Slough’s most recent Community Networking Forum brought together over 50 attendees for an insightful and inspiring Community Safety Workshop, reinforcing the power of collaboration between statutory services and the voluntary sector.

Becs Curley, Community Safety Lead for Serious Violence and Exploitation reflected on the event: “This has been a great opportunity to explain the work around community safety and how we can all work together to find solutions. It’s not always as simple as people think and we want to make sure that our actions are sustainable.”

The workshop focused on safeguarding young people — not just from external risks, but also from the internal struggles they face, such as poor mental health, isolation, and vulnerability to crime. A key message emerged: community safety is everyone’s responsibility, and it’s only through shared effort that real change can be made.

The voluntary sector’s role was highlighted as crucial in this effort. With deep roots in local communities, voluntary organisations are often the first to hear the thoughts, fears, and hopes of residents. This insight allows them to be powerful conduits of information to those who can effect real policy and service changes.

Inspiring Projects Making a Difference

The forum featured a range of innovative community safety projects:

• SWIPE TV Police Cadets, launched in 2011, continue to engage young people in Slough, creating positive relationships with law enforcement.

• Romaan from TAO presented the Hospital Navigators Project, in partnership with Public Health and NHS Frimley Health. The project supports young people referred from A&E, most often due to poor mental health or involvement in violence (such as knife crime). Through one-to-one work and referrals to girls’ groups or mentoring schemes, young people like “Max” and “Isla” are being helped onto more positive paths. This vital project has secured funding for another three years.

Romaan’s message was simple but powerful: “Young people just want someone who cares.”

• Becs Curley from Slough Borough Council (SBC), alongside Betty Axtel, led a Myth-Busting Quiz on community safety, and David, the Emergency Planning Officer, highlighted how communities often respond before blue light services arrive in a crisis.

The voluntary sector’s immense capacity to provide support during major incidents was emphasised — from offering mental health support, volunteers, venues, to helping with food, water and logistics. The council reiterated its commitment to supporting the Voluntary Sector, so it can, in turn, continue supporting the wider community.

Street-Level Action and Frontline Relationships

George and Simon from the Street Guardians shared their frontline work with school and college students in Langley. Their aim is simple: be a friendly, trustworthy adult presence, connect the dots between different parts of the community, and help young people feel supported and safe. They’ve had success building relationships with students, shopkeepers, and transport staff — including efforts to address fare dodging through better connections between schools and train stations. They’re now seeking more volunteers to expand this soft-touch, high-impact approach to other areas.

Designing Out Crime – Community Mapping in Action

The workshop concluded with an engaging “Design Out Crime” activity, led by Vinay Vyas of Slough Borough Council. Participants used hotspot mapping to identify places in Slough where they feel unsafe, discussed why, and suggested improvements. Using coloured pens, they shaded maps, built tables of locations and solutions, and explored how elements that make certain areas feel safe — such as good lighting, open sightlines, or well-used community spaces — could be implemented elsewhere.

Suggestions ranged from cutting back shrubs and improving lighting to hosting community events aimed at strengthening social bonds. This kind of participatory design enables SBC to gather real, community-led insights that can shape practical and inclusive safety solutions.