Decision Details

Motion I

Proposer: Cllr Goss

Council  
 
1. Notes and congratulates the Evening Gazette on their anti-knife campaign launch last month in association with the arrival of the Knife Angel statue to Colchester.   
 
2. Notes the tragic consequences of knife attacks on families and friends and recognises the bravery and work of Ann Oakes-Odger MBE whose son was sadly murdered through stabbing.   
 
3. Notes the alarming increase in knife carrying, nationwide, particularly by those associated with gang membership and/or illegal drug activity.   
 
4. Welcomes the work of the police in tackling all forms of crime and the progress they are making, including reducing violent crime. And welcomes their work to raise awareness through the deployment of a knife arch in Colchester centre and work with knife amnesties and knife bins.  
 
5. Notes the work of the Youth Voices Listening Project that found “knife crime and knife harm stood alongside fights and drug use as major concerns for young people in Colchester”.  
 
6. Therefore calls on Colchester Council through the Safer Colchester Partnership to deepen multi-agency collaborative working on this issue. And with our schools and young people to continue work done through the Knife Angel visit. To help make Colchester and its surrounding area safer for us all, particularly our younger residents.  
 

As this motion relates to an executive matter, the suspension of Council Procedure Rule 11(2) will be moved to allow the motion to be debated and determined.