Around £600,000 is to be spent on ‘recovery’ measures following scenes of ‘horrific’ violent disorder in Bolton town centre last summer. On Sunday, August 4, opposing groups provoked each other – separated by a line of police outside Bolton town hall.
Now Bolton council has agreed how £600,000 ‘community recovery funding’ granted by the Ministry for Housing, Communities, & Local Government (MHCLG ) will be spent. It is one of 20 local authorities across the country MHCLG identified to have been ‘significantly affected’ by the public disorder.
Among the interventions the Bolton-based multi-agency recovery coordination group recommended were £90,000 for enhanced CCTV for the town centre, £120,000 to respond to misinformation and disinformation and £100,000 to provide enhanced options to support asylum and refugee placements in temporary accommodation.
During the Bolton disorder, bricks and other missiles were launched at police officers attempting to keep the groups apart.
Several people have been convicted of crimes in connection with the disorder. At one of the court hearings on August 6, District Judge Joanne Hirst said the scenes in the previous week had seen ‘horrific violence’ which included police cars being smashed up.
A Bolton Council report published this week to the cabinet member for stronger communities, said: “The funds will provide immediate action to safeguard people and property, reduce the risk of further disorder in the future, rebuild social trust and promote cohesion between communities.
The scenes on Victoria Square on August 4 (Pic Manchester Evening News)
“The recovery coordination group has worked to understand the impact of the disorder and design a work programme for the use of this funding.”
A full breakdown of how the £600,000 will be spent is below:
Safety & Security (£90,000)
Enhanced CCTV provision for the town centre is being costed.The funding will be used to purchase equipment and undertake all groundworks and installation.
Sentiment Monitoring and Cohesion Reset (£115,000)
The fund will support the reintroduction of sentiment monitoring and tracking within Bolton and the forming of a multi-agency monitoring groupwith the responsibility to assess tensions and instigate appropriate responses as required. This is considered a foundation of any approach to cohesion work.
Bringing in independent and specialist support is considered the best option.Officers have met with sector specialists, Belong Network, (highly regarded organisation recommended by MHCLG working nationally with LAs on cohesion agendas).
Responding to mis/disinformation (£120,000)
Officers attended the youth council to seek views about what interventions young people felt would add value. Addressing issues with mis/disinformation was overwhelmingly supported and the Youth Council expressed willingness to be part of developing the programme.
This funding would implement a programme of interventions delivered within education and youth and communities-based settings that cover interconnected themes of riots, protests, and peace, disinformation/fake news, hate and extremism.
Young People (£50,000)
Funding would deliver 1-to-1 youth mentoring support programmes for thoseat the greatest risk of violence/disorder/criminality. Bespoke to the needs of the young person but can include extremism, gangs and glamourisation, grooming on/offline, conspiracy theories and critical thinking.
Bolton Council would identify a suitable partner to deliver this intervention.
Intracommunity Relations (£100,000)
Funding would support intracommunity relations, for example Great Get Together / Bolton’s Fund / VCFSE / grassroots groups. School linking is an effective initiative, and this would be explored further.
Housing & Migration (£100,000)
Develop interventions to reduce migration pressures that have an impact on cohesion within the borough. Predictions highlight an increase in asylum and refugee placements and there is a risk that this could drive tensions. Funding would be used to provide enhanced options to support those in temporary accommodation.
Hate Crime – (£25,000)
Funding to support the delivery of a local hate crime plan building on the new GM hate crime plan.