Meeting held at Leigh Town Council
Offices on Monday 14th May 2007 at 7.30pm
Present:
Cllr. Mrs. G.M. Horrigan JP, MBE Chairman
Inspector D.
Colwell Essex
Police Western Sector
Town Cllr. P. Dolby Leigh Town Council &
Secretary
Mrs Alison Duguid Southend
Integrated Youth Support Service-Connexions
Mr. J. Holden West Leigh Residents Association &
Treasurer
Mr. P. Horrigan Assistant Secretary
Mr. M. Holland Southend District NHW
Administrator
Mrs. R. Lowe
Eastwood NHW
Mr. F. Smith Belfairs
Residents Association
Mr. J. Taylor Chalkwell Residents
Association and NHW
Cllr. C. Walker Southend Borough Council
Chairman – Opening Remarks:
The Chairman welcomed members to the meeting and noted the recent press
coverage of the Panel’s award of £500 from the High Sheriff’s Fund.
Cllr. Walker congratulated the Chairman on her re-election to the council
and on her appointment to the office of Deputy Mayor of Southend.
Apologies for Absence:
Mrs. I.
Crosby
Women’s Institute
Mr. D. Johnson Vice Chairman
New Members:
The Chairman introduced Mrs Alison Duguid, Locality Manager (Southend
West) - Southend Integrated Youth Support Service (Connexions), to the Panel. Panel members introduced themselves for
Mrs Duguid’s benefit and Mrs. Duguid explained her role and responsibilities
within the Youth Service.
Minutes of
Last Meeting:
The minutes of the
meeting held on Monday 5th March, 2007 were accepted as a true
record of proceedings with an addition, under correspondence, that Mr. J Holden
was also to be included in any meetings convened to discuss borough development
plans and core strategy. The minutes were duly signed by the Chairman.
Matters
Arising:
It was agreed to deal
with any matters arising under appropriate agenda items.
Correspondence:
None
Treasurer’s
Report:
The Treasurer reported
that after banking further cheques in support of this year’s poster competition
the Panel’s finances stand at £1,759.96.
The Secretary advised
that he had written to the Fowler Smith and Jones Charitable Trusts with a request
to use their grant received for the poster competition for the ‘Sheltered Watch
Scheme’. This money is ring fenced until a reply is received.
It was proposed by the
Secretary and seconded by Cllr. Walker, and agreed, that if permission is granted
signage up to £250 could be purchased for South Essex Homes in the western
sector.
Mr. Holland advised that
each sign costs about £10.
Crime
Patterns:
Insp. Colwell reported
that a person had been caught in relation to the house burglaries in Chalkwell.
He has admitted to 150 offences, 50 of which were in Essex – mainly local, and
has been sentenced to 4 years imprisonment.
Burglaries have fallen
off as a result.
A local man, Nicholas
Davison, has been given an ASBO for graffiti tagging and has subsequently been
jailed for 3 months for further offences.
Hopefully, his tag will
now be permanently extinguished from Leigh, Chalkwell and Westcliff.
There have been numerous
cases of theft from front gardens of plant pots, tubs, troughs and containers.
These offences are well spread but principally in the Blenheim Park, Woodside
and Westborough areas.
This issue should be
taken back to NHW co-ordinators.
Bicycle theft is on the
increase particularly in Southend High Street but also in Leigh.
Overall crime is down
7.6% on last year. This follows on from the downward trend of the previous two
years.
The Chairman
congratulated the Police on this achievement but noted with regret that the public
remain fearful of groups of youths.
Insp. Colwell further
reported that two new PCSO’s had been assigned to the Leigh Broadway area. This
results in one PCSO for each 8 hour shift.
Eastwood now has three
PCSO’s.
Mrs. Lowe commented that
she had received reports of ‘travellers’ back in the Broadway causing concern
amongst residents and shop keepers.
Mrs. Duguid reported improved
facilities at the Leigh Youth Centre, and: -
On enquiry from Mr Smith
the Secretary advised on the latest position regarding the proposed youth
facility on Leigh Marshes. Leigh Town Council in partnership with SBC will
apply for government funding towards the cost of the project within the
Southend Play Strategy.
Mrs Duguid advised that
further funding might be available through the Youth Opportunity Fund which the
centre can access.
Insp. Colwell suggested
that his officers could pass on information regarding the centre’s facilities
to problem youths encountered locally on Friday and Saturday nights.
On enquiry from the
Secretary Mrs Duguid advised that the centre was open from 1 pm to 9.30 pm
Monday to Friday inclusive and on Saturday afternoons.
Cllr. Walker reported
criminal damage, including damage to trees, in the Bellhouse and Lambeth Roads
area the previous weekend.
TV’s had been dumped
near to the brook with one smashed and contents thrown into the brook.
Also, there have been
reports of theft of lead from roofs.
Mr. Smith reported on
damage to garden gates and plant containers on the Belfairs estate. These were
often dumped further up the road.
Mr. Taylor advised that the
number of ‘Handy Van’ referrals were good and complimentary remarks of the
service have been received back.
Canvassers, allegedly
from Oxfam, have been reported in Chelmsford. The canvasser ends up by asking
for standing order forms to be completed. He had a similar report of a house
caller from the Deaf Children Society.
Mr. Holland advised that
St. John Ambulance use similar canvassers and they are not scams. The agency
involved receives a return of 20% on funds raised and are bona fide.
