Kempsey achieves SmartWater Village status
Kempsey has now become a SmartWater Village thanks to the success of a crime prevention initiative.
The SmartWater scheme was first launched in September 2022, where SmartWater kits were distributed to residents of Kempsey and its hamlets, to help protect their valuables.
SmartWater is a way of keeping valuable items safe by marking them with an invisible, water-based liquid. This assigns the item with a unique code, so it can be traced back to the owner, making it easier for them to be returned if stolen.
Since the launch, over 1,600 SmartWater property marking kits have been issued to Kempsey Parish residents through multiple sign-up events and door knocking sessions, supported by Kempsey Parish Council and Kempsey PACT (Partners And Communities Together).
SmartWater Village status is achieved when 80% of homes within a village have signed up to receive SmartWater kits to protect their valuables.
SmartWater signage is now being installed throughout the village and surrounding parish hamlets, in an attempt to discourage organised and opportunistic crime.
Malvern Hills District Council allocated Section 106 funding towards the scheme, it also received additional funding to provide the kits from the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), John Campion, under the 'We Don't Buy Crime' scheme.
The delivery of the project has been a combined partnership from Malvern Hills District Council's Community Safety Team, Kempsey Parish Council, the Community Engagement Team at Platform Housing Group and the Kempsey and Alfrick Safer Neighbourhood Team at West Mercia Police.
Following Kempsey's success, the scheme is now looking to be made available in Severn Stoke, Croome and surrounding hamlets.
Cllr David Harrison, Ward Member for Kempsey, said: "We are really pleased Kempsey is now a SmartWater village, the activities surrounding all the registrations have been really successful, and it is great to see so many residents joining in, and coming together as a community, to help keep our communities safe."
Cllr Chris Waller, Chair of Kempsey Parish Council, said: "The Parish Council has promoted SmartWater for a number of years and fully supported the latest initiative, helping to reach the target registrations in the final days of the project and proposing the locations for the signage. Including our parishioners, it was a great team effort."
PCC John Campion said: "SmartWater is a proven way to deter criminals by making properties safer. I am delighted, thanks to close partnership work with West Mercia Police and councillors from Malvern Hills District Council, that the biggest rollout of SmartWater in West Mercia has taken place in Kempsey. As part of my commitment to reduce crime, I will continue to support initiatives that keep our communities safe."
PC Dee Stanley, from West Mercia Police, said: ''We are delighted Kempsey has achieved We Don't Buy Crime completed status and we encourage surrounding areas to do the same. Thank you to the partners within Malvern Hill District Council for their dedication to the scheme and to the residents of Kempsey.''