Connah's Quay council become first in Wales to commit to ending domestic violence

Connah's Quay councillors voted in favour of putting themselves forward for White Ribbon accreditation and commit to involving men in ending violence against women and girls.

Cllr Nathan Jones, who is also a White Ribbon Ambassador, put forward the motion at the monthly meeting as to why they the council should become the first in the country to join the campaign.

He told the Leader: "It went really well, we had a really good response.

"It's something we've been supporting locally and there's a lot of support for it but I think it's still something that's very much going on in the background.

"Sometimes people are afraid to talk about it so I think by raising awareness and setting an example through council - the people we see on a day to day basis in the community hopefully we can encourage people to speak out and report it."

White Ribbon UK is a campaign aiming to end male violence against women, once and for all.

Councillors looked at the action plan as to how they would achieve the accreditation which involved things like male members becoming White Ribbon Ambassadors and to sign the pledge to 'never commit, excuse or remain silent about violence against women and girls'.

Steven Goodrum, clerk of the council, will lead in the implementation of White Ribbon UK strategy and Pam Attridge, chair, will actively endorse the campaign particularly when conducting council business.

Cllr Jones spoke to councillors about not just domestic violence but also abuse and the effects on victims as well as children and how they can work with local police officers who will be receiving training on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE).

Police officers in Flintshire and Anglesey are the first to trail the course which will train officers on how to look out for signs and refer people to the correct places.

Cllr Jones added: "It works well with what the local inspector is doing with ACE but also I mentioned about Carl (Sargeant) and the legislation he put through.

"I'm proud to be on the council it's a real achievement really. Not only did Carl put through his legislation, which was the Domestic Violence and Sexual Abuse Bill in 2015, he used to be a Connah's Quay councillor so it's great that we are paying tribute to him. He'd be very proud that his town council were the first in Wales to go for accreditation."

The councillor said having the accreditation will mean they can do more awareness raising events like putting the white ribbons around the tree on the High Street, which was first started by Carl Sargeant AM several years ago.

Jack Sargeant AM for Alyn and Deeside also works with the White Ribbon campaign and has pledged to do what he can to end domestic violence and domestic abuse.

The action plan, which discusses in detail what the council will do in the future for the course, will be sent off to White Ribbon UK to start the proceedings of their accreditation.