Agenda item

To receive any verbal updates from Partners and Community Groups present, including:

·       Police – Neighbourhood Teams

·       Fire & Rescue

To note the following written updates and information links:

a)    Healthwatch Wiltshire

b)    PCC Precept Consultation

c)     Clinical Commissioning Group

d)    Wilton Town Team Minutes

e)    Wiltshire Council Consultations

http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/council/consultations.htm

Note: Speakers are reminded that they each have a 3 minutes slot, unless they have previously discussed alternative arrangements with the Community Area Manager.

The Board received verbal updates from Partners and Community

Groups present, including:

PoliceNeighbourhood Teams

Inspector Sparrow gave the following update:

·         A person had been charged with attempted murder in Wilton earlier in the month, following the discovery of a deceased female being found within his property. He has not yet been charged. No adverse impact report for Wilton.

·         Priorities had been focused on rural crime and poaching. An operation had been run liaising with the game keepers to try and work together to target poachers on the ground.

·         There had been a spike in catapult damages to cards, this related to the rural crime. Unless you catch them in the act it was almost impossible to catch them. The police were fairly sure they know who was involved and were trying to catch them.

·         There has also been a spike in non-dwelling burglaries, in areas around Downton and Redlynch, with a few coming towards Wilton. People were urged to be more aware, and advised to mark any  power tools and keep them locked away.

·         Community policing had been going for 3 months in the south Wiltshire area. This was going well one positive aspect being an improvement in response times. A lot of emphasis on call handling, by asking more questions at the first point have managed to reduce demand.

·         There had been an increased problem in the west wilts area with non-dwelling burglaries. During Christmas time this was usually high anyway, with gifts stored outside in sheds and packaging left outside for all to see.

·         The priority would be to push the PCSOs further to get the community confidence back up. They were doing the job of the Community Beat Officer.

·         An Internet safety day would be held next week. Cybercrime was not just about the internet, in included scams and smart phones. We were looking to expand our coffee mornings to roll this out to more people.

Comments and questions:

·         The Chairman noted that it was public perception that the police had disappeared from the streets. Answer: Having our Police vehicles parked visibly in the communities and in the villages, had brought about positive comments.

·         The Chairman announced that the Tisbury Community Safety Partnership had been coordinated by Bev, as the Police no longer had the resources to keep it running. It was used to help set police priorities and as a link between the community and the police. The Board would like to morph it in to an area community safety partnership. There would be 4 meetings a year, 2 meetings at Nadder centre, one in Mere and one in Wilton. Police attendance at these meetings would continue.

·         It would be important to have the right people around the table if you were launching a new Group. Not all the problems would be police related. Other partners needed to be involved to ensure we can look to the best partner to deal with each individual issue. Answer: The next meeting had been scheduled, all partners willing to come on board would be welcome.

Fire & Rescue – District Commander Jason Moncrief

Ben Ansell was the newly appointed Chief Fire Officer at the beginning of December. Jim Marney would take up the assistance chief post.

6000 safe and warm visits had been carried out in first 6 months of the organisation. That number would increase as we moved forward. The contact for arranging one of these was available on the website.

The Safe Drive Stay Alive initiative was running for students and military establishments.

Nov was quiet month for all three areas of South West Wiltshire, with Tisbury and Mere still getting some co-responder shouts. In December Mere received 10 co-responder incidents with 4 on Christmas eve. There had been 35 incidents in total for the area.

Availability was still a struggle during the day, especially in Tisbury. This was making it hard to keep the appliance available during the day. We urge anyone with an influence over local employers to promote the retained Fire Service to their employees.

Comments and Questions:

·         Would there be future changes to the service and should we expect any fundamental changes at Mere, Tisbury and Wilton? Answer: They were all retained stations, so all manned by people giving a large commitment. We were looking at how we pay them and how we incentivise it. Wilton provided better cover as they were looking at when they could be on cover all the time. There had been talks of moving Tisbury fire station but there were no set plans yet. There were safe numbers of people and water to be able to attend property fires. There may be a better way of managing people and vehicles, but not by reducing crews.

·         Now that Dorset and Wiltshire had come together we could look at both ways of doing things and rewrite the rules to get the best out of the service.

·         On the first response were you looking at smaller man power? Answer: We need a minimum of 4 in a vehicle currently to operate safely. In Gillingham the first responder is able to go alone in the car if they feel comfortable doing so.

The Board noted the written updates and information attached to the agenda and circulated at the meeting:

a) Healthwatch Wiltshire

b) PCC Precept Consultation

c) Clinical Commissioning Group

d) Wilton Town Team Minutes

e) Wiltshire Council Consultations

f) Community Policing – circulated at the meeting