Plans to send wardens out to combat anti-social behaviour across Newcastle have suffered a setback, with council bosses struggling to recruit people for the jobs.
Newcastle City Council has pledged to send staff out into communities across the city to patrol trouble hotspots, as part of a £1.5m investment. But civic centre officials say they are now trying to make the job “more exciting” for people and offer a higher salary, having been forced to re-advertise for the posts this month.
Coun Lesley Storey, the council’s cabinet member responsible for community safety, told colleagues that she had hoped the wardens would have been in place by now but that the council was relaunching the job offer and “looking at things we can do to make that post more exciting to people”.
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She told the authority’s overview and scrutiny committee: “They were meant to be in place already and I think unfortunately we have not been able to recruit. I think recruitment across the country, across all areas is an issue. It is a concern, I don’t think there is a sector that is not experiencing issues in recruitment or retention and the council is no different.”
The Labour councillor added: “Hopefully those wardens will be in place very soon. They are really key, critical roles. They are the eyes and ears of the community, so I want to see them in post right across the city.”
The warden jobs had been advertised in the summer, but the council went out to advertise for 15 posts again last month – offering a slightly improved annual salary of up to £22,777 and calling for “dynamic, robust individuals, who want to make a difference in the community”. Christine Herriot, the council’s director of operations and regulatory services, added: “We have revisited the role and refreshed the job description to make it more exciting. It has come out a little higher rate, which will make it more attractive.”
The warden scheme to crackdown on anti-social behaviour was announced as part of the local authority’s Better Lives, Safer Communities programme. That also included plans for the Neighbourhood and City Centre Task Force, which operates on Friday and Saturday evenings alongside Northumbria Police and NE1, to be deployed across the city in the dark winter months and investment in youth activities.
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