Aimed at exploring ways of making Borehamwood and Elstree an even better place to live, Hertsmere’s Community Safety Partnership (CSP) held its first ‘Making a Difference Together’ evening at Civic Offices last Thursday (22 September)
Attended by 75 local people, the innovative and interactive event encouraged participants to focus on the positives of living and working in the area and to put forward suggestions about how everyone can work together to tackle issues.
Residents were also able to meet informally with those who are working within their communities to make the area safer, such as Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) and council staff.
Valerie Kane, Hertsmere’s Community Safety Manager, commented: “We were absolutely thrilled with the turn out at the event and with everyone’s active involvement. As a Community Safety Partnership, we work hard to find long term solutions to issues. However, we want to maintain constant dialogue to harness ideas about how to make the area better. The event provided us with the ideal opportunity to do that, in a very positive way.
“There were lively discussions about what’s working well already in the area, what changes people would like to see made and what steps would need to be taken either by themselves as residents or by us as service providers to make those changes.
“We’ll look at all the feedback and ideas from the event and hope to have a follow-up event in due course to report back on progress.”
The evening included a short scenario, ‘Where the Hert is’, acted out by theatre group, Arc. Presenting a typical tale of domestic life, the action was repeatedly stopped to enable interaction with the audience showing how, by taking a positive approach to finding answers to problems and seeking support, you can make a difference.
Among the participants’ responses to the question ‘what is great about Borehamwood and Elstree’ were: religious tolerance; diverse community; low crime rate and parks and open spaces.
Listed among the changes that those attending would like to see made were: more involvement in Neighbourhood Watch; more volunteers in the community; more youth groups and road improvements.
The feedback from the event was very positive. Among the comments were:
“It was a very interesting evening. There was very good interaction between residents, officers and councillors.”
“This was a very interesting session ensuring the evening was positive and did not turn into a negative meeting.”
“A really good idea to have this event, bringing the community together.”
Hertsmere’s Community Safety Partnership comprises local organisations, including council staff, the police and the fire service, who work together to reduce crime and disorder to make the borough a safer place to live, work and visit.
