For a number of years VANEL has been championing Community Safety by delivering a range of initiatives to help our communities and residents to feel safe and protect themselves. 2025 was no different and this is our review looking back at what VANEL has been up to over the past twelve months.
In 2025…
We’ve been helping people to be aware of scams and fraud and to learn how to protect themselves. This year we delivered 25 Scams/Fraud Awareness talks to social groups across North East Lincolnshire. Our talks reached over 450 people.
Information about our talks. Funded largely by Fraudwatch.
Karl delivers these sessions and is also a Cyberhood Watch Ambassador and a Friends Against Scams Champion. Contact Karl.
We published a new edition of our popular “Stay Safe” booklet. This is the 7th edition of the booklet and is now Humber wide. 5000 copies are reaching residents across all of Humberside. This booklet which is packed full of useful community safety advice began in a small way during Covid in Cleethorpes, but has since expanded across North East Lincolnshire, with probably 15000 copies in total having reached residents over the years.
This 2025 edition was organised by Humberwatch and funded thanks to North Lincolnshire Community Safety Partnership who arranged funding from the Humberside Police and Crime Commissioner.
The Stay Safe guide is online too (download it here) and copies can be picked up from community venues across the borough.
We launched our new Neighbourhood Watch Information Hub points. Six of these display stands are already across the borough – each filled with leaflets and advice for residents and include a QR code and response process for residents who may not be part of a more formal Neighbourhood Watch Group to seek advice or provide feedback. Each stand has been funded separately, often thanks to local Ward Councillors. Several more are already planned for 2026
About the hubs and where to find them.
We organised a Community Safety event at our North Cleethorpes Community Hub thanks to sponsorship from the Sidney Sussex Ward Councillors. Thanks too to partners and the local Neighbourhood Policing Team.
About the event.
From this we started a new series of Community Safety drop-ins at our community hub. These monthly sessions are supported by the Sidney Sussex Neighbourhood Policing Team and have the addition of themed community safety topics and will continue to run throughout 2026. Drop in details including upcoming dates.
We also attended a range of events throughout 2025 with our community safety stand and materials to meet residents directly. We were at the LLP organised Older Peoples in Immingham and Cleethorpes and at the South Ward Together for Tomorrow community safety showcase event. We’ve also been at a range of smaller events plus attended numerous Police drop-ins across various wards to speak directly to residents.
VANEL remains responsible for Neighbourhood Watch across North East Lincolnshire. Karl Elliott is the Member Support Administrator (MSA) for Neighbourhood Watch for the borough and also chairs Humberwatch which is the Force Area Association (FAA) for all of Humberside.
We continue to support existing Neighbourhood Watch Groups whilst working to try and help residents to establish new groups where possible. Neighbourhood Watch still has a very important role to play in keeping communities safe but has seen a drop-off in numbers across the years. In North East Lincolnshire we’re working with partner agencies – especially Lincolnshire Housing Partnership at the moment – to uncover new and different opportunities for residents to start groups. During 2025 we helped start up new Neighbourhood Watch Groups in Sidney Sussex, East Marsh, West Marsh and Immingham, with ongoing interest from other areas too.
We maintain our NELwatch website for local information for Neighbourhood Watch and community safety topics. www.nelwatch.org.uk. But our other websites such as our Neighbours Together site (part of our Neighbourhood Networking programme) also contain community safety advice too in order to reach additional residents.
We started a regular community safety focused email blogand e-news bulletin – our ‘weeknotes’. 18 emails so far have shared all kinds of local, relevant and up to date news about community safety issues with Neighbourhood Watch Coordinators, partners and interested residents. The newsletters will continue into 2026 with a new refreshed look too.
For years we have championed the use of small items of personal or household security equipment to help victims of crime, vulnerable people or those wishing to simply protect themselves and their property. We’re still providing items of free equipment in certain areas through a referral process. We’ve been able to top up our stock this year in South Ward, East Marsh and Sidney Sussex wards thanks to Ward Councillor investment. We also recently helped Yarborough Ward Councillors purchase 20 CCTVs for local crime prevention, and we’ve used our trade account processes to help several Neighbourhood Watch Groups to obtain equipment cheaply. And we continue to supply items in rural areas as needed. Around 600+ items have been distributed this year.
We continue to design, produce and distribute community safety related materials. This year we’ve been handing out our stock of Stay Safe guides; “Report IT” postcards; “No Cold Caller” window stickers and the various useful information leaflets we have in stock. Many are now in the new Information Hub display stands or we distribute these through our visits to groups. And of course we hold Neighbourhood Watch window stickers for formal groups. There will be new community safety materials coming in early 2026 so keep an eye on our websites.
For more information about our Community Safety work please contact Karl Elliott.