Horsham District Neighbourhood Watch Association – HDNHWA
Minutes of the Fourth Annual General Meeting of the above held on Thursday 13 October, 2016 at The Steyning Centre, Fletcher’s Croft, Steyning, West Sussex BN44 3XZ
Present Apologies / Absences
Andrew Moffat – Chair Federation, other HDNHW Assocs.
Michael Neale – Vice Chair John Wright, MBE
Arthur Carden – Secretary Derek Pratt
Marc Bryant Terry Rickards Tony George Pam Davey Shirley Mitchell
Ken Broomfield Sussex Police
Steven Guzy Sgt. Martin Drabble
Andrew Morgan Sgt. Rachel Mundy Paula Morgan Mark Rendall
Penny Groome Louise Hull Chris Whitton
Gill Muncey HDNHWA Committee, ACs, SCs
Jeanne May Martin Bruton Ann Long Tricia Lane
Patricia Grimster Barry Lane
Janet Garwood Pauline Kentall
1 Rory Dickinson Diane Morrison Robin Johnson Diana Ellis
Deputy Lieutenant John Williams, MBE David Trowbridge Chief Inspector Howard Hodges Lee Pratt
Inspector Claire McKnight Doreen Simpson
Helen Bubloz Penny Bullen Barbara Peniazak Jan Walshe
Agenda Items and Summary Minutes
1. Chairman Andrew Moffat’s welcome and opening remarks, list of apologies and absences - Minutes of the previous AGM Minutes were accepted (Proposed: Marc Bryant, Seconded: Paula Lane) - Special opening remarks and welcome to Mr. John Williams, MBE – Queen’s Representative and Deputy Lieutenant for West Sussex, and to Chief Inspector Howard Hodges, District Commander for Horsham, Worthing and Adur, Sussex Police.
2. Sussex Police update – Chief Inspector Howard Hodges
CI Hodges gave a very informative forty minute summarised version of Sussex Police’s Road show presentation “Sussex Police in 2020 – Working for a safer Sussex”. There were several highlights and information items including:
- Sussex NHW has between 600-700 Coordinators and 20,000 members; NHW is held in high esteem in many quarters and plays an increasingly vital support role to the communities it supports as well as the Police.
- Special mention and credit was given to Arthur Carden and Tony George for their contributions to the ongoing success of Horsham
2 District NHW Association, as well as all NHW members and Police.
- Sussex Police continues its ”Transforming Local Policing” initiative in light of cuts in budget, manpower and general resources; Sussex Police Chief Constable Giles York’s remit of having a “Fit For Purpose” force throughout the County underpins the initiative and actions.
- Cost savings of around £50M had been achieved by 2015; a further £35M of savings needs to be achieved by 2020. The current UK Police budget from the Government for the period 2015 to 2018 is £12Billion, with Sussex Police working to around £250Million.
- The number of PCSOs for the District is ~30, all of whom continue to play a critical role in supporting regular Officers and the Communities. The role of PCSOs has been enhanced with an increased focus on problem solving in communities and basic investigation work; the structure of PCSO support is now pretty much non-geographic in nature.
- Investigation work continues to be restructured and more proportionate to public interest and victim-centred responses. The Sussex Police “Resolution Centre” is handling around 60,000 incidents per year with a multi-layered support structure comprising (1) PCSOs, (2) Neighbourhood Policing Teams (NPTs) and (3) Crime Prevention Teams – priority is typically given to vulnerable locations / communities.
- The “Partnership Decision Model” is a significant initiative in terms of fostering greater partnership and collaboration between the Police, Sussex County Councils, Fire Service, the Sussex Joint Action Group (JAG) and other Partnership groups.
- Sussex Police is also working on its “Estate Strategy”, looking at future needs for real estate, buildings etc.
A full copy of CI Hodges presentation can be obtained from Arthur Carden.
3 3. West Sussex Lieutenancy - presentation by Mr. John Williams, MBE
John gave an informative and light-hearted presentation about the role of the Lord-Lieutenant of West Sussex, Mrs. Susan Pyper, who was appointed to the role in 2008 by Her Majesty The Queen; John is one of forty three serving Deputy Lieutenants in the Lord-Lieutenancy Office who assists the Lord-Lieutenant in upholding the role of upholding the dignity of The Crown and act as the Sovereign’s personal representative in the county.
A full overview can be seen on the West Sussex Lieutenancy website.
4. Question and Answer session a) Are PCSOs still able to attend MHW meetings?
Ans: (from CI Hodges) – in the main, yes – but only if other priorities allow; gone are the days when PCSOs could readily attend NHW Scheme “set-up” meetings or other regular meetings. b) Is there any coordination effort between Response Centres?
Ans: (from CI Hodges) – Yes, there is a constant desire and effort to coordinate intelligence and resources wherever and whenever possible; not only between Resolution Centres but Police Forces as well; refer back to the “Partnership Decision Model” item mentioned earlier. c) Issues with callers to the 101 non-emergency being kept on hold and/or being transferred to other numbers but then no response. d) How can NHW schemes and members help the Police?
Ans: (from CI Hodges) – Maintain communications, encourage all NHW members to report suspicious activity as all information, no matter how trivial or minor it may be on its own, can help builder a bigger picture of criminal activity and trends.
4 5. Approval of annual accounts – Steve Guzy With David Trowbridge having stood down as Treasurer, Steve Guzy presented an overview of the HDNHWA accounts for the period 01 September 2015 to 31 August 2016. Current bottom-line balance is £3,631.58.
The proposal to formally approve the audited and signed-off accounts was accepted (Proposed: Marc Bryant, Seconded: Tony George). The proposal to appoint Auditor S.J. Clark was accepted (Proposed: Arthur Carden, Seconded: Ken Broomfield).
6. Nominations to and Election of the Committee The proposal to elect Committee Officers and Members en-masse was accepted (Proposed: Marc Bryant, Seconded: Tony George).
All current serving Committee members were re-elected (no members gave notice of wishing to stand down), as follows:
Ken Broomfield, Martin Bruton, Marc Bryant, Diana Ellis, Tony George, Brian Jacobs, Pauline Kentall, Tricia Lane, Barry Lane, Shirley Mitchell, Andrew Morgan, Paula Morgan, Diane Morrison.
The proposal to re-elect the following Officers of the Committee to their positions was accepted (Proposed: Ken Broomfield, Seconded: Marc Bryant).
Chairman – Andrew Moffat Vice-Chairman – Michael Neale Secretary – Arthur Carden Treasurer – Steven Guzy
7. Any Other Business
(7a) Ideas for fund raising were requested; newly elected Treasurer Steve Guzy described in brief a few ideas he has for raising the visibility of NHW around the community district, swell as ideas for actual fund raising as well.
(7b) Paula Morgan raised a few ideas about Junior Citizen, which will be discussed further at the next Committee Meeting on Monday 14 November.
5 (7c) Marc Bryant proposed the formation of an “Events and Media” sub- committee to work specifically on events planning,advertising, digital marketing and the like.
8. Next Committee Meeting
The AGM closed at 9:50pm with a reminder of the next HDNHWA Committee Meeting on Monday 14 November 2016, 7.15pm in Southwater PC offices, Beeson House.
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