Tuesday 27Th March 2018
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St Austell Town Council Anti-Social Behaviour Summit – Tuesday 27th March 2018 Council Chamber, St Austell One Stop Shop, 39 Penwinnick Road, St Austell, PL25 5DR Apologies Abraham, Pam – Holy Trinity Church Bayes, Jez – Cornwall Council, Alcohol Strategy Lead Brown, Malcolm – Cornwall Councillor/Town Councillor Double, Steve - MP Dymond, Kerry – The House, Young People Cornwall Gard, Ed – Inspector, Devon & Cornwall Police Necke, Sarah – Cornwall Council Cooper, Marc – Brannel School Flint, Rev Howard – Holy Trinity French, Tom – Cornwall Councillor/Town Councillor Hamley, Jon – Devon & Cornwall Police Kneller, John – St Austell BID McCoan, Sara – Licensee representative Pears, Richard – Cornwall Councillor/Town Councillor Walker, Graham – Mayor of St Austell Present Bray, Gareth – Street Pastors Bull, Jackie – Cornwall Councillor/Town Councillor Cardigan, Richard – Penrice School Catherall, Helen – Addaction Cohen, Anita - St Austell Town Council Davies, Michelle – Cornwall Council Double, Anne – Office of MP Drummond-Smith, Ian (Superintendent) – D&C Police Frost, Sara - Addaction Gofton, Zoe – Community Safety Team Gwilliams, Sara – St Austell Town Council Hamilton, Vicki – SAHA (Freshstart) Harrison, Sam – Poltair School 1 Heath, Kate - Cosgarne Hernandez, Alison – Police & Crime Commissioner Heyward, Sandra – Cornwall Councillor/Town Councillor Hitchens, Malcolm – Liberty Housing (formerly DCH) Hurst, Richard – White River Place & St Austell BID King, Gary – St Austell Town Council Kirchin, Andrew – Office of the Police & Crime Commissioner Lewis, Mark – Chamber of Commerce Liney, Caroline - Addaction Miller, Annette – St Austell BID Mould, Simon – Cornwall Council Nicholson, Helen – Cornwall Council Niles, Aaron – St Austell Wetherspoons Oxenham, Nicky – St Austell Town Council Palmer, Brian – St Austell Town Council (Chairman) Pearce, Vashti – D&C Police Problem Solver Pooley, David – St Austell Town Council Potts, Eve - Addaction Putko, Malcolm - Cosgarne Styles, Tim – St Austell Town Council Taylor, Chris – Cornwall College Teague, Sue – ABC Residents Association Toms, Helen – Cornwall Council Vokes, Yasmin – D&C Police Williams, Stephen – Ocean Housing Introductions The Chairman welcomed everybody to the meeting and invited the group to introduce themselves. Notes from the meeting dated 16th November 2017 The notes from the meeting dated 16th November 2017 were agreed as a correct record. Actions Arising from meeting dated 16th November 2017 HN advised that Cornwall Council’s Licensing section require evidence-based intelligence before they can carry out test purchases or review high strength alcohol sales in perceived problem establishments. DP advised that the agency patrols are ongoing including reactive patrols to areas where ASB evidence has been found. 2 Town Council update (David Pooley, Town Clerk) DP provided some background information on the setting up of the St Austell Town Council Summit and outlined some of the successes to date. CCTV DP advised that he had recently visited the Newquay CCTV suite with the MP and representatives from the Police & Crime Commissioner’s Office. He explained that the CCTV suite in Newquay, which monitors the towns of Newquay and St Austell are manned almost 24 hours a day and that there might be some funding from the Police & Crime Commissioner to help fund some of the planned upgrades. He advised that Newquay and St Austell Town Councils had agreed recently not to join the Tolvadden scheme and that a business plan was being put together to try to encourage other towns to join the Newquay operating system. He praised the team at Newquay who have a good local knowledge of both towns and individuals of interest to the police. Action: DP to submit a business plan/bid to the PCC for improved CCTV Parks and Gardens DP explained that the Town Council are working very hard to bring the parks and gardens and grass verges in and around the town up to a high standard in the hope that people will be proud of their town and respect it more. He advised that on the whole, incidents of ASB on Town Council property had been quiet with the exception of a couple of notable drug paraphernalia finds. He advised that the Town Council is investing in park upgrades and had recently completed the refurbishment of The Meadows. Public Conveniences DP advised that the ASB issues in the toilets had reduced over recent months with any drug use activity confined to the baby changing unit or disabled toilet. He advised that the toilets had recently been painted and that the Police and other agencies carry out regular patrols in the area which appeared to be a good deterrent. 