Windermere, Ambleside, Coniston, Grasmere and Staveley

Anti-social behaviour in the Night Time & Evening Economy of Bowness on Windermere.

We remain committed to ensuring that the evening and night time economy area of Bowness is a safe place to live and visit.

Operation Regulate involves dedicated high visibility patrols taking place in Bowness on Friday and Saturday Nights with specific tasking around licensed premises.

On dates through the summer when we expect their to be higher than usual numbers of people in this area we are continuing to operate the Welfare Hub. This provides a safe space for people to seek support, advice or a place of safety through to the early hours of the morning.

This is supplemented further by our dedicated foot patrols for Operation Enhance. These patrols will continue throughout spring 2026.
* ASB incidents and related crimes saw a fall of 66% between 1st September 2025 and 31st December 2025 in the Bowness on Windermere Operation Enhance area.

We also conduct visits to Licensed Premises to ensure that they are operating safely and within the Law. These visits are usually conducted alongside partners from Westmorland and Furness Council Licensing and Trading Standards Teams.

There has been an issue with the theft of boats and boat engines in the Windermere and Coniston areas in recent years.

When items have been stolen, thieves have often caused significant and costly damage in order to steal. Boat owners and other lake users have told us that they feel their property is vulnerable given the locations in which boats are moored and equipment stored.

We have been actively working with boat owners & lake users to encourage reporting of suspicious incidents at the time they occur. We are conducting joint patrols on & around Windermere and Coniston and visiting locations where most thefts have occurred.
These patrols have included work with the National Park Lake Rangers, W&F Council Lake Wardens, North West Police Underwater Search Unit and the local Neighbourhood Policing Team.

We have used money seized from criminals to fund crime prevention measures in 2024, 2025 and into 2026. This has seen hundreds of SelectaDNA kits used to forensically mark boats, engines and other equipment. These kits have been provided free of charge. We have provided a number of tracking devices to boat owners and these have been deployed covertly to increase the chances or detecting crime and recovering property. We have also placed good quality reflective signage at locations where boats and property are marked with SelectaDNA to act as a deterrent.

In the last two years this crime type has fallen by over 50%. We retain this as a ,local priority based on your ongoing concern about this issue.