Proceeds of Crime will help communities

A new £90,000 ‘Community Cashback Fund’, will see money that has been taken from criminals under the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) spent on projects to improve local communities.

Each of Cheshire’s nine Local Policing Units (LPUs) will be given £10,000 from the Community Cashback Fund over the course of the 2022/23 financial year, with residents able to vote on how the money is spent.

A ‘Community Conversation’ will be held by the police in each area to identify what provisions and offerings are currently available in the community, what may be missing, and what people hope to see in the future.

After each Community Conversation event, a steering group will be set up to coordinate any agreed actions and consider the issues raised. The group will also carry out further research into potential solutions which can be implemented with the funding.

Local people and groups will then be able to submit bids to the Community Cashback Fund for their area, after which a further ‘Participatory Budget’ event will be held where residents will be able to vote on which projects they feel deserve to go ahead.