3 Young People Cornwall DP advised that Young People Cornwall are Kier’s chosen charity for this year and that Kier and their sub-contractors had recently carried out a £50,000 refurbishment of the building to enable Young People Cornwall’s Administration Team to re-locate from Truro to St Austell. He advised that he was currently negotiating suitable lease agreements with a view to Young People Cornwall moving in to the premises around May/June time. The Chief Executive of Young People Cornwall is hoping that The House will become a centre of excellence for young people in mid Cornwall and a trail blazer for other such initiatives in the east and west of the county. He added that the Town Council had also committed a £20,000 grant to Young People Cornwall for the next 2 years to help them draw down additional grant funding. Last year’s grant funding from the Town Council helped them to attract an £80,000 grant from Children in Need. Police update Superintendent Ian Drummond-Smith explained that he is the Police Commander for East Cornwall and is committed to tackling ASB. He advised that he works closely with Cornwall Council’s Anti-Social behaviour case officers and asked HT to provide an update on the current situation. HT advised that she covers 2 Police Sectors tackling both adult and youth disorder and provided the following statistics: Over 18 7 persons on her watch list for ASB issues, 2 of which are on Acceptable Behavioural Contracts. She advised that there is nobody on a Criminal Behaviour Order in the St Austell sector. Under 18 17 young people are on her watch list, 5 of which are on Acceptable Behavioural Contracts. She advised that she works closely with the schools and The House to try to provide young people causing issues with the holistic support that they need before going down the formal sanctions route. She explained that the legal processes for prosecuting young people are very strict and all alternatives have to be explored before the courts will sanction any action. 4 I D-S explained the powers available under the existing DPPO (Alcohol ban) does not make it illegal to drink in a public place (St Austell town centre). The offence only arises once a Constable asks you to stop drinking and the drinker fails to stop. I D-S advised that the crime statistic reporting arrangements have changed recently which has resulted in current crime statistics not comparing with other years on a like for like basis. He explained that the St Austell Sector was large area and that there had been a rise in recorded crime of 11 ½%. Some of this is a genuine rise, some of it is due to different recording. I D-S acknowledged the frustrations of a lack of visible officers in and around the town but re-assured the group that if there was not a more high profile crime issue to deal with at the time, officers would attend ASB issues in the town (drunks/begging etc) and that PC Yasmin Volkes would do her best to patrol the town on a regular basis. He advised that they are fully staffed at St Austell and that there should be no vacancies in the summer. Devon & Cornwall Police are being allocated an additional 115 Police Officers and St Austell’s allocation is awaited. He advised that he hopes an additional 1 or 2 officers might arrive but this is to be advised but would be really helpful for the Neighbourhoods Team and help to tackle some youth ASB in St Blazey. He thanked the Town Council for improving the environment across the town and agreed that civic pride does have a positive effect on crime levels. I D-S highlighted the graffiti in Trinity Street bus shelter and wondered if this could be part of an improvement project. KH advised that she could arrange for a team from Cosgarne to paint the bus shelter. GK advised that he could supply some paint. Action: KH to liaise with St Austell BID about permissions for painting the Trinity Street Bus Shelter. Arising from the above RH expressed concern about the issues in the town centre during the summer months in recent years and the need to have a Police presence in the town from Easter onwards. I D-S advised that he would put patrols in the town centre over the Easter period and review the policing arrangements for the summer season. 5 Action: I D-S to task some resource to the town centre for Easter and review the policing arrangements in St Austell for the summer season. Concern was expressed about the waiting times on the 101 number. I D-S acknowledged that there are peaks and troughs with the 101 number and advised that there is a web-chat facility available which goes straight through to a 101 officer which appears to works quite well. It is hoped that a call back system will be introduced shortly. I D-S stressed the need to dial 999 in the event of an emergency if there is a threat to life or an offender(s) is still in the vicinity. The average blue light response time is 20 mins.