Chester has been chosen as one of three areas in England for a new scheme to fight crime in the community.
Chester has been chosen as one of three areas in England for a new scheme to fight crime in the community.
Norwich Union, the UK’s largest general insurer, has teamed up with Crime Concern to launch the Norwich Union Neighbourhood Apprenticeship Scheme on the Blacon Estate in Chester, which will focus on training and coaching local people to work with fellow residents to fight crime.
The scheme recognises that one of the greatest resources in the fight against crime is the people who make up the community. The community apprentice will energise and develop this human capital.
An apprentice will be appointed in three areas: the Blacon Estate in Chester, the Northfield Estate in Birmingham, and Hackney, East London.
They will work under the supervision and guidance of experienced Crime Concern managers already working with communities to tackle crime across the country.
Chester’s Blacon Estate has 5,000 households, with a population of approximately 14,500 people and community safety has been identified as the number one priority facing the estate.
Recent research by Norwich Union shows that while there has been a drop in community spirit across the UK, the figures are worse in areas of social housing.
People living in social housing are twice as likely to become victims of crime*, and Norwich Union’s ‘Community Crime’ study reveals that residents in these areas also had a much greater fear for their personal safety and their property.
The study of 1,000 households and more than 350 council tenants nationwide reveals one in three of council tenants have been a victim of crime - and on average they’ve suffered at least twice.
The apprenticeship position on the Blacon Estate will be advertised in January, with the successful applicant starting in April.
Jill Willis, market development manager for Norwich Union Insurance, said: “As the UK's largest household insurance company we want to understand what’s really underneath the crime figures, particularly in areas of social housing where the levels of crime are twice the national average.
“Our research shows that fear of crime far outweighs actual reported figures, with more than two thirds of people living on council estates worrying about their personal safety and that of their property.
"By funding apprenticeship schemes like the one on the Blacon Estate, we hope to achieve a better understanding of what works best at a grass roots level, in the hope that we can build on and develop schemes like this in the future."
Paul Boylan, the new Blacon Neighbourhood Manager, added: “We believe that action is needed to empower communities to help in the fight to reduce crime, and the Norwich Union Neighbourhood Apprenticeship Scheme will allow us to target the areas most in need.”
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Media contact:
Jane Wheeler/Matt Buchanan at QBO on 020 7379 0304 or
Jenny Chapman at Norwich Union on 08703 66 68 64 / 07775 822 642.
Notes to editors:
- Norwich Union commissioned Connect Research to interview 366 council tenants in London and the South East, West Midlands and Scotland, in June 2002. Sample included English speaking tenants and non-English speaking Asian tenants.
- Norwich Union also commissioned ICM Research Limited to interview 1,000 households across the country about crime and home security in June 2002.
- Norwich Union is the UK’s largest insurer. In general insurance it is more than 1.5 times the size of its nearest competitor, and has a 19 per cent share of the market.
- It has a focus on insurance for individuals and small businesses. It insures:
- one in five households
- one in five motor vehicles
- more than 700,000 businesses
- Norwich Union products are available through a variety of distribution channels including brokers, corporate partners such as banks and building societies and Norwich Union Direct.
- Norwich Union’s news releases are available on the Aviva plc website at www.aviva.com
- A selection of images is available from the Norwich Union Newscast site at www.newscast.co.uk
- An ISDN facility is available for studio quality interviews. Call the press office on 08703 66 68 68
- Crime Concern is a national crime reduction organisation which works with national and local agencies to create safer communities. It manages national programmes and over 60 local projects, as well as evaluated work on neighbourhood safety and tackling problems of burglary, domestic violence, vehicle crime, hate crime, passenger safety and business crime.
* Crime Concern statistic