The issue of cold
calling and bogus callers is addressed in more detail in the June issue of Communicate.
Mr. Holden reported on a
recent incident of drunken and threatening behaviour by women in Leigh Old Town
on a Sunday lunch time.
Insp. Colwell thought
this to be a one off and confirmed that the Police have plans in place to deal
with such matters in the summer season.
Further, an ‘alcohol
free zone’ on the cinder path between Bell Wharf and Chalkwell railway station
would go a long way to reduce problems at weekends. In the recent hot weather
as many as a 100 youths had been gathered in this area.
The Chairman requested
the Secretary to write to the leader of Southend Borough Council in support of
this.
Mr. Holden reported that
the first meeting of the Chalkwell Neighbourhood Action Panel, held recently at
Chalkwell Park, had been poorly attended.
Insp. Colwell reported
that two similar meetings of Eastwood and St Lawrence groups had been
successful.
Also a recent meeting of
Licence Watch had been well attended.
The Secretary reported
on the increasing number of people sleeping rough in Leigh. Areas included
Belton Hills and Leigh Cliffs. Whilst he had reported the tent on Leigh Cliffs,
adjacent to the disused shelter, to the Police it was still there.
Insp. Colwell advised
that there was a limit as to what the Police could do in these matters as no
offence as such was being committed. Indeed, it is a matter for the council to
move these people on.
The Secretary had been
advised that an attendant at a Polling Station during the recent election had
expressed surprise that there had been no visit to that particular Station from
the Police.
Insp. Colwell confirmed
that his officers had been instructed to visit each Polling Station and that he
took the matter extremely seriously. He such could not believe that at least
one visit had not occurred.
The Secretary advised
that PCCG meetings have been reduced to one annually. This will be in November and
will be the Annual Divisional Meeting. This follows the introduction of
Neighbourhood Policing and Neighbourhood Action Panels.
The next meeting is on
Monday 12th November at 7.30 pm in the Civic Centre.
South Eastern Division
has a ‘have your say’ stall at the Southend Air Show on Sunday 27th
May between 12 noon and 4 pm.
The Secretary gave an
update on the Poster Competition: -
Mrs. Lowe
offered to help with proceedings at the awards evening.
Mr. Holland
tabled his report as follows: -
Sheltered Watch scheme
Talks have been given (or have been
arranged) at most South Essex Homes complexes
Peverel (who administer HomeRowan
complexes) also on board. Meeting booked with their local wardens for 23rd
May
Meeting held with Abbeyfield management –
they will probably join
Talks either already presented or planned
for pensioner groups
Pensions Outreach Workers have been made
aware of the scheme and will be feeding back on vulnerable clients etc
Ditto local care organisations
Ditto Meals on Wheels
Rochford District NW looking at
implementing Sheltered Watch in their area
Park Watch
Funding secured for a new map system for
Belfairs. Letters will be assigned to each entrance. Signs will advise people
wishing to call emergency services to the park to advise by which gate they
entered. This will provide a starting point for response units.
Priory Park Watch scheme – next meeting
7.30 pm 16th May at the Bowls Club
Chalkwell Park Watch scheme next meeting
7.30 pm 13th June at the Park View Suite
Eastwood Parks – new scheme to be
implemented soon
Foreshore Watch
Next meeting Monday 21st May
8.15 pm Leigh Sailing Club. Issues to be raised will include Chalkwell
Causeway, crime patterns, anti social behaviour, beach hut initiative
Business Watch
The next meeting of Rayleigh
Road/Progress Road group will be held at Eastwood Baptist Church on Wednesday
30th May at 6.30 pm. The speaker will be John Tidbury from Essex
Fire and Rescue Service
PCSO Carol Fox has been canvassing London
Road Leigh (Thames Drive eastwards) with a view to establishing a scheme.
Feedback very positive
Cycle Watch
Southend Borough Road Safety Department
have funded some tags for use on the Safer Journeys to School initiative. We
plan to use some of the tags at Belfairs School to coincide with the building
of their secure cycle store
A tagging session will be held at
Southend General Hospital to tag staff bicycles on Friday 22nd June.
Ring fenced funding has been obtained for this project
There is currently no funding for public
tagging sessions. Two potential sources have been identified and negotiations
are ongoing
Communicate Newsletter
As most people are aware, the publication
of Communicate hit a rough patch at
the beginning of the year with regard to being delivered on time. The situation
has now stabilised with the April and May issues being distributed at the
beginning of the month. Indeed the June issue was sent to the printers at 3.16
pm today. Accordingly, the sarcastic (and sometimes abusive) comments re Communicate have now stopped. These have
been replaced by complaints over the lack of crime statistics – those
meaningless spreadsheets that informed those who could be bothered to read them
that a crime had occurred in their street sometime during the last month!
I have looked at various ways of
re-introducing the stats, however, due to the fact that we now have 5,000
copies of Communicate printed, it
would be a logistical nightmare to marry stats up to individual streets, wards
etc. By way of compromise, I will be offering to provide limited information to
co-ordinators who specifically request crime stats for their area, by e-mail on
a weekly basis from July this year. I will be running a six-month pilot scheme
to see what interest there is. If it is as well supported as the old telephone
message scheme that operated until about 2001, it will add little to my
workload. .
Youth Report:
None
Any Other Business:
None
Date of Next
Meeting:
Monday 16th July,
2007 - 7.30 pm.
The meeting closed at
8.55 pm.