Crowds flock to community reassurance day

FOOTFALL was boosted at Royston market last week when Market Hill hosted a community reassurance event.

Organised by the North Herts Community Safety Partnership in conjunction with North Herts District Council, the day saw organisations from across the county attend to give residents advice and guidance about how to improve safety in their homes and the neighbourhoods in which they live.

Funding for the event came from a variety of sources, including the Royston First business improvement district company.

Geraint Burnell, Royston’s town centre manager said: “We were pleased to welcome such a variety of support agencies to our market square.

“Royston First assisted with funding the event on the basis of an anticipated benefit to the community and additional footfall for the Wednesday market.”

Royston’s firefighters gave demonstrations on how to safely extinguish chip pan fires, which officers from Royston’s neighbourhood policing team were on hand to mark personal items such as bikes, laptops and mobile phones.

Neighbourhood Sergeant Jon Vine said: “Lots of people took the opportunity to come and meet their local police officers. This was a really good event that brought local services directly to the public.”

Cllr Trisha Cowley, the district council’s portfolio holder for community engagement, said: “People of all ages came along and took part and helped make the event a real success.

“Residents deserve to feel safe and secure in their environment and the community reassurance events offer information on how that can be achieved.”