Meeting held at Leigh
Town Council Offices on Monday 16th July 2007 at 7.50pm
Present:
Cllr. Mrs. G.M. Horrigan JP,
MBE Chairman
Inspector D. Colwell Essex Police Western Sector
PC. S. Dewberry Essex Police - YOS
Town Cllr. P. Dolby Leigh
Town Council & Secretary
Mr. P. Horrigan Assistant
Secretary
Mr. D. Johnson
Vice Chairman
Mrs. R. Lowe Eastwood NHW
Mr. L. Sawyer West Leigh Residents Association
Mr. F. Smith Belfairs Residents Association
Cllr. C. Walker Southend
Borough Council
Chairman – Opening
Remarks:
The Chairman welcomed members to the meeting.
Apologies for
Absence:
Town Cllr. J. Holden West
Leigh Residents Association & Treasurer
Mr. M. Holland Southend
District NHW Administrator
Mr. J. Taylor Chalkwell Residents Association and NHW
Mr. J. Wayland Central Leigh NHW
New Members:
The Chairman introduced Mr. Leslie Sawyer,
representing W.L.R.A., to the Panel. Members introduced themselves for Mr.
Sawyer’s benefit.
Minutes of Last Meeting:
The minutes of the meeting held on Monday 14th May, 2007 were
unanimously accepted as a true record of proceedings and were duly signed by
the Chairman.
Matters Arising:
The Secretary advised that the Fowler Smith and Jones Charitable Trusts have
confirmed that the £500 grant received for the poster competition could be used
by the Panel for the ‘Sheltered Watch Scheme’. Indeed, this was a scheme that
the Trusts supported in other areas of Essex. Mr. Holland has purchased signs
for South Essex Homes in the western area and an invoice for £250 has been
received.
The Secretary advised on the latest position regarding the proposed
youth facility on Leigh Marshes. SBC’s application for funding from the Big
Lottery Fund had been successful and in partnership with Leigh Town Council will
allocate £150,000 to the project. The total cost is in the region of £280,000
and with LTC holding £68,000 a further £62,000 will need to be raised. It is
hoped that the project can commence before the end of the year.
Further funding opportunities are being investigated.
The Chairman recommended approaching the Sports Council in this respect.
The Secretary confirmed that the tent on Leigh Cliffs, adjacent to the
disused shelter had gone and there seemed, generally, to be a reduction in the number
of people sleeping rough in Leigh.
The Secretary confirmed that SBC had responded to the request for an
‘alcohol controls in designated areas’ order for the cinder path. This reply
seemed positive and mentioned that the matter was being looked at by SMAART,
was on the agenda at the recent meeting of the Crime & Disorder Reduction
Partnership Executive and discussions have taken place with the Legal &
Democratic Services Dept.
The Secretary advised that he will forward a copy of the letter to Insp.
Colwell as the making of an Order is dependent, to a large extent, upon the
level of support from the Police, both in respect of incidence of current
problems and their ability to respond to breaches of any future Designation
Order.
Insp. Colwell confirmed Police support for the Order.
The Chairman gave an overview of the awards evening of the Primary
Schools Poster Competition held at the Civic Centre on 27th June.
The council chamber was full with children, parents, grandparents and teachers and
prizes were presented by the Mayor.
The competition, now in its seventh year, goes from strength to strength.
The Panel is indebted to the High Sheriffs’ Award Scheme, the Lions Club
of Leigh-on-Sea and the Leigh-on-Sea Rotary Club for their support.
Mr. Johnson commented that the rapturous applause given by the children
to their teachers on receiving the school certificate was testimony in itself
to the evening’s success.
Cllr. Walker confirmed that colour copies of the 18 finalist posters have
been sent to the Home Office and the Secretary confirmed that further copies will
be displayed in the three local libraries during the summer holidays on a
rotational basis. The original posters have been returned to the schools.
Mr. Johnson thought that after many successful years it would be good if
the merits of the competition could be fed into secondary schools.
Mr. Sawyer agreed and added that it is an unfortunate fact that
youngsters are all too often blamed for many of society’s ills paying the price
for the actions of the small minority problem youths.
The Secretary advised that the winning poster from year 6 had been given
much acclaim by the judges. It has been suggested that it may be used around
town to promote the dangers of drugs. The Secretary spoke to the child’s
parents and teacher who are happy if it is to be used in this way. Possible
displays may be on buses and in the Civic Centre.
Insp. Colwell will forward a copy to the Police media dept and the
Secretary will forward on to the SBC media team and will talk to the bus
operating companies.
The Chairman reported on the recent problem in Priory Park which
involved two PCSO’s locked in public toilets that were set on fire.
