7 December 2007

An initiative to help reduce the number of deliberate fires and other criminal activities at empty and insecure buildings has been extended to include Aylesbury Vale.

It allows police and fire personnel who attend an incident at an unoccupied building to seek the help of their local council to deal with the problem by using a simple electronic form.

The council will then take responsibility for contacting the owner of the building and, where necessary, order them to sort it out by securing the premises.

It was launched in the Chiltern District of Buckinghamshire in July, and rolled out to South Bucks District and Wycombe District in September. Aylesbury Vale has now gone live, and Milton Keynes Borough will be following shortly.

The scheme is being put together by Steve Baker, who is based at Aylesbury Fire Station. Steve is the recently-appointed arson reduction officer who works jointly with Buckinghamshire, Royal Berkshire and Oxfordshire Fire & Rescue Services and Thames Valley Police.

Steve co-ordinates police and fire service intelligence and information on arson-related crime, highlighting arson hotspots and crime trends and identifying prevention, reduction and enforcement opportunities.

Steve said: "Unoccupied buildings that people are able to get into pose a real threat to communities. They are often a magnet for wrong-doers and become unofficial centres for anti-social behaviour.

"As well as causing damage to the building and concern to the community, this sort of activity can also be a drain on emergency service resources.

"This simple form speeds up the process by which councils can use existing legislation to compel the property owner to rectify the situation."