Agenda item

a) Parish Councils and Community groups

 

·       Parish Showcase – Grimstead Circular Footpath

 

Speakers: Gill Sowerby, Chairman of Grimstead PC & Gwyn Doran, Vice Chairman of Grimstead PC

 

b) Community Policing – local issues and priorities

 

In attendance: Inspector Pete Sparrow or Inspector John Hutchings

 

c) Community Engagement Manager – Joint Strategic Assessment Update

a) Parish Councils and Community groups:

 

 

Parish Showcase – Grimstead Circular Footpath

Gill Sowerby, Chairman and Gwyn Doran, Vice Chairman of Grimstead PC gave a presentation on the Grimstead Circular Footpath project.

 

We are made up of two villages, East and West. We have worked to create a three-mile circular footpath.

 

This came about as we have a very successful walking group who walk 6 or 7 miles once a month. There were lots of other people who wanted to walk but that distance was too much.

 

When we looked in to it, we found that there were several other non-permissive paths through the village, so we decided to find another path of about 3 miles.

 

We were lucky to meet Tom Bray who assisted us in getting started. Nigel Walsh was in the process of setting up a circular path in Firsdown, so we went to speak with him and were keen to take the idea back to Grimstead.

 

We set up the footpaths group and had an inaugural meeting. We went out and walked two paths, and were disappointed by the overgrown footpaths, stiles that were wonky and dangerous. We worked with Tom Bray who advised us on all of the gates and signposts we could get hold of.

 

We then needed to get the support of the landowners. This was a tricky task as there were nine land owners in total to deal with.

 

Next we decided where signposts should be positioned and what types to use, as we wanted a balance of enough signage without being too intrusive.

 

We also made a list of all the gates and stiles that required improvement.

 

The landowners already had heavy machinery available to assist with the installation of new pieces, and so it was important to get them on side. We also had support from many people in the village, with the manual work required.

 

We were able to install three new kissing gates and repaired a further two gates.

 

We wanted to create a map which included local information on the villages, so we had this printed and made available at the start of the walk.

 

We held an opening event where lots of people attended.

 

Thanks to all of the people and organisations involved in bringing this project to completion. Special thanks to Wiltshire Rights of Way and the Area Board for its assistance.

 

 

b) Community Policing – local issues and priorities

Inspector Pete Sparrow & PC Matthew Holland

 

In addition to the written report provided in the agenda pack, Pete updated on the following points.

 

We had a welcome visit by John Glen MP, he saw what we get up to on a daily basis when he came out with us.

 

Two women from Southampton were convicted of stealing over £32k of fuel mostly across this community area. They were issued with an 18 month community order. This was as a result of good work by the Community Policing Team and the taskforce team, over a period of 4 months.

 

A pursuit in August of a Peugeot 307 lead to two local men being found in the undergrowth, the vehicle they had decanted from was full of power tools, which had been stolen in Devon.

 

There had been a rise in scams lately. Please take note of the community messaging system for up to date information on this.

 

As detailed in the recent NFU Crime Report, there had been a 37% reduction in rural crime, as a direct result of the work put in by our Rural Policing Teams and Community Teams.

 

Questions:

 

·       The stopping of the Peugeot 307 was it a routine stop? –Answer: Yes the Officers felt the vehicle looked suspicious so decided to stop it, which then ended up with a result.

 

 

 

c) Community Engagement Manager, Karen Linaker gave an update on the Joint Strategic Assessment.

 

Every 2-3 years we come to you and hold an event with various community representatives who all come together to talk to you about the priorities for the area.

 

We are able to provide key data for consideration, which informs our strategic and local needs.

 

Since 2009 we have worked with our public and voluntary sector partners to come to you to discuss with you how those key strategic priorities link with your local priorities. 

 

This process informs the joint strategic needs assessment which local government is required to carry out, and in so doing, you tell us your views on issues to do with e.g. children’s health and education, older people’s health and wellbeing, transport and highways, the environment, housing, the local economy and community safety.

