Big blitz on burglaries

funding from its multi-million-pound cash pot. David Knights reports

Braithwaite could get up to £60,000 to slash the high number of burglaries suffered by residents.

More than 100 burglaries a year are carried out on the Keighley council-housing estate and the rate is at least twice the national average. Residents have long complained at the high crime rate.

Keighley police successfully applied for a £7,000 SRB grant this week to carry out detailed research into the house burglary problem. The results, including information gathered from residents, will form part of a bid to the government for a grant of up to £60,000.

Cash will be given to 500 areas across the country for initiatives that will have a 'sustained and significant' impact on the burglary rate.

The police, who have already set up the Braithwaite Partner-ship to help reduce estate problems, will also use computers to help assess the burglary pattern.

The future of a free gardening and decorating service for housebound local people has been secured for the next four years with SRB cash.

The SRB board has given £54,017 towards the running costs of the successful Grassroots Project for elderly and disabled people.

The project will be able to provide its volunteers with valuable work experience as they seek jobs.

Grassroots, which has run for the past seven years, is facing increasing demand from local people for its services.

Coordinator Gary Pedley says many people are not able to cope with gardening or decorating through ill-health, frailty or poverty.

He says: "Many homes have suffered the consequences of neglect over a long period, and have become a major source of stress and anxiety. We can help deter crime by the removal of overgrowth, which acts as a potential hiding place for intruders."

Mr Pedley says many other caring organisations approach Grassroots because their clients are in desperate needs of its services.

Grassroots has found increasing problems attracting long-term funding but can now devote time to securing its future after the year 2004.

More needy Keighley people will be able to buy cheap second-hand furniture and household items thanks to an SRB grant.

The town's long-established Furniture Service has been given £20,000 to set up a new repair and recycling scheme.

The service already passes unwanted household goods to low-income families but at present can only take items in working order or good repair. Volunteers and Community Service offenders will soon be set to work refurbishing and repairing broken items, which currently have to be turned away.

Organiser Ann Sheriff says funding has already been found for a part-time refurbisher/driver but the new grant will pay rent and volunteers' expenses.

She says: "People who are unemployed or on low incomes will benefit from an increased supply of items in much nicer condition.

"People who are unemployed or receiving benefit cannot afford to buy new household items to enable them to take up council or private tenancies. Nor can they afford to replace existing items when they are worn out or break down.

"DSS grants are now very limited."

The SRB grant will enable the existing furniture service to become self-financing and expand to five days a week. It will also improve the job prospects of offenders and volunteers as well as reducing the dumping of furniture.

A pre-school playgroup at St Michael's Community Centre, Bracken Bank, has been saved from closure thanks to SRB cash.

A £12,900 grant will support the group over the next four years and help it expand to serve up to 24 children per session.

The grant will enable the group to ensure continuity of staff and encourage volunteers and parents to attend training courses.

A successful engineering apprenticeship scheme for local teenagers is to continue with a £42,208 grant.

Youngsters from ethnic minorities and girls will be particularly targetted as well as the white males who traditionally enter engineering.

Up to 20 people aged 16 to 24 will join the Engineering Scholarship scheme running for the 12 months from this April.

All youngsters who took part in the first scholarship programme have either found jobs or moved on to the Modern Apprenticeship scheme.

The training aims to address a skills shortage in Keighley's engineering companies by drawing on a nationally-approved programme.

Hi-tech help through the Internet and e-mail will be made available to Keighley job seekers.

Keighley Access to Training has been given £2,000 to set up a system so hundreds of jobless people can search for jobs on the 'information superhighway'.

The North Street agency, which helps about 500 people look for jobs each year, will pay the running costs of the service.

Spokesman Andrew Hall says the Internet and e-mail are rapidly becoming important methods of communication alongside the telephone, newspapers and post.

He says: "Nowhere is this more so than in the area of employment and work, but people of limited means are denied access to this important medium.

"Such a facility will complement our existing job search facilities and provide a convenient and accessible service in the heart of Keighley."

Mr Hall says many job advertisements and job-related material now include references to the Internet and many web sites cater for people wishing to find or change jobs.

EXTRA money will be given to a range of existing SRB-funded organisations including the Citizens Advice Bureau, Keighley Business Forum and Motor Education Project.

The cash comes from "accelerated spend", a pot of SRB money which was originally earmarked for Keighley in future years.

Other SRB schemes around the north of England have underspent in this financial year, leaving the government with spare cash.

It has given some to Keighley early in recognition of the success of its ongoing SRB programme.

The Business Forum has been granted cash for its Waste Minimisation Project and Sklills Challenge.

Central heating will be provided for the KVS Volunteer Centre, the CAB will be given extra funding for building adaptations and the Motor Education Project will be able to buy two extra motorbikes.

The Books for Babies scheme, run by Keighley Library, will spend its extra money on helping parents realise the importance of letting toddlers use books.

Three existing grant schemes for local workers are to be brought together under one banner.

The Training Grants for Employed People will be funded over the next four years with the help of an annual £65,880 SRB grant. A further £67,280 will be provided by businesses for training at a range of levels including management and supervisory.

Keighley and District Training Association (KADTAL), which administers all three grant schemes, decided on amalgamation after talking with local companies.

KADTAL says three years of the Single Regeneration Budget has seen firms make a commitment to the existing workforce by employing more people, introducing new technologies and expanding property.

They have identified training needs and welcomed financial assistance to help pay for such training.

Despite the current economic climate many Keighley firms are still optimistic about the future and see training as crucial in their fight for survival.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.