown some real tenacity in their approach, and it was brilliant to work alongside them to build trust and confidence in not only the police, but their own abilities.”

Qasim, one of the students involved in the project said that the cohort felt that ‘the future depends on what we do today’ and ‘we have been given the opportunity and responsibility to act as a trustee for the immediate community of Woking’.

Councillor Ellen Nicholson, Woking Borough Council’s Portfolio Holder for Living Well, said: “Low level crime and anti-social behaviour can significantly impact local communities, so I’m delighted that this unique partnership project has successfully engaged young people in developing solutions to shape positive change in their own communities. Enabling young people to identify such issues and develop their own solutions for a safer community through problem-solving is invaluable. Well done to everyone involved and I hope that the Positive Futures project can be rolled out across Surrey and beyond.”

‘Positive Futures’ is the brainchild of David Huse OBE, the former Chair of National Neighbourhood Watch, and is supported by Surrey Police, University of Surrey – who are conducting academic evaluation of the project, and Woking Borough Council.

The project is due to be rolled out with another cohort of school children in Redhill.