 

When you last did this at the end of 2017, the list of local priorities for local action that you agreed with the Southern Wiltshire Area Board were:

 

•        Children and young people: obesity, positive leisure time activities, emotional and mental health

•        Community safety: highway safety, rural crime, protecting the vulnerable

•        Culture: local landscape and heritage, participation in arts and culture, local history

•        Economy: apprenticeships and work experience, broadband and digital, support for existing rural businesses

•        Environment: flytipping and litter, protecting the countryside, wildlife and biodiversity

•        Health, wellbeing and leisure: mental health, healthy lifestyles, support for carers

•        Your community and housing: affordable housing, volunteering, downsizing opportunities

•        Transport: road improvements and maintenance, access to public transport, cycling and walking

•        Older People: support for carers, social isolation, dementia

 

 

It is recognised that over the last 5 years the task of responding to demand and providing services has got harder.

 

Since 2017, the Southern Wiltshire Area Board had approximately £200k to spend on a range of local projects to support local priorities. Some of the projects that have taken place include:

 

·       Schools mini marathon event

·       Young people’s activities – commissioned providers for youth clubs

·       New bubble football activity for youth clubs by popular demand in 2019

·       Outdoor and equine therapy project for young people

·       HomeStart project funded to benefit young families facing disadvantage

·       Speed Indicator Device – parish collaboration scheme

·       New CCTV for Old Sarum Community Centre

·       Various circular walks and footpath maintenance projects

·       Silver Sunday programme of activities for older people

·       Various WW1 projects

·       Pilot project at Trafalgar School for young people to help older people with computer skills

·       Fly tipping camera project

·       Range of dementia and older people’s projects

 

The Chairman was proud of all that had been achieved with the assistance of the Area Board.

 

The Silver Sunday programme of events were advertised by leaflets circulated at the meeting. This was another worthwhile project which received funding from the Area Board. The range of activities for older people would be taking place between 20^th Sept – 13^th October.

 

d) Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner Jerry Herbert – PCC Annual Report

 

The Police and Crime Commissioner Annual Report 2018/19 was published last week.

 

Priority one – Prevent Crime and keep people safe:

 

•        The increase in the policing precept had enabled an increase in the numbers of police officers and staff on our Community Policing Teams.

•        Recorded knife crime had dropped by 18% in the county.

•        Rural crime remained a priority.

•        Supporting local volunteers working on Community Speed Watch and Neighbourhood Watch

 

Priority two – Protect the most vulnerable people in society:

 

•        Cybercrime fighting: a Digital Investigations and Intelligence Unit has been set up during the year with more funding for further posts in 2019/20. 

•        Wiltshire Police undertakes significant partnership work in relation to Domestic Abuse.

•        Mental Health care and support – 24/7 continues

•        Work with Youth Offending Teams and Wiltshire Police to prevent offending by young people, focusing on knife crime.   

 

Priority three – Put victims and witnesses at the heart of everything we do:

 

•        Horizon Victim and Witness Care began four years ago – 4,205 victim and witnesses had been supported between 2018/19.

•        The Restorative Together team between 2018/19 worked on 55 cases; 30 cases had been referred to them by Wiltshire Police and 12 by the new Youth Restorative Intervention panels.

•        Focus on helping children stay within the law through groups like: Mini Police, Police Cadets and Junior Good Citizen.

 

Priority four – Secure high quality, efficient and trusted services:

 

•        Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services rated Wiltshire’s crime recording compliance as “good.”

•        4% reduction in crime in the last year with the Force meeting its immediate and priority targets.

•        Improved service: 15p call charge to be scrapped next year.

•        101 calls answered on average: 1 min and 4 secs.

•        Estates: Progress on replacements for Marlborough, Warminster and Amesbury/Tidworth. Refurb of Royal Wootton Bassett starts in autumn.

 

Delighted with the results in Her Majesty’s inspectorate. – outstanding effort by the Chief Constable and his team and all of the staff that make up the Wiltshire force.

 

Questions:

• Should we report attempted cyber-attacks? Answer: It depends on the type of attack, there is a site called Action fraud – if you have been the victim, use that website, if in doubt call 101 and report.

 

• Do you have a policy in place regarding communications between Wiltshire and Hampshire forces? Answer: When you call us, you are routed by software to your local area call centre. We do have the ability to reach out to all of our neighbouring forces.

 

Inspector Sparrow: one option on the 101 line is asking for Wiltshire Police or to nominate another force. You are then put through to the force you requested. With regards to Hampshire, we have bi-monthly meetings with Hampshire and Dorset forces to talk about all of the operations we work on.

 

Jerry : If you have the log number of that incident then pass it to me or the Inspector and we can follow this up. We do recognise that some handlers do need some additional training so we can look into that for you. Incidents like this are very rare.