A Hull garage teaching children about mechanics to offer them a route away from crime has been held up by the Liberal Democrats ‘ national leader in his local elections pitch.
Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said Outkast Panda Crew embodied his party’s ambitions to stop young people falling into crime by funding projects that offer them a way out. He told LDRS during his visit funding such projects was a long term investment to avoid the huge costs of future crime while council budgets are squeezed.
Sir Ed’s visit to Outkast Panda’s Wharram Street garage came as he visited Hull to make his local elections pitch to voters today (Friday, April 5). Outkast Panda is among the projects being funded by Crime Prevention Fund, which was introduced after the Liberal Democrats took power in Hull in May 2022.
READ MORE:
Garage owner Jonathan Cahill said the money was one of many sources of income needed to meet the project’s costs. He added they were working with children at risk of falling into drug dealing and gangs and some had gone on to get motor sport apprenticeships because of their work.
Sir Ed said the project and the fund were giving young people hope and skills for the future while diverting them away from crime. He added it was part of efforts to prevent crime so police time could be freed up and money saved and defended the spending amid concerns about local authority finances.
The Liberal Democrat leader said: “This project is fantastic and the whole idea behind the Liberal Democrat approach to crime prevention is that it saves money in the long run and it puts people’s lives in the right place.
“Preventing crime is the cheapest thing to do, crime is very expensive because of the damage it causes and the costs to the criminal justice system. Projects like this can turn people’s lives around rather than us waiting and having to pick up the pieces.
“This is an extension of Liberal Democrat priorities, the problem I see is the Conservative Government making short term decisions that have bad long term consequences. Projects like this provide huge long term benefits to communities and to society.
“With crime around one in four burglaries were not attended last year and people are left asking why. It’s because there isn’t enough community policing and there’s a shortage of detectives, it can’t be right that in 2024 we don’t have enough detectives.
“I’m really pleased that we’ve got a former police inspector, Bob Morgan, running to be our candidate for Humberside Police and Crime Commissioner this year. If we were actually preventing crime then the police would have more time to focus on things like burglaries, that’s what the Crime Prevention Fund in Hull aims to do.
“At the same time as all this the Conservatives have massively cut funding for local authorities. Families and businesses have seen inflation go through the roof but the Government hasn’t been supporting them properly and that’s put more pressure on councils and council tax payers because the Government isn’t stumping up its fair share.
“You’ve got adult social care which makes up the vast bulk of spending for a council like Hull and we’ve got vulnerable elderly people ending up in hospital needlessly because there’s no care worker there to look after them. More broadly, our approach is about putting residents on the front line of decision-making, we’ve seen that with our approach to bus lanes in Hull and the switch back to peak-time only.”
Hull’s Liberal Democrat Leader Cllr Mike Ross said the crime prevention fund was allowing the council to successfully fund projects to help communities. He added the Government only agreeing to extend the cost of living funding for councils, the Household Support Fund, by six months showed they did not take the issue seriously.
Cllr Ross said: “The Crime Prevention Fund is part of our efforts for the council’s activities to be informed by people’s priorities instead of focusing on glitz and glam. Kids say there’s nothing for them to do where they live, this gives them something to do.
“We want to see more of this, there’s lots of organisations doing a great job. We’ve always known that the financial situation was going to be difficult.
“We’ve managed to balance the budget for the last two years but if there’s no change then there will be real financial problems facing councils across the country in the future. It’s a local issue but it’s also a national issue, we need the Government to step in because if councils which provide services to people fold then they’ll be the ones picking up the pieces.”
