Government snubs Neighbourhood Watch says MacDougall 21/06/04

Labour should support Neighbourhood Watch says Tory MacDougall

William MacDougall, Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Tottenham, today warned that Government plans to strip support from the National Neighbourhood Watch Association would hinder the fight against crime in Tottenham.

The Home Office has effectively banned the National Neighbourhood Watch Association, a umbrella association of all Neighbourhood Watch groups, from using the Neighbourhood Watch logo in commercial sponsorship. This means that National Neighbourhood Watch may have to close as early as July 2004.

William MacDougall explained:

"By questioning the National Neighbourhood Watch Association's rights to use the Neighbourhood Watch Trademark and announcing that it will not support the NNWA during the next financial year, the Home Office appears intent on bringing about the demise of the Association and assuming control of the neighbourhood watch movement.

"Any moves by the Home Office to take over the role of the National Neighbourhood Watch Association will be resisted by the Conservative Party, which respects the independence of the Neighbourhood Watch movement and its 65,000 schemes up and down the country.

"David Blunkett's tendency to command and control must not be allowed to destroy an organisation which is striving to make our communities safer against a backdrop of rising crime and anti-social behaviour."

ENDS

Notes to editors

a.. According to a briefing note produced by the National Neighbourhood Watch Association (NNWA): 'The NNWA is facing closure. Almost simultaneously, the Home Office has refused to provide vital interim funding whilst at the same time preventing us from signing a significant five year
commercial sponsorship agreement that would allow us to continue our work without public funding. If the Home Office cannot be persuaded to change its position, the NNWA will be forced to close as early as July 2004' (NNWA, Parliamentary Briefing, June 2004).

b.. Neighbourhood Watch is the UK's largest voluntary movement. There are some 165,000 NW schemes in operation, covering approximately 6 million homes and it is the best known and most effective example of the community and police working in partnership to prevent crime and disorder, build safer communities and improve quality of life.

c.. The NNWA is a registered national charity and was formed in 1995 by Neighbourhood Watch Co-ordinators who realised that there was a need for a framework organisation for the thousands of NW schemes operating throughout the UK.

d.. The NNWA's financial crisis stems from the Government's refusal to allow the NNWA to seek commercial sponsorship after the Norwich Union withdrew sponsorship from NNWA in 2002. The NNWA managed to arrange sponsorship deal with a leading High Street Bank which would have left the NNWA self-supporting by July 2005. However, the Home Office have challenged the NNWA's right to use the Neighbourhood Watch logo and have effectively blocked the deal.

ENDS.