A HOME Office-funded initiative that benefitted Ross-on-Wye is to finish at the end of this financial year.

The Safer Streets fund, launched in 2020 with five different rounds, will not be continuing from March this year but has previously tacked a range of public policing priorities including anti-social behaviour, violence against women and girls, and neighbourhood crime across West Mercia.

In Ross, the fund, distributed by West Mercia’s Police and Crime Commissioner aimed to install CCTV and upgrade street lighting in areas of the town.

The funding for the Safer Streets fund amounted to £149,982 was shared with Leominster, where both town councils provided additional funding for their own area to carry out specific CCTV works in conjunction with the overall project.

Ross Town Council’s contribution was £10,500 and the project is scheduled for completion by March 31 this year.

Responding to the Home Office news Commissioner John Campion said: “Over the past five years, the previous government’s Safer Streets programme has delivered projects that have made a real difference across West Mercia.

“Its legacy is a positive one, and it only highlights that decisions made on a local level about how money from central government should be spent, really works.

“I would urge the current government to learn from that success by ensuring commissioners continue to be backed with the resources they need to deliver change for local communities.

“Now is not the time for gimmicks and whilst I understand it’s a decision for the government of the day to rebrand and rebadge, it must clearly set out how its future national plans, support work already taking place.”

A spokesman for the Home Office said: “While the Safer Streets Fund will not be continuing, this Government remains fully committed to reducing harm and restoring public confidence in policing through a comprehensive, whole-system approach.”