Southend: Warrior Square gets a spring clean from Community Payback team

Warrior Square in Southend got a spring clean thanks to a group doing Community Payback - unpaid work that a court can give offenders who are convicted of crimes but not sent to prison.

A joint initiative from Essex Police, the Probation Service, Southend-on-Sea City Council and Southend’s Business Improvement District (BID) saw a team of 13 working in the sunshine to sweep away debris, clear footpaths and the tidy up the verges in the square, as well as repairing and painting planters in an adjacent road.

The initiative came about after Sergeant Liz Reschwamm of Operation Grip looked at ways of improving the look and feel of high-harm crime hotspots using the ‘broken windows’ theory that visible signs of crime and anti-social behaviour lead to more offending.

Op Grip sees uniformed officers out on daily foot patrols and engaging with the community in areas that analysis shows have a higher probability of a serious violent incident.

This led Sgt Reschwamm to contact the council and then the Probation Service, who have run Community Payback schemes for more than 50 years. They organise projects at schools, churchyards, and football clubs across the county.

Sgt Reschwamm said: “We looked at our hotspots in Southend and thought about how we could make the areas safer and more appealing to the public.

“Following our work with the Southend Safe Space on the High Street, we had feedback that people didn’t feel safe in Warrior Square at night, so it was the perfect place to improve. It’s surrounded by houses and we want the public to use it.”

By bringing together public services and local businesses, Sgt Reschwamm is optimistic the initiative will have a significant impact that could be replicated elsewhere.

She said: “The area is starting to look different already. We’re getting rid of graffiti, the alleyways have been cleared of rubbish and the council are putting up more signage to say the CCTV is being enhanced.

“It was a team effort. We also had support from the council’s community safety officers who came out on patrol, and Popworld opened for us to use as a base. Building relationships with partners is making a real difference, and we’re hoping to extend this work across all our hotspots.”

The Probation Service’s Pippa Garnett is an operations manager for Community Payback in south Essex. She said the benefits of the scheme go beyond improving the look of an area:

“Community Payback was brought in an alternative to prison. It’s rehabilitative, it teaches people new skills, and even helps them get into a routine if they’ve been out of work for some time.

“We work with charitable and not for profit organisations to support the community by doing work that wouldn’t be done otherwise.

“The people working feel appreciated and it builds self-esteem. Even some of our most high-risk cases get invested and involved. There’s a real sense of loyalty when they’re supporting a cause, and they want to do a good job.”

Members of the Southend BID contributed to the clean-up and BID manager Scott Dolling was equally enthusiastic about the project.

He added: “It’s great to see people putting back into the community and into the city centre. This follows on from spring clean work we did last week, so seeing people putting in time, effort and love helps make a difference. As a business community, we’re right behind it.”

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