Shopsafe co-ordinator is made redundant
West Berkshire Council has announced it is to stop part-funding the police-employed post
A CO-ORDINATOR post for a shop security scheme in Newbury may cease to exist owing to funding shortages.
Sharon Briggs, co-ordinator of the town's Shopsafe organisation, which facilitates communication between the police and local businesses to prevent theft and vandalism, has been made redundant after West Berkshire Council announced that it is to stop part-funding the post. Mrs Briggs is to step down from the role in March.
The council has been paying £5,000 towards the scheme's co-ordinator post, but has now said that pressures on the council budget has forced it to withdraw funding.
Since 2005 the Shopsafe scheme has operated as a partnership between the police, West Berkshire Council and the businesses in town that have signed up to it. It uses a system of two-way radios to allow communication between shops and the police, enabling all parties to keep track of potential problems in the town and build up profiles of repeat offenders who might then be served with exclusion orders.
Thames Valley Police currently employs the Shopsafe co-ordinator, but has said that due to restructuring, they will no longer be able to do so particularly in light of the council's withdrawal of funding.
Speaking on behalf of local shopkeepers, the chairman of the Newbury Retail Association, Brian Burgess, said he was angry at the way in which the council announced cutting its financial support of the scheme.
“I am absolutely disgusted with how West Berkshire Council have dealt with this,” he said. “They seem to have tried to sweep it under the carpet, as they did with problems with CCTV (see related stories link above).
“They have withdrawn their funding and it is probably going to have to be the retailers that will have to foot the bill for a new coordinator.”
West Berkshire Council spokesman Keith Ulyatt said: “This is actually a police post, part-funded by the council.
“The withdrawal of the council's contribution towards the coordination post is being driven by the pressures on the council's own budget which have been well publicised.
“The scheme exists for the benefit of retailers and it has been suggested to them that they may want to look within their own resources if they are anxious that the scheme continues to be coordinated in this way.”
The inspector for the Newbury town centre neighbourhood policing team, Insp Dave Milsom, said he is looking at ways to sustain sustain Shopsafe, possibly by finding alternative sources of funding.
Thames Valley Police spokesman Adam Fisher said: “The Force is currently being restructured and a number of difficult decisions are being made as a result of the current financial climate. “Unfortunately this position will not exist in the new structure.
“The coordinator was informed of the situation on December 8 and she has been offered support in finding redeployment, both within Thames Valley Police and the partnership, and also alternative employment elsewhere.”
The redundancy will not affect the Pubwatch scheme, which facilitates similar communication between pubs and nightclubs, because this is already coordinated by the members themselves.