Council granted funding for Prevent programme

Blackburn with Darwen council has been awarded £600,000 to fight terrorism and radicalisation. The county of Lancashire is one of the most at-risk areas in the country for individuals to be drawn into terrorism and the council is the lead authority running the Prevent programme in the area. The programme aims to stop people becoming involved in terrorism. Cllr Damian Talbot, head of public health and prevention said: "Blackburn with Darwen has been recognised as a centre for excellence for this type of work. "This is really important work to ensure public safety. There are quite a lot of challenges to stop people becoming involved in radicalisation and potential terrorism." A report by Cllr Talbot said: "The overarching objectives for Prevent are to tackle the causes of radicalisation and respond to the ideological challenge of terrorism, safeguard and support those most at risk through early intervention, and enable those who have already engaged in terrorism to disengage and rehabilitate. "Lancashire is a priority area nationally. "Blackburn with Darwen is the host authority for the Lancashire team and Prevent programme sub-regionally. "In 2019, the Home Office assessed that Blackburn with Darwen was no longer a priority area in their own right. "However the risk and threat to Lancashire as a whole placed it in the top four nationally and they approached Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council to to oversee delivery for Lancashire. "It is imperative that support is delivered to vulnerable people at risk of radicalisation in a timely manner. "The council as the lead authority needs to ensure the consistency of this support to effectively reduce identified vulnerabilities to radicalisation and keep people safe. "Activity should focus on high priority local threats / hot spots. "The specific outcomes are to mitigate local threats, increase resilience of those most vulnerable to radicalisation, provide counter-narrative projects that seek to build resilience, provide the skills and confidence within individuals and communities to resist the threat posed by extremist influences, and increase knowledge and awareness of the causes and signs of radicalisation."