Council launches City Centre Summit
Published: 19 October 2023
The City Centre Summit Group has met for the first time
A new group bringing together partners from across Derby has met to look at how to make the city centre feel safer and more welcoming.
The first City Centre Summit was attended by a range of partners including Derby City Council’s Community Safety and Public Health teams, Derbyshire Constabulary, the Business Crime Reduction Partnership, Business Improvement Districts, Derby Homes’ Homelessness team and the Probation Service. Its aim is to deal with community safety issues which affect the city centre.
Councillor Hardyal Dhindsa, Cabinet Member for Communities and Streetpride, has set up the summit. He said:
One of our pledges when we took over as the new administration in May was to set up a City Centre Task Force. This is all about bringing vibrancy and interest back to our city centre, and making it somewhere people want to visit, live, and have the confidence to invest in. The City Centre Summit is the part of this plan which looks at community safety.
A safe city is a more attractive place to be, and everyone deserves to feel safe here. This new group will streamline some of the work that’s already happening and draw on the strengths of working in partnership, focusing on issues that are happening because of the actions of individuals, or are associated with particular places.
Councillor Nadine Peatfield, Cabinet Member for City Centre, Regeneration, Culture and Tourism, added:
City Centre Task Force plans are coming together at speed, in order to tackle the short term, day to day issues we see on our high street including empty shops, the need to encourage exciting attractions, and safety. It’s great that we have already kicked off with the important task of making sure people feel safe in our city centre, with the rest of the Task Force groups launching very soon.