Constabulary to receive £4m funding boost to keep Cheshire’s communities even safer

Cheshire Constabulary will receive a total of £4m to help tackle anti-social behaviour, drug crime, shoplifting and robbery across the county.

On Thursday 10th April, the government announced new plans to improve neighbourhood policing across the country.

Under these plans, every neighbourhood in England and Wales will have dedicated teams spending their time on the beat, with guaranteed police patrols in town centres and other hotspot areas at peak times such as Friday and Saturday nights.

Cheshire Constabulary is set to receive £3m of funding under the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, adding 48 dedicated officers into Cheshire's communities.

Along with this, the force has also secured a further £1m funding for this financial year to tackle anti-social behaviour in hotspot areas across the county, known as "Operation Sidelines".

This extra funding will support the Constabulary's long-standing commitment to support local communities by providing them with named officers residents can contact to discuss ongoing issues or concerns, along with a dedicated antisocial behaviour lead within the force, working with residents and businesses to develop tailored action plans to tackle anti-social behaviour (ASB) within their communities.

Assistant Chief Constable for Neighbourhood Policing, Alison Ross, said:

“We’re delighted to get this extra funding which will support our ongoing work to keep Cheshire a hostile environment for criminals as well as preventing and tackling crimes such as ASB, drug dealing and supplying and street theft and robbery.

“We already have a real focus on neighbourhood policing in Cheshire, with named officers in each ward along with a number of proactive initiatives and ongoing operations in place to tackle crimes such as these head-on, and we are now looking at how we can best utilise this funding to give our neighbourhood teams the further resources they need.

“Ensuring our local policing teams are dedicated to making our public spaces be safe and feel safe for those who live, work, and visit Cheshire is a top priority and we will use this funding to keep Cheshire’s communities even safer.”

This will be the second year the Force has received funding for Operation Sidelines, and there have already been a number of positive results.

In April 2024, 786 incidents of ASB were recorded in Cheshire, compared to 682 incidents in March 2025 - an overall reduction across all the hotspots of 13%.

When it comes to serious violence, 631 incidents were recorded in April 2024, compared to 200 incidents being reported in March 2025 - an overall reduction of 68%.

Superintendent Sarah Heath, added:

"The results of Operation Sidelines show the difference that can be made with high visibility patrols in dedicated hotspot areas. This acts as a deterrent to those who cause harm and offers reassurance to our local communities. The feedback from the public and those officers deployed on this operation has been extremely positive.

"The success of Cheshire’s approach to this has secured funding to continue this important work for another year, helping us to make Cheshire even safer.”

Sergeant Gary Blackburn, of Force Operational Planning, added:

"I welcome the news that Cheshire Police is set to receive a further £1m in grant funding to target anti-social behaviour and serious violence offences across our county.

"Over the past 12 months there has been an increase of nearly 3,000 extra police hours deployed to identify anti-social behaviour and serious violence hotspots across Cheshire, along with an additional 10,000 additional hours of visible police patrols in the local communities.

“The funding we are receiving will, undoubtedly, increase these already impressive figures and continue in keeping the county and its residents safe.”

Anyone who wishes to see how their local force is performing will also be able to access a new national online as part of the guarantee.