Insp. Colwell advised that the two officers were fine. They had been
alerted to smoke coming from the toilets and had investigated and the door was
locked after them. They called for assistance by radio but were trapped for 10
minutes. The matter is being investigated by Leigh CID.
Correspondence:
The Secretary tabled a letter from The High Sheriff of Essex. The letter
explains the Awards Scheme which encourages any Essex based organisation to
apply for a grant of up to £1,000 for projects that will make local people of
all ages feel safer in their homes, schools, towns and villages.
The Secretary advised that the information has been passed on to Mr.
Holland and further information is available if Panel members require it.
The Secretary tabled a letter from Leigh-on-Sea Town Council, with
enclosures, relating to a ‘draft revision document of Southend’s Statement of Licensing
Policy’. The draft document invites comment relating to cumulative impact areas
and one of the elements is crime and disorder.
After discussion it was agreed to form a sub committee of Mr. Johnson,
Mr. Holland and Mr. Jeffrey-Harland. This sub committee will consider the
document and respond on behalf of the Panel to SBC before the deadline of 11th
September.
The Secretary will liaise with the sub committee members accordingly and
will forward on to them the copy correspondence.
The Secretary tabled a letter of resignation from Mr. Brien. This was
accepted with deep regret and the Secretary was asked to write to Mr. Brien
thanking him for his support and help over many years as a member of the Panel.
The Secretary will ask Mr. Jeffrey- Harland for another representative
from his group to join the Panel.
The Secretary distributed copies of July Communicate.
Treasurer’s Report:
The Treasurers report was tabled. The Panel’s finances stand at £1,457.60
from which the costs of signs, £250, and smaller items of expenditure for the
poster competition have to be paid.
Crime Patterns:
Insp. Colwell confirmed that following his report at the last meeting
that overall crime was down 7.6% on the previous year the lower trend has
continued.
On enquiry from Mr. Sawyer Insp. Colwell confirmed that the figures were
based on reported crime. Further, 25 crimes only, were reported in West Leigh
in June.
Insp. Colwell reported that theft from cars was still a major problem.
Items stolen include Sat Navs and handbags. Areas targeted include the car
parks on Leigh Marshes, Two Tree Island and Belfairs Park.
Vandalism in allotments is still an issue with problems reported in
Springfield Drive and Manchester Drive. NSO’s and PCSO’s have been called in to
patrol and they are working in liaison with the allotment societies.
Patrols have been increased in Priory and Chalkwell Parks helping to
send positive messages to the park’s users.
PC Chris Abbott has recently been appointed the NSO for Chalkwell. There
are now two NSO’s for Chalkwell Marine – PC Paul Tucker remains NSO for Leigh
and West Leigh.
Mr. Smith regretted that there were no emergency facilities in Belfairs
Woods.
Insp. Colwell advised that this was a matter for the council but advised
that PC Geary had done an appreciable amount of work splitting the woods into
zones that have been colour coded. This means that emergency services can
directed more easily to reported incidents.
The Secretary tabled Mr. Holland’s report: -
Communicate is still a headache - the June issue was very late
from the printers. July issue is at the printers - this was completed after an
ultimatum to NSO’s re material. Augusts’ is almost ready to go.
Signs
have been received for Sheltered Watch - thanks for the funding.
Chalkwell
Park Watch meeting has been postponed to 2.30pm on 24th July at the Park View
Suite.
The
following alert message was circulated to ChurchWatch and (in a slightly
different format) to Essex NWA – “NW Administrator post to be axed. This
function will fall within the remit of the new Community Engagement Co-coordinator
when appointed. No timescale available at this time”.
Mr.
Johnson queried whether or not there was still a ChurchWatch operative in
Leigh.
Youth Report:
PC Dewberry advised that the YOS is currently undergoing inspection.
The recent annual Southend Community in Harmony Partnership event went
extremely well and was very well attended.
An exhibit from children in the intensive supervision group won a silver
medal at the recent Hampton Court Flower Show. This directly results from the
group having been allocated an allotment and the work that they have put in.
The ‘early antisocial behaviour initiative’ has commenced with input
from SMAART. When two ‘stop check’ reports from the Police are received warning
letters are sent to parents and if the problems continue contracts between the
YOS and parents/children will be drawn up. The results of these procedures can
be used as evidence for any future ASBO applications.
Any Other Business:
The Secretary advised that the Essex Police Marine Unit is participating
in this year's Fishing Festival on 2nd September.
Date of Next Meeting:
Monday 17th September, 2007 - 7.30 pm.
The meeting closed at 8.55 pm.