New Staffordshire Community Safety Champion pledges to make safety a priority

Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Resilience Anthony Screen says that community safety "is key to helping the county prosper.”

The newly appointed Cabinet lead for Community Safety and Resilience for Staffordshire County Council has pledged to put community safety at the top of the county agenda.

Anthony Screen said more needs to be done to make communities feel safe and help them to thrive.

Anthony also raised concerns with Staffordshire’s Police, Fire and Crime Panel that the force was still failing to “get the basics right”  - while still spending more than £20m on a new firearms range in Stafford.

He said:

“Feeling safe in your own home, at work and in the community is what makes people want to live and visit Staffordshire and this is key to helping the county prosper.”

The Peel report, a national inspection of police forces, showed although Staffordshire was improving (2023-2025) three areas were still rated as “requires improvement” – in responding to the public, investigating crime and protecting vulnerable people.

Anthony added:

“These are three fundamental areas of policing and we need to do more to get the basics right in Staffordshire.

“Making sure the police and other partners put community safety at the heart of their agenda will be the key priority in my new role.”