Liberal Democrats on Bath and North East Somerset Council have welcomed news that the Council is signing up to the 10:10 climate campaign.

Councillor Ian Gilchrist (Widcombe), who is B&NES Council’s Energy and Climate Change Member Champion, commented:

“I welcome the Council’s move to sign up to the 10:10 climate challenge. I am pleased to note that the recent LibDem conference called on all local authorities to do so, and am therefore delighted that B&NES has lost no time in following the call. At this point it only remains to ask other public and private bodies, such as the RUH, the universities and businesses to consider doing the same. And if enough private individuals do likewise this will increase pressure on our own government to go to the Copenhagen climate change conference with a clear mandate from the British public on a commitment to CO2 reductions.”

Councillor Paul Crossley (Southdown), who has recently signed up to the 10:10 challenge as an individual, said:

“The 10:10 challenge is a simple call to action to everyone in our community. Tackling climate change is something we can all do. My pledge is to reduce the amount of meat and dairy foods in my diet and to have one day a week that is based on a vegan diet. This is in addition to all my other commitments around recycling, transport and energy use.”

Today, all B&NES Councillors received this letter from the most senior Policeman in the Authority:

Dear Colleague

Total crime reduction -7.4% compared to last year
Crime detection 36.5%
Customer satisfaction 85.6%

In my last letter I focused on levels of crime and the significant reductions in some key priority areas over the past few years. In this letter I thought I would focus on the levels of satisfaction expressed by the people who use the service.

One of the most significant messages which came back from those that use our service is the lack of feedback / follow up information they receive after reporting an incident or crime to us. I was very keen on my arrival to make a real difference to level of service we provide in this area. I appointed a person in a new position of Victim Advocate. This person works in the Police Station on behalf of victims of crime ensuring that people are kept up to date and have easy access to information relating to the case. We also put into place a much more rigorous process to ensure officers provide more regular updates in person. These efforts have been well received and as a consequence the levels of satisfaction have improved in respect of follow up information.

Levels of satisfaction for follow up information
Crime type Sept 08 Sept 09
Burglary 77% 90.3%
Vehicle 60.1% 66.7%
Violent 70.1% 77.2%
Anti social behaviour 43.9% 48.9%
Overall (follow up) 66.4% 73.9%

We have the highest overall customer satisfaction results in the force and have moved from 11/15 to 5/15 in our national position. I am particularly pleased that satisfaction for the overall service we provide for burglary is 97.1%. There is still much to do and I am not complacent, but it is good to see that we are moving in the right direction.

A little while ago I put in place a new approach to providing information to people who call us about anti social behaviour incidents. I hope that the 800 or so follow up phone calls we have made will increase people’s satisfaction with the service we provide. It is too early to see the results in these figures, but early indication from the staff making the calls are that people are delighted to be getting contacted. I am looking for a considerable improvement on the current 48.9% above.

Two areas of concern for us, one of which remains a problem, is a current small spate of distraction burglaries whereby elderly people are tricked into letting people into their homes only to find they have been conned and some of their property has been stolen. We are constantly working with the various agencies who link into elderly people to increase awareness and to put in place preventative measures. Equally we are putting a lot of energy into trying to catch the people responsible. The second issue relates to two robberies on students in the Lower Bristol Road on two separate nights. We immediately mounted an operation and a third robbery occurred on Friday night. Our response was immediate and with the use of a police dog and some swamping of the area by officers two men were arrested nearby and property and weapons were found. I can’t go into detail for operational reasons, but I am hopeful that these people will be charged and go to court.

Kind regards.

Yours sincerely

Gary Davies
Chief Superintendent
B&NES District Commander

Children would be banned from using sunbeds in Wales under new laws to be proposed by the assembly government.

Unstaffed sunbed salons would also be banned under regulations planned by Wales’ Health Minister Edwina Hart.

It follows the case of a 10-year-old girl from Port Talbot who suffered burns after spending 16 minutes on a sunbed at an unsupervised salon.

To read the full story click here.

(first printed at www.bbc.co.uk)

At approximately 11pm on Friday September the 25th, unknown person(s) have caused damage to a motor vehicle in Englishcombe Lane by smashing the windscreen and breaking off a wing mirror, before running off towards Bloomfield Road.

If you have information about any crime, phone the police on 0845 456 7000 or you can call anonymously to the independent charity CRIMESTOPPERS 0800 555 111. For general information about Neighbourhood Watch nationally see the www.mynhw.co.uk website.

Between 6.30 and 7pm on Friday September the 18th, unknown person(s) have gained entry to a multi-occupancy residence on Monksdale Road by unknown means, and have then forced entry to one of the flats and removed property.

Also in Monksdale Road, unknown persons have removed a transceiver box from outside of a residence. This occurred between 5 and 6.30pm on Sunday September the 20th.

At approximately 10pm on Saturday September the 19th, unknown person(s) have caused damage to a residence at The Oval by throwing a brick through the front door.

At approximately 8pm on Friday September the 18th, residents of a property on Sladebrook Avenue noticed an unknown male open and attempt to enter the side door. The offender then noticed the residents and ran off to the back lane of Southdown Avenue.

If you have any information regarding this incident, please contact the Police on 0845 456 7000. Alternatively you could contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.

If you have information about any crime, phone the police on 0845 456 7000 or you can call anonymously to the independent charity CRIMESTOPPERS 0800 555 111. For general information about Neighbourhood Watch nationally see the www.mynhw.co.uk website.

The announcement to delay the final decision on the South West Regional Spatial Strategy has been welcomed by Bath Liberal Democrat MP Don Foster.

The decision has been reached after a High Court judgment on the East of England RSS concluded that reasonable alternatives had not been properly tested. Now the South West’s plans have to be reviewed to see whether they may also fail this test.

Commenting, Don said,

“This is a real shot across the bows for the government’s barking mad housing proposals. Although the RSS is not dead, it gives us even more opportunity to get these unreasonable targets altered.

“Earlier this year I revealed that the Examination in Public visit to Bath was merely a 45 minute whistle-stop tour, and it seems this was the case in the East of England as well. The whole process has been flawed from start to finish.

“I will continue to fight for more appropriate targets. We do need new homes, especially affordable ones, but we should not be destroying green belt land to build to a barking mad Whitehall-imposed target.”