A SCHEME that helps and protects vulnerable people in Newquay town centre during booze-fuelled summer weekends is facing the axe if funding cannot be secured.

There was just enough cash to ensure the Street Safe Portakabin on Marcus Hill remained open this summer – thanks to a £5,000 handout from the local NHS.

But the Cornish Guardian has learned that the future of the service, which saves emergency services thousands of pounds a month, is in serious doubt.

The situation has led police community safety sergeant Jerry Mitchell to appeal for help from Newquay residents and businesses to generate the £4,500 a year to keep the scheme alive.

He said: "Come next year, if there's no money to support it then there will be no Street Safe. We can't magic the money out of thin air. We need to find a way of making sure it continues for many years to come."

Introduced

Street Safe was introduced in 2004 and currently has 24 volunteers working in shifts from its portable building base between 10pm and 3am on Friday and Saturday nights from June to August.

The team, which works alongside police and ambulance staff, is all trained in first aid and conflict resolution.

Figures released by police reveal that, every summer, the service looks after around 220 people who find themselves in need of emotional or medical support.

Sergeant Mitchell said that this year Street Safe had:

● Saved 38 hours of ambulance transport time;

● Saved 50 hours of police custody time;

● Saved 82 hours of police time in general;

● Seen a 20 per cent increase in the number of people going to them

He said that the hard work and commitment of the volunteers was not only saving people from becoming victims of crime or accidents but it was also saving the community thousands of pounds.

"To put this in perspective, according to official British Crime Survey estimates, a serious sexual assault costs emergency services £35,000," said Sergeant Mitchell.

'Preventing'

"So in terms of cost to the community you can fund Street Safe for seven years just by preventing one sexual assault.

"It's very clear to me that if it doesn't carry on there will be a much greater weight on emergency services and all of these 220 people a year become potential victims of being found in the gutter, run over or subjected to some sort of crime if they aren't looked after."

All the funding used to come directly from Restormel Borough Council, which ensured cash was never a problem, according to Sergeant Mitchell.

However, since the organisation was scrapped in favour of a unitary authority, money had become much more of an issue.

He said a request for funding had been made to Cornwall Council but he had not yet had a response.

If anyone can help with sponsorship or by fundraising to help pay for the scheme, contact the Cornish Guardian at screswell@c-dm.co.uk or 07788 424913.