Community safety partnership plan

During 2025/26 the Community Safety Partnership (CSP) undertook a variety of projects and initiatives linked to the actions above. Below are more details about some of the initiatives/projects mentioned above and some additional projects which were run during the year to address issues which arose during the year.

Although it is sometimes difficult to measure success rates, the Partnership believes that these projects and their successes have made an impact and has resulted in positive outcomes for local people.

Acquisitive crime including shoplifting, theft and burglary

The Safer Towns Partnership now has 40 members signed up to the scheme and is running in Tonbridge Town Centre, as well as in Kings Hill, Snodland and Wouldham.

During the year we also attended four community events where members of the community can speak to representatives from the Community Safety Partnership about any concerns they have and pick up free crime prevention items. These were held in Tonbridge and Snodland. The photograph shows a representative from the CSP at an event in Tonbridge.

High visibility patrolling by the police continues in hotspot locations including Tonbridge and Snodland.

Anti-Social Behaviour, including Environmental Crime

Anti-social behaviour continues to be a concern for residents. Residents can report anti-social behaviour to the Borough Council and during the year they received 368 complaints, this is compared to 429 the previous year (a decrease of 61 reports). The majority of these related to neighbour disputes.

73 Community Protection Warning letters were issued, with 8 Community Protection Warning Notices issued. The Community Safety Partnership also received four ASB Case Review applications (previously known as the Community Trigger) during the year, with one of these meeting the threshold and a Review Panel held with an action plan developed.

This year Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council funded an Anti-Social Behaviour Enforcement Team. They ran from May to November 2025 and provided high visibility patrols, as well as enforcement against the Public Space Protection Order. During the time they were in place they spoke to over 1,000 members of the public, over 350 businesses and 95 groups of young people.

Feedback from residents has been positive and the comments below are examples of the Team speaking to residents/businesses.

“Ed lives locally and said nothing antisocial happening here, he is satisfied and enjoys living here, he appreciated us being there and mentioned that this should be the case for other streets around here too”.

“We patrolled the recreational ground which had a number of families enjoying themselves. I spoke to a gentleman called Paul who is local, he said he hasn't seen or heard of any incidents, and he is here daily walking his dog. He said it was nice to see us there patrolling”.

“Since my last report I have not had any problems, the children have been leaving our building alone thankfully. I do notice a difference in behaviour when the officers have been around, thank you for your help with the residents’ concerns”.

As part of the PSPO to tackle nuisance vehicles the Borough Council issued 59 Fixed Penalty Notices to those who had been seen causing a problem in a particular location.

The Borough Council were also able to issue warning letters, and the police were able to patrol the area and put a number of dispersal orders in place to prevent the gathering of vehicles.

The Borough Council was also able to use four mobile CCTV cameras to help resolve neighbour disputes and provide evidence to the police. During 2025/26 the cameras were placed in 5 different locations. They will continue to be moved to different locations as required during 2026/27.

To help resolve anti-social behaviour issues the Mediation service (Maidstone Mediation and West Kent Mediation) were able to provide a number of different types of mediation, including neighbour mediation, parent and teen mediation and anger management.

During the year the Mediation service offered neighbour mediation to 20 clients, Parent/teen mediation to 3 clients, and Anger Management to 2 clients.

Exploitation - to include gangs, modern slavery and human trafficking, child sexual exploitation, cuckooing and Prevent

Work to tackle modern slavery and human trafficking continued with the police carrying out a number of operations in various locations across the borough. On those occasions, no issues were identified but the police will continue to gather evidence and act on this where appropriate to ensure that no one is suffering these issues.

Representatives from the Community Safety Unit continue to attend Channel Panels (where individuals who may be at risk of being drawn into extremism are discussed). This year Panel meetings were moved online and continued to meet. During this year there were three referrals discussed at the Channel Panels from Tonbridge & Malling.

During the year Prevent training was held with staff from Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council and other partners attending. 242 people attended.

Safeguarding people at risk of harm – to include domestic abuse, violence against women and girls, stalking, serious violence and fraud and scams

The Community Safety Partnership continued to provide funding for DAVSS to work with medium risk victims of domestic abuse and during the year they were able to receive 445 referrals, an increase from 376 the previous year.

The CSP also continued to support Lookahead (who work with high-risk victims of domestic abuse) and they were able to support over 423 people throughout their IDVA service (compared to 344 the previous year). A number of programmes were run during the year to support survivors including Own My Life courses (on-line and in person) with 106 attendees, as well as Children’s Freedom Programmes with 23 children attending.

The One Stop Drop-In service in Tonbridge continued to run throughout the year. These are now held in-person and although numbers were low, they are gradually starting to increase.

The Community Domestic Abuse Perpetrators Programme (CDAP) also continued to run in Tonbridge and at the end of March 8 men were active in the programme. During the year there were 7 referrals to CDAP from individuals in Tonbridge & Malling.

The Serious and Organised Crime Group continues to meet on a monthly basis, and this brings partners together to share information about individuals likely to be involved in organised/violent crime. A number of operations have taken place, led by the Police, leading to a number of arrests, the seizure of cannabis and disruption to organised crime within the borough.

There is no identified organised crime group within the borough at present, although partners continue to share information to ensure that we can disrupt any new groups that may be identified.

During the year a charity, Restore, Reform, Respect were able to deliver the ‘I didn’t know that’ anti-crime, early intervention schools project to 340 pupils. They visited 8 schools within the Borough, including both primary and secondary schools.

The feedback received from pupils and staff was positive with comments such as:

‘I know now how bad it is to be in a gang’.

‘I found it interesting to know that gangs from London are coming to our area and how harsh prison conditions are’.

‘Bringing a strong sense of realism to County Lines and gang involvement, it was clear that your personal experiences and straight-talking approach resonated with the children, giving them more substantive context to an area that can be abstract to many children. The messages around personal choice, consequence and the value of education came through strongly and had clear impact.’

(Feedback from a local primary school).

‘The children were thoroughly engaged and found your insights and experiences both eye opening and thought provoking. Your presentation not only deepened their understanding of the consequences of crime but also encouraged them to reflect on the importance of making positive choices in their own lives’.

(Feedback from a local primary school).

The Police also held a number of Walk and Talk events during the year, which enabled them to engage with women and get their views.

Protection Against Stalking were also able to run training for partners which was well attended by a variety of organisations.

Cross cutting themes - Prevention, Young people, Substance misuse

The CSP continues to commission The Kenward Trust to engage with young people in the borough around alcohol and substance misuse (and the associated anti-social behaviour linked to these substances).

During the year they were able to visit four different locations and engaged with over 1,537 individuals. The main issues they have seen is cannabis use, and alcohol use and they speak to the young people around the dangers of using these substances.

We will continue to commission their work (subject to confirmation from the Police and Crime Commissioner) during 2026/7.

A number of diversionary activities for young people ran during the year. This year funding was available through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund to provide youth provision within the borough. Salus were able to run this provision and were able to support 415 young people. This was through detached youth work and then summer holiday activities during the school summer holidays.