Farnham Town Audit

“Tackling the Fear of Crime”

The mission statement of the Farnham Community Task Force is “to identify and address community concerns regarding crime and disorder, and to provide solutions”.

Although Farnham is an area of very low crime, the fear of crime is felt to be high, and much of that fear is due to the local environment. A few years ago the Task Force decided to make a visual audit of the town to look for factors that contribute to this fear of crime and disorder. It was decided to cover the whole of the Farnham Town Council area, and so the Task Force sought help from the town’s Residents Associations and Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinators. 87 completed survey forms were received (a response rate of 40%) giving residents’ views and information.

The Task Force had suggested a number of possible factors in the environment which might contribute to the fear of crime and, of these, respondents felt that the areas of greatest concern in Farnham were

·        Litter

·        General untidiness & lack of street cleaning

·        Overgrown & badly maintained paths and verges

·        Illegal, inconsiderate or dangerous parking

·        Vandalism

·        Graffiti

·        Dog fouling

Anti-social behaviour also featured quite highly on the list of concerns, and other problems raised by some respondents included speeding motorists, cycling on pavements, and lack of police presence in local areas and/or poor police response to calls.

The results of the audit were the subject of a presentation made by the Task Force Chairman at a PCPG public meeting held at Farnham Maltings, and details were also sent to Waverley Borough Council. In view of the number of comments made about litter and lack of street cleaning in the town (more than two-thirds of respondents), the Task Force also looked specifically at the street cleaning schedule, as set out in the contract which had just been finalised by Waverley Borough Council, and compared it with the previous version. This showed a significant deterioration in the service being provided to the residents of Farnham, and the Task Force raised this with Waverley Borough Council. The Task Force has continued to press Waverley Borough Council to publish details of its street cleaning schedule more widely so that residents can monitor the contractor’s performance and report any problems that occur.  

Since the Task Force audit

·        graffiti has been tackled vigorously by Farnham Town Council who have organised regular visits by a cleaning company to remove it, and members of the public are able to report graffiti needing attention via the Town Council website

·        the Town Council has been improving the centre of the town and tackling some of the problems associated with overgrown paths and obstructed passage ways

·        the red and yellow card system used by Surrey Police (“Surrey Street Standards”) was introduced in Farnham to tackle anti-social behaviour in the town

·        the Task Force has offered to help provide more CCTV equipment with assistance from the Police and Community Partnership Group

·        following a proposal from the Task Force, strongly supported by Students and Police representatives, providing lighting along the Gostrey Meadow footpath became a Town Council project

·        the Task Force persuaded Waverley Borough Council to install clearer signs at the exit from Central Car Park by the private car park in order to reduce the number of accidents at this point

We hope very much that representatives of local Residents Associations and Neighbourhood Watch will feel able to help once again when the Task Force next repeats the Farnham-wide audit.