Keeping our town centres safe

Bury Community Safety Partnership is working together to keep town centres safe.

At its recent meeting, the Partnership visited Kay Gardens within Bury town centre to discuss first hand measures to further increase safety for residents and visitors to tackle:

• Street crime such as snatch theft
• Shop theft
• Antisocial behaviour

Bury is one of the safest and most visited boroughs in Greater Manchester and the community safety partnership would like to keep it that way.

The partnership, which includes the police, council and other partners, is targeting collective resources.to:

• patrol hotspot areas in Bury town centre and other areas with extra officers, special constables and council antisocial behaviour teams
• deliver positive activities such as sports for young people
• keep people safe when enjoying a night out
• to be visible and meet residents and visitors to reassure them during public events such as Bury Food and Drink Festival
• tackle alcohol, noise, knife crime, antisocial behaviour linked to off road bikes and e scooters
• visit businesses and retailers to discuss and tackle issues
• tackle antisocial issues such as aggressive begging, vandalism, fly-tipping and rowdy behaviour.
• held regular antisocial behaviour surgeries this summer

This builds on successfully securing additional investment for enhanced CCTV provision and upgraded camera and radio connectivity and training on tackling gender based violence

• Retained our Purple Flag status for the safety of Bury town centre
• Delivering Ask for Angela, Best Bar None and other nighttime economy initiatives so that visitors have an enjoyable and safe night out

Councillor Sandra Walmsley, cabinet member for communities said: “Bury is one of the safest places in Greater Manchester, and the third most visited centre in the region and we want to keep it that way.

“We’ve done a lot in recent years to make it that way including Safer Streets investment last year to increase the number of CCTV cameras

“We work closely with other organisations through the Community Safety Partnership and particularly with the police and the Bury Business Improvement District (BID) to make sure our town centres are safe and welcoming environments.

“That’s reflected in the fact that we have retained Purple Flag status for Bury town centre and footfall has grown there at a much faster rate than the North West and national average.

“We’re the third most visited shopping centre in Greater Manchester after Manchester City centre and the Trafford Centre.

“But it’s not just about Bury town centre and a lot of work is being done in our other centres such as Prestwich and Radcliffe.”

Chief Superintendent Kirsty Oliver added: “As co-chair of the Community Safety Partnership I am committed to provide a safe and welcoming environment for all those who live, work and visit the area.

“Bury Police, alongside our partners in the Community Safety Partnership, are currently delivering the Safe4summer campaign. This is part of the government’s mission to restore and strengthen local policing in communities tackling important issues such as antisocial behaviour.

“During the summer you will see increased patrols working alongside Bury Council to ensure we have safe spaces in the town centre. The visit to Kay gardens has given the partnership some tangible actions and this included increased patrols to prevent street drinking in the area.”

Report crime and antisocial behaviour

In an emergency always call 999

•In non-emergencies Call 101 to report a hate crime in a non-emergency situation or you can anonymously call Crimestoppers to report a hate (or any other type of) crime on 0800 111 555

•Report online through https://www.report-it.org.uk/h...

Visit the police website to report crime online – www.gmp.police.uk

Caption

Pictured are members of Bury’s Community Safety Partnership discussing keeping town centres safe on a recent visit to Kay Gardens.

Notes to editors

In April 2025, Bury recorded a +5.1% increase in footfall year-on-year, outperforming both the North West average (+3.2%) and the UK average (+3.9%).

Year-to-date, footfall is also up +2.6%, with 1.38 million visits recorded in April — 66,859 more than April 2024.

https://discoverbury.co.uk/bid-news/bury-on-the-rise-town-centre-footfall-surges-amid-positive-national-trends/