Why was a Community Safety Forum destroyed despite over 1000 members of the community objecting to the decision?
![]() |
Children watch anti Social behaviour in Galliagh 2013 |
Over the past few weeks I
have been following threads on social media relating to the
dissolution of a safety forum in my area. Some members of the
now defunct Outer North Community Safety forum feel that that this
forum was arbitrarily removed. This assertion alone was enough to
spark my curiosity.
The Outer North Community
Safety Team was established in December 2009 in line with
recommendations arising from the 'Community Safety positional paper'
(Holywell consultancy 2009).
![]() |
Community Safety Team Structure |
The Outer North Community
Safety Team was to comprise of representatives from organisations
already tasked with dealing with community safety issues and was tied
into District Policing Partnership community sub-groups.
These sub-groups were
dissolved in Oct 2010 with specific people then being invited onto
the newly established Community Safety Forums. One of these was to be in
the Outer North area of the city, covering Galliagh, Culmore and the
greater Shantallow area. The work of this forum was to feed into the
work of the Outer North Community Safety Team.
![]() |
Outer North Minutes |
The
majority of these forums are within Neighbourhood Renewal Areas and
are now operating across most areas of Derry City. Through these
forums the agencies involved are supposed to be held accountable for
delivery of community safety and crime reduction within the specified
neighbourhoods
Online
I discovered in Derry
City Council
City Secretary and Solicitor’s Department Annual service Plan and
performance report 2012/13. That 'the
tasking calendar agreed through the Outer North Community Safety
Forum has been hailed
as best practice in community engagement/safety and the Community
Safety Manager with members of the forum have presented this template
to senior officials at the Department of Justice.'
So
here we have something cited as a model of best practice by Derry
City Council and presented to the Department of Justice on the same
basis, yet for some reason it has been disbanded, with other
forums still operating across the city.
I made contact with someone who
had been a member of the Outer North Community Safety Forum asking
why such a valuable resource and model of best practice in community
engagement/safety had been dissolved?
The person I spoke to said that
there was no viable or rational reason for the forum to be dissolved. And despite differences between many of those engaged in the
forum that the community was being served well and problematic issues
were being addressed from a community level.
I asked specifically what
reasons had been given and by whom for the destruction of this forum,
his reply surprised me, 'you wouldn't believe me if I told you, so
I'll show you'.
A few days ago I received a number of documents. The first of these
documents was dated July 27th 2012 this was when members
of the Outer North community safety forum received the following
correspondence....
'Following recent
reports of discontent within the Outer North Community safety forum,
and given that local residents are contacting members of the Outer
North Community Safety team directly the 'team' no longer see merit
in the 'forum' continuing in it's current format.'
Members were then advised to contact two community workers for
further information.
![]() |
The explanation to forum members |
![]() |
CRJ Chair the Community Safety Team meetings. |
When I questioned who on the
Community Safety Team received these alleged complaints from
residents and what was the nature of the discontent within the
forum? I was told 'your guess is as good as mine'. As a response
to the closing of the community forum, community activists had
gathered 1000+ signatures from the community asking for an
explanation as to why the forum had been taken away, yet still no credible reason has been provided.
Considering the community
support for the forums retention I asked did he contact the members of the team
directly and did they give a reason for their decision?

In her response SDLP Councillor Angela Dobbins vowed to seek answers on the dissolution of the Outer North Community Safety Forum and claimed that the SDLP were not represented on the
Outer North Community Safety Team.
Councillor
Dobbins then vowed to ask the following questions “Why
all members of the forum were not informed of this intention to
discontinue prior to the team meeting?” Why the team “no longer
see merit in the forum continuing? What reports of discontent were
raised and by who?” And “ Who attended the meeting?” Councillor
Dobbins also stated that the Outer
North Community safety forum 'should not have been
dismissed so lightly' and that she would be interested in 'continuing
with it's work.' Councillor Dobbins went further to question was a
quorum attained, where all members of the team notified and why the
meeting to discuss this took place during the annual holiday?
What is extremely strange
is that the SDLP who hold the majority seats in council for this area
were not involved in the Outer North Community Safety team at that
time. And since joining the Outer North Community Safety Team
Councillor Dobbins has still to provide answers to the questions she
vowed to ask? (Although she did release a statement about the dangers
of hair straighteners)


In
responses from both the Western Education and Library Board and the
Western Health and Social care trust both agencies claim they were
NOT represented on the Outer North Community Safety Team.
As a Galliagh resident I
am disgusted at the self appointed community quangos making decisions
on our behalf without either consultation or engagement. As a
community we need to start asking what mechanisms are in place to
hold these groups to account.
In light of this fiasco there are serious questions that need answered.
What
methods were used to publicise the existence of the safety forum to
the wider community?
What
statistics exist to support the claim that the community was not
using the forum but contacting team members directly?
Which agencies took part
in the decision to dissolve the Outer North Community Safety forum in
2012?
Can
I obtain the minutes of the meeting were this decision was taken to
dissolve the Outer North Community Safety forum ?
Was the community
informed of this decision?
Since
2012 has the Outer North Community Safety forum been established in another format?
If so when?
Was the community informed of this?
If another forum has been
established then can I have the minutes of the 'set up' meeting?
Who are the members of the forum and what is the criteria for membership?
On what basis did the Community Safety Team feel it acceptable to ignore the signatures of
over 1000 people on a petition asking for the team to explain it's
actions?