Broad St plan tackles disorder

A combination of voluntary schemes and extra police patrols has helped Birmingham's Broad Street nightspot record a 30% fall in violent crime - and a more pleasant trading environment.

Police and licensees believe the success of the partnership approach shows that the Government's plan for alcohol disorder zones (ADZs) is not needed.

Since April, an extra 10 police officers have patrolled strategic points on Broad Street on Friday and Saturday evenings.

They have been dispersing and excluding troublemakers from key areas, and liaising with doorstaff who have ejected people from venues.

As a result, violent crime on Broad Street is down as much as 30% year-on-year. It has also fallen between 12% and 20% across the city centre.

In addition, the Broad Street Leisure Forum (BSLF) has helped cut crime by helping pubs, clubs and other leisure businesses share good practice.

This includes providing two-way radios to doorstaff so they can alert other venues about troublemakers.

Pubs and clubs in the scheme also have an agreement not to discount drinks after 6pm on Fridays and Saturdays.

And Broad Street was also among the first area to be named a Business Improvement District (BID), which means that each business pays a levy towards measures to improve the local environment.

BID has paid for a number of improvements in Broad Street, including better lighting and more regular street cleaning, since it was implemented three months ago.

Traders pay around £250 each per year, based on their business rates, and the total fund is around £500,000.

Sergeant Adrian Wilson, who is responsible for the Broad Street area, is no fan of ADZs.

'I'm in favour of partnership with licensed premises and local authorities to get problems resolved by other means,' he said.