TENS of thousands of pounds have been made available to help keep homeless people and revellers safe on the county’s streets.

Lancashire’s Police and Crime Commissioner had made the £30,000 funding available to support the work of Street Pastors, Street Angels and similar organisations who work hard to make Lancashire’s streets a safe place to be.

The money has been made available for application by the commissioner to support groups of trained volunteers who usually patrol the streets of their community on a Friday and Saturday night, supporting the homeless and other vulnerable people while also offering assistance to night-time revellers and preventing violent incidents getting out of control.

In East Lancashire such groups have been formed in Blackburn, Burnley and Pendle.

Funding is often used by the organisations to help train and equip new volunteers, upskill those who are already volunteering and for resources to help support vulnerable people.

Commissioner Clive Grunshaw said: “I’m pleased to again support the work that organisations such as Street Pastors and Street Angels do across the county.

“We know that 2020 has seen a much changed environment for these groups to work in due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and providing this funding for the next 12 months will help support the vital work they do to help people in need and lessen the impact on our emergency services.

“This funding will help groups support vulnerable people, one of the key priorities in my Police and Crime Plan, making Lancashire a safer place and dealing with incidents before they escalate and require police or paramedics.”

Last year, the commissioner granted £25,000 for the work of Street Pastors and other similar organisations, with £7,000 given to the Blackpool and Fylde Street Angels; £5,000 to Chorley Street Pastors; £3,000 to Lancaster Street Pastors and £10,000 to Preston & South Ribble Street Pastors. No funding was allocated to East Lancashire’s services.

Street Pastors was pioneered in London in 2003 and since then they have trained over 12,000 street and prayer pastors, who are volunteers from local churches who have played an active part in strengthening community life and working for safer streets.

* For more information visit www.lancashire-pcc.gov.uk/grant-funding/other-grants/ Deadline for applications is 9am Monday 14th December 2020.