Communities must be 'at the heart' of solutions to knife crime, says Gipton and Harehills councillor Salma Arif

The Yorkshire Evening Post's Saving Lives After Lockdown campaign is looking at preventing an upsurge in knife crime post-lockdown, highlighting the prevention work going on across the city.

Knife crime in Leeds fell by 15 per cent in 2020, but Gipton and Harehills recorded the highest number of sharp implement offences of all wards last year.

Councillor Salma Arif said solutions to serious violence in the ward must be community-led, rather than imposed on young people.

"Knife crime is absolutely devastating, it's awful for the families impacted but also for the wider community," Coun Arif told the Yorkshire Evening Post.

"We've got one of the youngest populations in the ward and it's one of the more deprived areas of the city - it's incredibly diverse and the mixture of people who live here is amazing.

"But at the same time it's got its challenges."

Coun Arif praised the work of community organisations such as CATCH, which offers a busy programme of volunteer activities in the heart of Harehills.

From street-based outreach and police partnerships to interactive music programmes and sports clubs, Coun Arif said the "beauty" of Harehills is its history of partnership working.

She added: "We place communities at the heart of solutions to youth violence and focus on developing a system that improves investment into community organisations, building sustainable and locally-owned facilities for young people and their families.

"The work has to be done by trusted community leaders, youth workers and organisations - where young people are used to being and by people they trust.

"It's crucial that it's community-led. But also sharing and learning about the drivers of knife crime to understand the root cause."