GWENT Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), Ian Johnston, has established a new group to keep the region informed on the community safety landscape.

The Safer Gwent group will work with key community safety partners and provide a strategic direction and structured approach across the five local authority areas of Gwent.

The group will aim to identify and address problems in regional community safety issues that impact on local communities.

Safer Gwent is made up of representatives from the local authorities, the local health board, registered social landlords, the voluntary sector, youth offending services and the probation and rehabilitation services.

The group aims to develop a collective approach, to improve working practices between the local authorities, with a view to achieving better outcomes in tackling anti-social behaviour (ASB), preventing re-offen-ding and supporting victims.

Safer Gwent will meet quarterly to share information, influence existing funding opportunities to support the Commissioner's Police and Crime Plan, map existing community safety services to roll out across the region, and provide information to support the commissioning of community safety services.

Highlighting the importance of Safer Gwent, Gwent PCC Ian Johnston, said: "This is a great example of partnership working to improve services at a time when budgets are shrinking and demand for our service is increasing.

"It's great to see so many groups and organisations working together to make the best use of our resources to make our communities safer.

"It's all about sharing best practice and working effectively together to achieve a common goal.

"We want less victims of crime in our communities and initiatives such as this one complement some of the priorities outlined in my Police and Crime plan, which is to ensure that the people of Gwent are less affected by anti-social behaviour and are protected from serious harm."

Safer Gwent will coordinate joint initiatives and activities throughout the region, but will not replace the statutory Community Safety Partnerships that exist and operate through each of the five local authority's local service boards