Skipton BID is committed to working towards Skipton being a safe and welcoming town.
In 2021 CCTV cameras returned to the High Street with the aim to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour in the town.
The system is a joint initiative between Skipton Business Improvement District (BID), Skipton Town Council, North Yorkshire Council and the government funded Heritage Action Zone. The cameras monitor the central area of the town including Coach Street, the High Street, Swadford Street and Newmarket Street. The system is monitored by a professional company and Skipton BID and North Yorkshire Police have access to the system and are able to request footage.
There have been approximately 50 requests for footage since the end of 2021 and they are widely used to provide evidence including for a number of incidents recently including theft and anti-social behaviour.
The CCTV system operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Skipton BID also offers levy paying businesses access to the DISC portal which is an innovative way for businesses to send urgent, important messages instantly to each other’s smartphones by Push Notifications. The app allows GDPR compliant instant messaging between businesses and the police, which allows them to share messages and images of suspicious people to all members. It is a key tool for sharing urgent information which other businesses need to be aware of, so if there is an incident all businesses can be instantly made aware.
Businesses also receive information on offenders active in and around the area, alerts on live incidents, community news and local intelligence in relation to organised traveling offenders posing a threat to our area.
Inspector Julie Earnshaw said, “This is a fantastic tool for crime prevention and crime detection, and I would urge all businesses to come on board with the DISC portal to stay connected to the rest of the town to help each other. Local businesses are the first step in stopping the crime and keeping our town safe and a place people want to visit”.
Sarah Howsen, Skipton BID Manager said “We want to assist in the prevention of crime and anti-social behaviour in the town centre happening all together, if incidents do occur, we offer the businesses a series of solutions to assist in providing evidence to capture the offenders. By all the businesses working together we can get the message out, do not come to Skipton for criminal activities, you will be caught”.
Businesses have also been trained in First Aid to so anyone living or visiting the town can be confident if medical assistance is required a number of businesses have fully trained staff members until the emergency services arrive. Skipton now has a number of defibrillators in the town centre and have already been used to save people’s lives, to support this, next month Skipton BID in partnership with Tyro Training will be offering CPR and Defibrillator training to levy paying businesses. The course will give individuals the confidence to know what to do in an emergency.
Skipton BID will continue to invest in a safer Skipton and have also supported other initiatives such as Street Wardens at Christmas to patrol the streets on the busy weekends to reduce anti-social behaviour and support the night time economy businesses with the STAND (Stopping Trouble and Night-time disorder) initiative.
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