Community groups get boost from share out of confiscated cash from criminal activities
Community groups in the Peterborough area are to benefit after courts confiscated more than £40,000 of criminal funds.
Twelve projects will get a boost through vital funding thanks to the re-allocation of criminal funds from Police and Crime Commissioner, Darryl Preston.
Launched in 2025, the Commissioner’s Prevention Fund sees profits recovered from criminal activity rerouted into community projects which help to prevent crimes such as Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) and anti-social behaviour.
Now in its second year, the Commissioner has been able to allocate more than £40,000 across the projects in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.
These include:
- £4,000 to establish two Marine Training Corps at Murrow and Wisbech. The money will fund equipment and pay initial rent costs
- £5,000 to Huntingdonshire District Council to help fund pro-active youth work with Future Scooters at Ramsey skate park
- £2,775 to Fenland District Council for equipment to support and expand the litter picking and clean-up work of ‘Street Pride’ groups across the area and promote this work to youth groups and young people
- £265 to the Fenland Community Safety Partnership as a contribution to the cost of redeploying a CCTV mobile device to target and successfully disrupt a specific anti-social behaviour issue in Wisbech
- £2,685 for graffiti removal equipment to support Fenland District Council clean-up work
- £1,200 for Fenland District Council for monitoring cameras that can be placed in fly-tipping hot spots across the area
- £600 to support the delivery of educational workshops linked to the Knife Angel during its visit to Ely in the summer granted to Cambridgeshire County Council
- £5,000 for Cambridge City Council for targeted outreach work at three schools to engage youngsters who are involved in anti-social behaviour or at risk of exploitation
- £5,000 awarded for enhanced work with people in the St Neots area at risk of being involved with ASB.
Mr Preston said: “Everything we do through this funding is aimed at improving communities and the lives of those who live there.
“By offering small grants, communities can establish much needed facilities and training alongside events which keep our youngsters occupied and away from crime.
“I am pleased to see so many opportunities coming to fruition with the funding we have allocated this year.
"Many of the schemes encourage engagement and support in often hard-to-reach areas and that can only bring good for our communities.”