A OPEN letter has been penned by the manager of Newport Business Improvement District highlighting concerns around public safety, crime and antisocial behaviour and street begging in the city centre.

Kevin Ward addressed the letter to the Chief Constable of Gwent Police, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Gwent, the chief executive of Newport City Council, the leader of Newport City Council, and the editor of the South Wales Argus. It says:

Dear Recipients,

I write at the request of the Newport Now Business Improvement District’s Board of Directors, following a Board Meeting last week.

The BID represents more than 400 businesses in the city centre and exists to provide additionality to services provided by the statutory authorities, funded by BID Levy payers.

We are committed to helping improve our city centre for our members and visitors alike via the delivery and/or sponsorship of key events, helping to make the area more secure and welcoming, and using digital technologies and collective procurement to their best effect.

In September last year, the BID Board wrote to the One Newport public services board on behalf of the business community to raise significant concerns about the state of the city centre.

Sadly, we are today sending this open letter to Gwent Police, Newport City Council, the Police and Crime Commissioner, and the local media, to reiterate concerns raised by our members both then and now.

These can broadly be summed up as:

• Crime and anti-social behaviour

• Street begging

• Public safety in the city centre

In general, these were the issues raised in September. We were grateful of the opportunity to address One Newport directly and we are also appreciative of the efforts of Inspector John Davies from Gwent Police in attempting to deal with some of the issues.

However, the BID believes the situation in the city centre has worsened, particularly in the last three months.

The BID is keen to work with all public agencies to make the city centre a more welcoming place for visitors and a safer place for the customers and staff of our members.

There has been considerable media coverage of a recent spate of muggings in the city centre, but we would also contend that anti-social behaviour and crime in general is once again at completely unacceptable levels and progress seems to have stalled in dealing with the issues.

As we stated in September, the BID accepts there have been funding cuts to both the police and the council.

However, it is clear from feedback we are receiving from BID members, both in person and via social media, that many of their staff and customers feel unsafe in the city centre at certain times of the day.

As we raised in September, there are issues with youths congregating and/or riding bicycles in a dangerous manner. This is now a daily torment for some businesses in the city centre.

We are aware there has been an escalation of this anti-social and criminal behaviour.

It may not reflect reality, but the perception of BID members is that little or nothing is being done to solve these issues. Our Ambassadors, who are not law enforcement officers, are having these issues reported to them by businesses and members of the public daily.

We made the BID’s views known regarding street begging at the recent City Council

Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee hearing, at which our Chairman and Manager gave evidence in support of a reworked Public Space Protection Order for the city centre.

We will be launching a city centre-specific fundraising appeal to help the homeless at the end of June in conjunction with the charity The Wallich.

As we stated in September, we would like to see the reinstatement of bollards on key routes into the city centre during times when traffic is supposed to be prohibited.

The BID reiterates its view that this must now be a priority given the security issues raised by several terrorist incidents in the UK and elsewhere, and to increase safety for the night time economy.

It is important for the business community to raise these key issues with the organisations tasked with ensuring the safety of the public in Newport city centre.

However, we do not wish the content of this letter to be negative and we are keen to work with the police and the council to find solutions to the problems we have highlighted.

The BID remains both committed to providing additional services to improve our city centre, and positive about the potential for the area.

Yours sincerely

Kevin Ward

MANAGER

NEWPORT NOW BID