[review] Neighbourhood Watch Meeting - 2nd March 2009

Bankeyfields Neigbourhood Watch Meeting March 3rd 2009

The Neighbourhood Watch team would like to say a big thank you to everyone that attended. A big thanks also goes out to Steve Morris, North Staffordshire's Chief Neighbourhood Watch Co-ordinator, for coming out of hours, it was a pleasure to put a face to all of those emails.

Steve Morris Neighbourhood Watch Manager
Steve talked about why we have the need for NHW's, stating there were 3 main purposes.

1. Preventing crime
2. Fear of crime
3. Promote police public relations

I would like to add a fourth point and that is to promote community spirit.

Steve also talked about the previous Bankeyfeilds NHW, and how they fought to get the open space landscaped and the park built. It would be interesting to know the figures for the project, the full pot, how long the maintenance contract will last for, how much it is worth, and so on. It would be good to get all of those figures into public domain.

Alerts
The Watch Out "OWL" system was also discussed where by alerts are sent to NHW coordinators on a regular basis. We should soon be getting these alerts and will be passing these alerts straight onto the website. Any alerts that are deemed high risk will also be emailed out to all registered users of the site, so if you've not registered already and want to receive these alerts simply look for the register button (top right)

Summerbank School Overgrown Garden
Summerbank school has received aprox £9k to landscape area behind estate. Some work has already started clearing out the area.

Dealing with problems and posting your own complaints
We also talked about the best way of getting police and council action on reoccurring events. From the police's point of view they might not be life threatening, or the council's point of view might not be immediate.
However by giving your complaints, you are letting the police and council build a picture of the problem. See numbers below.

We would also recommend passing any complaints to the council or the police onto the NHW by posting directly onto the NHW forum, or using the contact NHW form on the website and emailing the details to the NHW coordinators (again through the website).

If you spot a problem then call
Police None-Emergency number: 0300 123 44 55
Anti Social Behaviour Hot line: 0800 561 5610
Council: 01782 234 234 or enquiries@stoke.gov.uk Use this number to report any problems such as glass, park issues etc.

Residents at the meeting did voice concerns that council workers did not know where Bankeyfields or Bankeyfields Park are, so it's worth stating between Summer Bank School and John Rhodes - ST6 5XA

Community Clean Up

NHW will try to organise a community clean up which will hopefully see plenty of residents coming out to clean up the openspace. We will be asking the council for equipment but will need support of the community if this is going to work. We hope two things will happen.

The community can work together to make the open space a better place. As well certain folk will see that we can act as one and will think again before choosing to let their animals foul the area or throw glass in and around the park.

Crime Alerts

With burglaries and car crime down 60% in the city, more people are being caught out to scammers, both online and at home.

The advice given was to turn away any cold callers.

Be on guard against gas and electric sales man, who face heavy sales targets and are liberal with the truth.

Also be on the watch out for so called students selling original paintings, in virtually all cases the work is not original.

Lastly be wary of people trying to sell at your door, as in some cases all they've done is observe what they can see in the home and sell the details on. We are not saying this about everyone that comes knocking but please be on your guard.

If you have any experience of any scams please let the NHW know, or post straight onto the website.

Issues from the last meeting

William Coltman Way alley way. The council sent a clean up team to remove all of the rubbish from the alley way. We have not had a full update from the resident who made the complaint, but we do believe things have got better.
The rubbish littering Reginald Mitchell Way was also brought to the attention of the council who reacted pretty much straight away with a clean up.

The park has apparently been tidied but in our opinion to a very low standard.
We are informed that compared to other parks in the city it is very good.
Please keep calling 234 234 to report any glass on the park (remember build a picture for the council)

Action involving the entrance/exit to the estate has also started in the past few weeks, both Web Monkey and Tony Duncan arranged for a journalist from Staffs Live to do a report on the problems faced by residents.
The problem has also started to be raised with the council again, so hopefully we will get a more positive result this time around.
One issue that we hoped would have been actioned quickly was the cutting of the grass embankment, allowing for better visibility when looking up Reginald Mitchell Way.

Council Adoption of the estate
The whole of the bankeyfields estates has yet to be adopted. We are still awaiting an email from Joan Walley. Tony Duncan will also be posting a standard letter and an address so that all residents can send a barrage of emails to try and get the estates adopted. Look out for more updates from Tony.

Newsletter
Does anyone want to contribute to the first Bankeyfields newsletter? It doesn't matter what it is. Birthday announcements, any good deeds, or good behaviour, hobbies you want to share or belong to a group like the cubs that you want to tell us about. Please let us know.

STOP THE PRESS

We've recently had word that Staffordshire Police have taken on board what we put to them in the first meeting of the new NHW and have started a mobile speed camera campaign to deter speeding motorists.