Safer Neighbourhoods
Rural East/North Neighbourhood Action Group
Notes of Annual Meeting held on Thursday 22nd November 2012 at
Chicheley Village Hall at 7.30 pm
Present
Robert Ruck-KeeneChicheleyChair
Karen GossEmberton
Nigel RichardsMoulsoe
David HuntNorth Crawley
Ken FoxleyStoke Goldington
Keith McLeanSherington Ward Councillor
Doug StevensWarrington
Gillian NicolWeston Underwood
David LivingstoneSafer Neighbourhoods Delivery Group
Rob WardMilton Keynes Council
Neil CoolmanThames Valley Police
Andy PerryThames Valley Police
Pat FlynnThames Valley Police
Apologies
David TomkinLavendon
Kate PorterLavendon
Graham HarrisonWarrington
Item / Notes / Actions1 / Welcome and Introduction
The Chair welcomed everyone.
2 / Apologies
As listed above.
3 / Notes of last meeting
The Minutes were signed by the Chairman.
Future of NAG – It was agreed at the last meeting to look at the future of NAG with Robert commenting that the support from Thames Valley Police and MKC were excellent, especially Andy Perry who attended meetings even when he was supposed to be on holiday. Robert stated that there was a need to get Sherington involved as they did not take part in the NAG. It was felt that the NAG was a good way of utilising both MKC and TVP resources rather than them attending individual parish council meetings. Robert went on to say that Andy Perry was responsible for 24 villages and that generally most parish councils had the same issues unlike other parts of MK and crimes were usually a one off basis rather than regular. The NAG had invited Inspector Coolman and David Livingstone of the Safer Neighbourhoods Delivery Group to assist in giving advice.
David thanked Robert for inviting him and stated that it was encouraging to see a significant support from parish councils and he fully understood that the rural and urban parishes faced different problems. David continued by commenting that the SNDG was part of Safer MK and if you went into the MKC website and searched for Safer MK, you would find many pages of information that supported the urban and rural NAGs. David stated that there was funding available for projects but applications should be submitted quickly.
Neil addressed the meeting and stated that MKC had been making cuts and that a review process of the NAGs was being undertaken and David was involved in this process. Thames Valley Police remain committed to working with all NAGs. Neil commented that the NAGs that perform best were ones that had a very specific priority and that NAGs failed where the priorities were very broad and lost community support.
David commented that everyone was able to sign up to Thames Valley Police Alert. Ken commented that this had been advertised in the parish magazine and on the parish notice board but that you could not sign up for specific areas. David went on to speak about a NAG survey that had been undertaken. Robert commented that there was £700 in the Rural East/North NAG budget held by Weston Underwood Parish Council. David suggested that a survey should be undertaken. Andy commented that a survey was undertaken in Newport Pagnell but logistically it was difficult to do as the rural area took up half of Milton Keynes. David suggested completing a survey via a website or a free post address. Andy felt this was an excellent idea and stated that it would be good to get some residents attending from the villages that weren’t currently represented. Neil remarked that it didn’t necessarily need to be parish council representatives attending NAG as residents often had different views.
Andy remarked that the issue of pot holes was never going to be resolved but the NAG had managed to get the 40mph speed limit implemented in Chicheley. Neil commented that the NAG didn’t have to have 3 priorities. The budget for the whole of the NAGs for next year is £6,000. There will be a safety parish fund of £100,000 which is there for parishes to put forward suggestions for local safety issues. David reported that there were certain criteria to be met to receive funding (community safety, match funded, a business plan to justify how the money will be spent).
Robert remarked that it was important to convince volunteers to keep SID operating as £15,000 was required to update the software. Rob commented that the SIDs were for the whole of MK which included two vehicles and two pieces of equipment. Neil stated that it would be good if it could be given support by the majority of parishes. It was felt a good idea for the issue of SIDs to be an agenda item for the North East Area Forum Meeting in March.
4 / Election of Chair and Vice Chairman – Rob Ward took over the Chair and thanked Robert for his hard work and Karen for the taking of the Minutes. Robert Ruck-Keene had been nominated as Chairman by David Hunt and seconded by Ken Foxley. Karen Goss had been nominated as Vice Chairman by David Hunt and seconded by Ken Foxley.
5 / Matters arising
Priorites – Robert questioned whether the NAG wished to change its priorities following the comments made by Neil and David. Andy suggested just having speeding as a priority with Robert commenting that other issues could be dealt with as they occur. Rob suggested that the issue of the SIDs was raised at the NE Area Forum under AOB, Ken to raise this to gauge support. Andy commented that he felt that speeding issues mostly affected the rural areas and SIDs would be better supported by the rural parishes. Rob stated that MKC used to have 3 people that deployed the SIDs and that basic manual handling training would have to be provided for their deployment. At the present time, the SIDs run for 3 days but with the upgrade would run for 5-7 days. Andy recommended that Rob finds out the actual running cost of the SIDs as the NAG needed to find out whether it would be viable for the rural NAGs to operate it or whether it would need to be taken to other NAGs, Rob commented that there were 6 or 7 SIDs. Andy stated that he did not believe that the protocol for Speed Watch was the same for SID. It was agreed that input needed to be forthcoming from Adrian Carden. Rob to speak to Adrian. / KF
RW
6 / Problem solving process
6.1 / SPEEDING
SIDs – Reported on above.
7. / Any other business
Lavendon bus shelter – David had requested that the NAG be made aware of the bus shelter in Lavendon being used as a urinal. Rob commented that this needed to be reported to environmental services for cleaning.
Flytipping – Rob stated that any fly tipping needed reporting. Robert stated that there was no problem in getting MKC to clear it up but wondered about the possible use of cameras to detect the culprits. Robert stated that the area in question would be between Grange Farm and Brickyard Cottage.
Pot holes – It was noted that there were pot holes along the Chicheley road.
Subsidence on A509 – Rob reported that the dip in the A509 would hopefully be repaired next week and that the repair would take between 3 and 5 hours.
Rave at Weston Underwood – Andy reported that there were about 1,000 people at the rave between Weston Underwood and Ravenstone and that two people had been arrested on bail for causing a nuisance and two other people had been interviewed and reported.
Parking on pavements – Ken stated that he was not sure how to report this. Andy stated that he had not received any telephone calls regarding this in the past two weeks and that the problem with reporting it was that by the time an officer came out, the vehicle had more than likely moved.
Overgrown shrubbery, Warrington – Graham commented that there were some trees that were obscuring road signs, causing pedestrians to walk on the road.
NAG Survey – Robert stated that he would get some information for the next meeting.
7 / Date of next meeting
The next Meeting will be on Thursday 17th January at Newton Blossomville Reading Room at 7.30pm.
Possible future dates
Thursday 17th January 2013
Thursday 14th March
Thursday 9th May
Thursday 4th July / ALL