THERE are just a couple of days left if residents wish to contribute to a Basildon Council survey about the deployment of safety wardens in the borough.

Monday (21 October) is the final day for people to have their say in the borough-wide consultation on the Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) and the deployment of the Community Safety Wardens.

The PSPO has been in place since April 2022, giving Authorised Officers and Community Safety Wardens more powers to tackle anti-social behaviour (ASB) in our parks and town centres. The PSPO prohibits anti-social behaviour concerning alcohol and substance use, urination and defecation, use of motor vehicles, pony and traps, and car cruising.

The Community Safety Wardens provide a visible uniformed presence in our communities six days per week, engaging with the local community and businesses to identify concerns, respond to local issues and report incidents.

The consultation is available online - https://basildoncommunitysafety.commonplace.is/. Alternatively, residents can call the council on 01268 533333 to complete a copy of the survey, where staff will be on-hand to provide support over the phone.

As part of the consultation, local people are invited to anonymously drop a pin on an interactive borough safety map to confirm how safe or unsafe you feel in any location across the borough, and how you feel the location could be improved to increase public safety.

The consultation will form a review of the Public Spaces Protection Order, which will be presented to the Cabinet later in the year. 

Cllr Melissa McGeorge, Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Enforcement said: "We believe in Basildon, and we want to make sure that our town centres, parks and estates are welcoming to everyone who would live, work and visit here. To do that, we need to understand how local people feel about the Public Spaces Protection Order and the deployment of the Community Safety Wardens.

"There is less than one week left for residents to have their voices heard on how safe they feel when out and about, and their experience of anti-social behaviour in the borough. The interactive map will inform us of the exact locations that you feel unsafe and provide information on how Basildon Council can improve these spaces, for example through the installation of CCTV or increased high visibility police patrols.

"We want to hear from as many people as possible to ensure our communities can feel safe wherever they are in our borough."