Agenda item

To receive verbal updates from partners present and to note the attached paper updates.

·       Wiltshire Fire & Rescue

·       NHS

·       Police

Wiltshire Police – Sergeant Dean Garvin

The police team’s current three top priority issues were:

• Youth Engagement – Issues over the summer months with anti social behaviour was hoped to be tackled by working closely with the Area Board and the Youth Services coordinators.
• Morgans Vale and Redlynch- Anti Social Behaviour.
• Increased theft and burglaries at the Old Sarum estate.

 The crime statistics had been circulated in the room, however additional statistics were also provided, these were a break down of crimes in the ‘other’ category are as follows:

• Drug offences = 5 crimes or 0.76 percent
• Fraud = 20 crimes or 3.03 percent
• Other (admin) = 9 crimes or 1.36 percent
• Robbery = 1 crime or 0.15 percent (although actually this is a mistake and will be ‘no crimed shortly’)
• Sexual offences = 12 crimes or 1.82 percent
• Theft / Handling = 210 crimes or 31.77 percent

Questions and comments from the floor included:

• There had recently been a spate of incidents in Pitton where signs had been ripped up and turned around. Answer: Dean agreed to visit Pitton and monitor the issue.
• Regarding speeding through villages, some villages did not especially want to form a Community Speed Watch group, but would prefer to have a police presence once in a while. Answer: The police had been inclined to give more attention to the areas experiencing speeding issues where the CSW scheme was in operation. The Board is keen to encourage Community Speed Watch as a response.
• Fly tipping is always an issue, as once one area has been tackled, the problem just moves on to another site. Answer: If a particular area of concern has been identified, recourses could be made available to try and tackle the problem at that site, but yes it is difficult in rural areas, as the issue is actually catching the offender in the act.
• Laverstock and Ford PC – CSW was in operation in Ford which did work for a while, but seemed not to be as much of a deterrent now. Ford would like to put in for the use of the SID, as this proved to be effective the last time it was in the village. Answer: Cllr Britton agreed that SIDS did work well. A report produced by Cabinet member Councillor Dick Tonge had detailed that each Area Board would be allocated one of the 18 Speed Indicator Devices (SIDS) available. The Board would also be given a list of suitable sites where the SID could be placed.
• Downton PC had received an email from their PCSO, saying that the police wanted volunteers for a pilot scheme called ‘Streetwatch’. Downton felt that what was proposed may lead to vigilante type behaviour and would prefer to have trained police in full uniform patrolling their streets, not volunteers in yellow jackets. Answer: The term vigilantes has a negative image. The idea behind Streetwatch, is that trained volunteers would work in patrolling their neighbourhoods in groups of two or more, to look out for anything out of the ordinary. They would have help from the police. The police believe Streetwatch could be effective in Downton and will look to work with the PC to discuss how Streetwatch might work.

The Chairman added that Streetwatch was already operating successfully in Salisbury and did seem to be very effective. Schemes such at Streetwatch are symptomatic of the times that we are in when, increasingly, communities have to be more prepared to do more for themselves.

The possibility that the Neighbourhood Tasking Group (NTG) meeting may be replaced with an email update was discussed. A Downton Parish Councillor felt that their NTG meeting was well attended and stated that she would not want to see the meeting being replaced by an electronic update, as this would not allow for people to get together and discuss priorities of issues as a group.

Dean Garvin agreed that the Downton NTG was working well, adding that in those areas where their NTG was successful they would remain in operation, but for the areas where no meetings were taking place or attendance was poor, they would probably be replaced by the electronic update.

Action

Dean Garvin would be writing to all Parish Councils to explain the Streetwatch scheme and what was involved.

Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Authority – Councillor Chris Devine

• New Fire Chief, Simon Ralph Jones had been appointed.
• Over the last few months the Fire Service had been working hard to rescue people from Wells, Road Traffic Accidents and Fires.
• There had been no cuts to the Fire Service.
• One of the main problems encountered by the Service was false alarms.

Laverstock and Ford Parish Council – Virginia McLennan

The litter problem was still ongoing, the parish council appreciated the work that the waste management team did with the street cleansing machine however, it was felt that the problem was down to an education issue.

It was felt that there needed to be some sort of consequence when the children dropped litter. Previous letters to the head teacher had been ignored, maybe writing to the Governors may have a better outcome.

Councillor Chris Devine – Head teachers do have a duty of care to the children, the Board could put pressure on the head teacher to speak to the children.

Councillor Ian McLennan – It would be a good idea if we could ask the Council to clarify where Head teachers stand in asking pupils to pick up the litter, as the school has suggested that it would be a health and safety issue. Also once the children are outside of the school boundary; it seems that the teachers are not interested.

Action – Councillor Richard Britton would find out if there are any guidelines on the matter.

Street Light Dimming

Downton Parish Councillor Chris Hall requested an update on the implementation situation of the schemes already submitted. Answer: Tom Bray informed him that the scheme had been overwhelmed with submissions across the county, those already approved will be implemented soon.