Operation Rejuvenate ■ Taking pride in Arthurs Hill
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Operation Rejuvenate – Taking pride in Arthurs Hill
A multi-agency clean up of graffiti, vandalism, dumped rubbish and abandoned vehicles swept into action in Arthurs Hill this week as part of a 5 day intensive environmental clean up. The scheme, Operation Rejuvenate, aims to reduce anti-social behaviour and improve community safety by clearing the street of any environmental rubbish.
Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs), neighbourhood wardens, street cleaners, graffiti removal teams and environmental officers all worked together for the blitz. The campaign included: · Fixed Penalty Notices for litter dropping issued · Rubbish removed from streets · Untaxed, dangerous and abandoned vehicles removed · Graffiti cleaned off · A community safety advice drop in centre · PCSOs and neighbourhood wardens patrolling the area.
The high visible presence of police officers and council workers also improved community safety and provided community reassurance. Community Inspector for the area, Mark Warcup said “Operation Rejuvenate was an excellent opportunity for PCSOs and neighbourhood wardens to work together to patrol the area and engage with the local community by identifying real issues that matter to the people who live there. The scheme was a great success and we are keen to roll the project out to other areas.”
Organised by Safe Newcastle, Operation Rejuvenate is the first clean up blitz in Newcastle. The idea behind the scheme is to tackle one neighbourhood at a time by clearing all the vandalism, damage, graffiti, fly-tipping, abandoned vehicles and any other environmental issues which cause decline in the area. Arthurs Hill was identified as an ideal location to pilot the scheme due to the strong relationships with the Police and the neighbourhood wardens in the area. The area was also identified due to the high level of refuse being dumped in the back lanes of the terraced houses and fly-tipping issues.
Jan Garril, Head of Localised Services for Newcastle City Council said “Rubbish, fly-tipping and litter in Arthurs Hill has become a problem. Operation Rejuvenate was implemented to give the area a big clean up but its important that local people help us maintain this by disposing of their rubbish responsibly. As well as being unsightly, graffiti, rubbish and abandoned vehicles stop making people feel safe. We want the people of Arthurs Hill to take pride in their area and help us to look after it.”
Ray Brown, Service Delivery Manager for Neighbourhood Wardens added “The clean up campaign has certainly made a big difference to the area. The area is much tidier now with lots of graffiti gone. The high visible presence of PCSOs and neighbourhood wardens saw levels of anti-social behaviour decrease in Arthurs Hill.”
Bruce Trotter, Community Regeneration Team Manager at Newcastle New Deal for Communities, said: "Our team has been doing a lot of work in Arthur’s Hill, asking residents what they would most like to see improved. They told us that cleaning up the streets, back lanes and the general environment was their highest priority. This kind of action will be very much welcomed by local people."
Over the five days, the 6 Penalty fixed fines for litter were issued and many more warnings given out and prosecution processes started for fly-posting and fly-tipping.
Operation Rejuvenate fits in with Safe Newcastle’s commitment, to make Newcastle a safer place for those who live, visit and work in the city.
