Older People's Strategy - Newcastle City Council

83Outcome 4aOlder people will feel safe in their home, their cityand their communitiesIssues and prioritiesAlthough statistics from the Residents Survey show that 83%of people feel safe in Newcastle during the day, only 39% feelsafe after dark, and there is still a relatively high level of fearof crime amongst older people.There are a number of different issues which impact on the safetyof older people – from design of streets and neighbourhoods,sensationalist reports in the media, to bogus callers and scams,anti-social behaviour, fire, falls, and protection from elder abuse.The visible presence of police and neighbourhood wardensin neighbourhoods helps to allay fears.Where we are nowThe Local Development Framework provides for the design ofdevelopments to include natural surveillance of public areas,and pedestrian-friendly streets, which are busier and saferfor everyone.Safe Newcastle is the partnership which is leading on communitysafety issues for the city. The Safe Newcastle Strategy 2005-8 setsout its priorities, many of which relate to the issues of concern toolder people e.g. crime and anti-social behaviour. Safe Newcastleare working towards gathering data about crime relating to olderpeople and to developing interventions to address particularissues (see www.newcastle.gov.uk/core.nsf/a/safenewcastle).