Disadvantaged communities keen to tackle street crime but often feel ignored by official bodies

The report acknowledges that much good work to tackle street crime is already undertaken by a range of statutory and voluntary bodies. Nevertheless, the report suggests that more can be done to create space, all over the UK, to hear and learn from the energy and enterprise of community groups like those featured in the study.

The study focused on the United Estates of Wythenshawe (UEW), a group in south Manchester, which is engaged in tackling street crime by undertaking life-changing work with young people in Benchill, one of the UK’s most deprived wards. The group engaged with the Joseph Rowntree Foundation in a development project which aimed to share their approaches with similar neighbourhoods in the Midlands and North of England.

The UEW group has developed an entrepreneurial approach to getting young people off the streets by providing a number of activities for them. The group provides a gym and a range of popular activities for young people, and the income the group generates enables it to act independently of any grants system.

The dozen or so communities that engaged with this ‘action research’ project had leaders who lived locally and were in sympathy with local cultures. While this may explain their local effectiveness, it can also heighten the suspicion with which they are viewed by outside organisations.

The project concluded with a conference, entitled Street Peace 2007, which underlined a key issue from the research: without strong input from disadvantaged communities themselves, there can be no lasting solution to the problems they face.

Jenny Lynn, a development worker for Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said: “Our report suggests that public bodies could be more creative in how they support community groups who are working to reduce street crime. Facilitated joint meetings, which explore common agendas amongst both groups and ways of sharing risk, would be a good first step.”