District Watch
Canterbury District Watch Ltd operates in partnership with Kent Police and Canterbury City Council to provide a safe and non-threatening environment by reducing crime and disorder, the opportunity for crime, and the fear of crime within Canterbury city centre. It is a membership organisation offering a radio scheme that enables members to contact each other, the local police and the Canterbury City Council CCTV control centre, alerting others of an incident or crime, seeking support to deal with a problem, and passing on information and intelligence.
Members have access to an online portal allowing them to share information, including photographs, about active criminals and suspects operating in the area. They provide assistance in collecting evidence and processing the information leading to Exclusion Notices being issued against individuals, thus banning them from entering specified localities for a specified period.
Canterbury BID are members of District Watch and each of our Ambassadors is equipped with a District Watch Radio. For more information about District Watch click here.
Anti-social Behaviour
The Community Safety Unit (CSU) at Canterbury City Council is gathering evidence regarding anti-social behaviour (ASB) in the City. They are particularly interested in ASB issues relating to street drinking and rough sleepers.
The following document is for you to complete should you, a member of staff and/or business been affected by such issues: ASB Log. Please send the completed paperwork to: csu@canterbury.gov.uk
The evidence provided by you will help the Local Authority put in place measures to curtail that behaviour. If you require further information or advice please contact the Community Safety unit via email: csu@canterbury.gov.uk or call 01227 862122
Security Bollards
A total of 105 automated, manually-retractable and static bollards are in operation around the city centre. This is in response to counter-terrorism police advice on protecting our city from hostile vehicle attacks.
The automated bollards are connected to Canterbury City Council’s CCTV control room via a camera and intercom, allowing strict control over vehicle access to the pedestrian zone.
How can I gain access to the city centre?
Access to the city will only be allowed via the intercom at one of the automated bollards sites. This will apply 24 hours a day. The pedestrian zone is in operation at all times but some restrictions are lifted outside of the core pedestrian zone hours of 10.30am and 4pm.
Between 4pm and 10.30am (outside of the core pedestrian zone hours), those with access include:
- Deliveries to businesses and residents and collection of trade waste
- Blue Badge holders
- Royal Mail vehicles collecting from the post office and letterboxes
- Roadworks and utilities contractors
Those with 24-hour access include:
- Registered residents and businesses with private off-street parking
- Emergency services
- Medical practitioners such as GPs, nurses or midwives
- Main vehicles involved with weddings or funerals in the city centre
- Armoured security vehicles
- People living in the pedestrian zone who have registered as Blue Badge holders.
For further information click here.
Terrorism
The threat of terror attacks must be regarded as ever present, you can check the current threat levels in the terrorism and national emergencies on the GOV.UK website .
You can find more information on what to look out for on the MI5 website and what to do in the event of a terrorist attack on the National Counter Terrorism Security Office website.
If you’ve seen or heard something that could potentially be related to terrorism, trust your instincts and report it. You can do so by calling the police in confidence on 0800 789 321 or reporting it online. In an emergency call 999.
