ST NEOTS AREA NEIGHBOURHOOD FORUM A G E N D A MONDAY, 11 APRIL 2011 - 7:00 PM THE GUEST HALL, THE PRIORY CENTRE, ST NEOTS Time Allocation 1. WELCOME BY CHAIRMAN 5 minutes 2. NOTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING HELD ON 25TH JANUARY 2011 5 minutes (Pages 1 - 10) 3. ST NEOTS AREA NEIGHBOURHOOD FORUM PROGRESS 10 minutes REPORT (Pages 11 - 12) 4. NEIGHBOURHOOD POLICING PROFILE Presentation from the local Neighbourhood Policing Team on the 15 minutes policing profile for the neighbourhood (January – March 2011). 5. YOUTH DEVELOPMENT A short presentation from Darryl McMurray, Youth Service Locality 10 minutes Co-ordinator, regarding his work in the St Neots area. 6. BUDGET UPDATE CAMBRIDGESHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL To receive an update on the budgetary savings being made by 10 minutes Cambridgeshire County Council – Councillor Ms C Hutton. 7. BUDGET UPDATE HUNTINGDONSHIRE DISTRICT COUNCIL To receive an update on the budgetary savings being made by 10 minutes Huntingdonshire District Council - Councillor T V Rogers, Executive Councillor for Finance and Customer Services. 8. NEIGHBOURHOOD MANAGEMENT IN EYNESBURY Presentation by Alan Haines, Community Services Manager, the 15 minutes Luminus Group. 9. OTHER NEIGHBOURHOOD ISSUES Covering the Parishes of Abbotsley, Buckden, Covington, Diddington, Great Gransden, Great Paxton, Great Staughton, Hail Weston, Kimbolton and Stoneley, Little Paxton, Offord Cluny, Offord Darcy, Southoe & Midloe, St Neots, Tetworth, Tilbrook, Toseland, Waresley-cum-Tetworth and Yelling. An opportunity for those present to raise any issues of local concern 15 minutes in the neighbourhood. 10. PANEL PRIORITISATION The Panel to:- 5 minutes • Prioritise issues emerging from the forum; and • Allocate responsibility where necessary to ensure that issues raised in the forum are dealt with by the appropriate organisation. 11. FUTURE ITEMS An opportunity for those present to raise issues for inclusion on the 5 minutes Agenda for future meetings. 12. DATE OF NEXT MEETING th 25 July 2011 – Great Gransden Reading Room 13. CURRENT CONSULTATIONS th Make sure you can vote in the District Council Elections on 5 May 2011. Anyone who has moved house in the past few months needs to register their new address on the District’s Register of Electorsth in order to be able to vote in the District Council’s Elections on 5 May 2011. Registration forms are available on the Council’s website www.huntingdonshire.gov.uk/registerth , all applications must be received by Thursday 14 April 2011. Postal votes and proxy requests Postal vote applications for the elections in May must be received by 5pm on Thursday 14 April 2011, and proxy requests by 5pm on Thursday 21 April 2011, forms can be downloaded from www.huntingdonshire.gov.uk/postal and www.huntingdonshire.gov.uk/proxy Bag a bargain at Wear it, Love it, Share it! A festival of fashion bargains comes to Winhills School, St Neots from 12pm on Saturday 7 May. The Wear It, Love It, Share It campaign gives you the chance to pick up second hand fashion bargains, enjoy fashion shows, and be pampered with a range of treatments. You can even learn some easy ways to spruce up your wardrobe just in time for the summer. Covering the Parishes of Abbotsley, Buckden, Covington, Diddington, Great Gransden, Great Paxton, Great Staughton, Hail Weston, Kimbolton and Stoneley, Little Paxton, Offord Cluny, Offord Darcy, Southoe & Midloe, St Neots, Tetworth, Tilbrook, Toseland, Waresley-cum-Tetworth and Yelling. Your kids can also enjoy the day with fun workshops, a treasure hunt and face painting. Organised by local councils and charities, entry is free. There are also great prizes up for grabs for coming along, and more if you bring your unwanted clothes with you to donate. To check details go to www.recap.co.uk/wearit If you love clothes, wear them then share them! Please contact Ms Christine Deller, Democratic Services Manager, Tel No: (01480) 388007 / email: [email protected] if you have a general query on any Agenda Item, wish to tender your apologies for absence from the meeting, or would like information on any decision taken by the Forum. Agenda and enclosures can be viewed on the District Council’s website – www.huntingdonshire.gov.uk (under Councils and Democracy). If you would like a translation of Agenda/Minutes/Reports or would like a large text version or an audio version please contact the Democratic Services Manager and we will try to accommodate your needs. Emergency Procedure In the event of the fire alarm being sounded and on the instruction of the Meeting Administrator, all attendees are requested to vacate the building via the closest emergency exit. Covering the Parishes of Abbotsley, Buckden, Covington, Diddington, Great Gransden, Great Paxton, Great Staughton, Hail Weston, Kimbolton and Stoneley, Little Paxton, Offord Cluny, Offord Darcy, Southoe & Midloe, St Neots, Tetworth, Tilbrook, Toseland, Waresley-cum-Tetworth and Yelling. This page is intentionally left blank Agenda Item 2 ST NEOTS NEIGHBOURHOOD FORUM Tuesday, 25 January 2011 EATONS MAIN HALL, EATONS COMMUNITY CENTRE, ST NEOTS PRESENT: Councillor G S E Thorpe - Vice-Chairman (St. Neots Town Council) in the Chair Panel Mr P Chatterton - Luminus Mr R Dykes - Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service Inspector M Greenhalgh - Cambridgeshire Constabulary Councillor I Wilkie - Hail Weston Parish Council Forum 52 members of other authorities, organisations and the public ACTION 1. WELCOME BY CHAIRMAN Councillor G S E Thorpe, Vice-Chairman of the Forum welcomed everyone to the meeting. 2. NOTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING HELD ON 25TH OCTOBER 2010 The Notes of the meeting held on 25th October 2010 were agreed as a correct record. 3. ST NEOTS NEIGHBOURHOOD FORUM PROGRESS REPORT Further to concerns expressed at the previous meeting Cambs County by the local district and parish councillors, it was noted 1 that County Council had offered to meet local representatives on site to look at the options available to improve the safety of small children on Meadow Road, Great Gransden. On behalf of local Members, the Vice-Chairman thanked Inspector Greenhalgh for his assistance in arranging a safety inspection of the Cambs Constab site. Having observed that other outstanding issues – to note would be discussed later in the evening, the remainder of the progress report was noted. 4. CAMBRIDGESHIRE POLICE AUTHORITY - "YOUR POLICE FORCE" With the assistance of a power point presentation, Mr J Pye, a Member of Cambridgeshire Police Authority, invited the Forum to help identify policing priorities for 2011/2012 which would allow the authority to agree a budget sufficient to enable delivery of services within the resources available. As background, Mr Pye advised the Forum that £131.4m would be spent on policing in 2011/12, a sum of £171 per person and that there would be no increase in the policing element of the council tax in that year. He added that the authority had critically examined their operations and would be reducing unnecessary bureaucracy to work more closely with partners. This would include a trial appointments system in local police stations to respond to routine matters. Following questions about the perceived lack of policing of rural and cross-border crime and on the areas of the Constabulary where staff reductions would be targeted, Mr Pye replied that all sectors of the Cambridgeshire Police Force had been asked to achieve savings but that the Authority hoped to ensure that areas of priority policing would be protected. Those present were encouraged to complete a short questionnaire which would assist in setting priorities for2011/12. 5. NEIGHBOURHOOD POLICING PROFILE Inspector M Greenhalgh introduced himself to the Forum as the Senior Inspector for the area and gave a presentation on the work of the Neighbourhood Policing Team and the October – December 2010 profile for the St. Neots and Eynesbury sectors. (Copies of the presentation were circulated at the meeting). In terms of the priority to reduce shoplifting in St Neots town centre, Inspector Greenhalgh reported that his team had achieved a detection rate of 52% as a result 2 of high visibility and plain clothed patrols and by working in partnership with shops and businesses to identify key targets. The Team also had developed a pro-forma statement to enable incidents of shoplifting to be recorded consistently. To seek to combat under-aged drinking and anti-social behaviour in the Riverside Park, St. Neots, the Team had worked with young people and parents to assist them in making lifestyle choices. Evidence had suggested that both parents and other adults were purchasing alcohol on behalf of young people, the latter in return for cash. Use had been made of guardian awareness programme letters and key offenders had been escorted home, with both measures appearing to have made an impact. Lastly, the Inspector reported that consideration was being given to designating the Riverside Park as an area where alcohol could be confiscated, given that the main offenders appeared to be over 18 years old. Regarding the crime statistics for the quarter, the Inspector was disappointed to report that there had been a 3.3% increase in total crime over the corresponding period in 2009. Vehicle crime also had increased by 35.7% due, in the Inspector’s view, to the tendency of car owners to leave lap tops, sat navs and handbags on display period. A reduction in burglary offences was attributed to the imprisonment of key offenders. Although recording an overall decrease in the incidents of anti-social behaviour, it was reported that there had been a slight rise in the Eynesbury and Eaton Socon areas and further research had revealed that 25 of the 28 occurences of anti social behaviour in Eynesbury related to a neighbour dispute at one particular address. In terms of the successes recorded by the Team over the quarter, the Inspector announced that a serial offender for burglary and thefts had been imprisoned for 18 months and he summarised the sentences administered in other cases which had been solved in the area.