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Whether you work for a local authority, a housing association or a community association, community safety issues like petty street crime, burglary, drug dealing, fly tipping and dog fouling have to be dealt with. There are a number of basic steps that any organisation should apply if safety is to be addressed effectively.

Bring together the key players
Unfortunately resources to tackle community safety issues are limited, and no single agency has overall responsibility.

This makes the need for partnering urgent. So, at the outset, it's essential to get commitment from all key players. These would include, where appropriate, any or all of the following: police, local councillors, council staff and any other agencies involved in the delivery of local services.

Irrespective of the structure adopted, all participating individuals and agencies should have a clear understanding of what the partnership involves and how they can contribute. You may also want to identify a coordinator or lead agency to drive the agenda forward.

Do an audit
The next step in developing a community safety plan is to carry out a community safety audit of the identified area, which could be an estate, a district or a wider urban or rural area.

An audit will provide the basic data on what is already being done and what the residents think should be done. The issues that crop up can range from dogs fouling the pavements and inadequate street lighting to levels of youth crime, burglary, drug dealing, problems with neighbours, noise and unsafe waste disposal.

Use the data wisely
Once the data gathered from the audit has been analysed, you will probably find a number of primary themes emerging against which action needs to be taken. Commonly occurring themes include crime, the fear of crime, burglary, the needs of the elderly and personal security.

An outline plan should then be drafted using the research as a basis, ready for community consultation. The plan will identify the main issues to be addressed.

A provisional programme for how this can be delivered should be agreed by everyone who is involved.

Consultation
A consultation programme may involve public meetings to gain broad community opinion, focus groups and organisational meetings with both the statutory and voluntary sector.

The consultation should try to take account of public expectations, but also ensure that they remain realistic. It's essential that the public understand that it won't be possible to resolve all of the issues overnight but that it will take time.

Produce the plan
Feedback from the consultation should be used to set up the safety plan.

The plan should:

• demonstrate a clear understanding of the problems and needs of a particular locality
  
• allow for the prioritisation of particular issues
  
• cover the responsibilities of the main service providers
  
• have an agreed timescale, perhaps of one to three years.

You could try to secure additional funding from the private or business sector. Community-led initiatives may also be eligible for European Union funding.

Implementation and evaluation
The plan, once endorsed by the public and statutory bodies, should be implemented on an agreed timescale.

It's essential that the implementation of the individual community safety projects and initiatives are monitored and evaluated in order to gauge their effectiveness. This is also a way of developing and sharing best practice with others.