Good news from the Police: Crime fall, detection and satisfaction up…

We have recently had our monthly newsletter from Superintendent Gary Davies who is the most senior police officer in Bath and North east Somerset. He states in his newsletter that:

-8.3% crime reduction compared to last year
35.3% detection rate
86.5% customer satisfaction rate

This is good news and Superintendent Gary Davies focus on improving the level of satisfaction of those who use the police service is working. Local the police have made a number of changes which include introducing a local phone number for victims to ring, the role of a victim advocate who contacts victims to make sure their needs are met, as well as working on a cultural shift by my staff to be more victim centred. As a result safisfaction levels have risen between July 2008 to July 2009, as outlined below:

Burglary: From 89.7% to 97.1%
Racist Incidents: 77.8% to 82.8%
Vehicle Crime: 75.8% to78.5%
Violent Crime: 78.4% to 82.6%
Antisocial Behaviour: 65.1% to 70.0%
Overall: 81.6% to 86.5%

It is very pleasing to see such improvement and the police plan to focus on the follow up service for antisocial behaviour .

The 97.1% result in satisfaction with our response to burglary is excellent, buy providing excellent follow up services to victims of burglary does not take away what an awful experience it is. This needs to be alongside the obvious task of trying to catch those responsible.

Finally is is excellent news that the overall crime detection rate at 35.3% remains the highest in the Force and is now third highest in the comparison out of 15 other similar areas across the country.

Proposed expansion of car club scheme to Canterbury Road

The Council is proposing to install a new Car Club parking bay at various locations in the city including on Canterbury Road (adjacent to 56 Winchester Road), here in Oldfield Park.

These bays will be for the sole purpose of parking and storage of cars connected with the Car Club Scheme. The Car Club bays will be subject to a Traffice Regulation Order, and parking will not be permitted for any vehicles not contected to this scheme.

Local residents have 15 days to comment or object to these proposals. You can email your comments or objections to parking@bathnes.gov.uk by 21st August 2009.

Other locations for new bays include: Bathwick Hill, Kennington Road, St. Michael’s Road, Sydney Buildings, Sydney Place, The Circus, Triangle East, Vane Street and St. James’s Square.

Mobile Library cuts back down by Council: maybe…

Councillor Terry Gazzard, Tory Cabinet Member with responsibility for Libraries, has confirmed that he will not be implementing the published proposal to cut the mobile library service (Cabinet Member decision E2015).

However, Cllr Gazzard has indicated that he will now be requiring Council Officers to draw up revised consultation proposals with a range of options, including the option of status quo.

If Cllr Gazzard is to consult on a range of options including the staus quo, surely the other options will either be therefore to increase the level of the service or to cut the level of service. The Tory Cabinet on the Council must use this revised consultation to truly listen to local communities on how the service can best meet the needs of service users.

The previous announcement of Tory cuts can be found here.

Combe Down Councillors back Council’s proposals to transfer management of Firs Field to a Charitable Trust

Cllrs Roger Symonds and Cherry Beath now believe that they have enough information to give an in-principle welcome to B&NES Council’s proposals.

Cllr Symonds said:

“There have been many questions from us and from the public about the proposals. Most have been satisfactorily answered. We recognise that there will still be many people suspicious of this change, but we can identify only advantages. Outwardly, we believe that the community will see little difference.”

Cllr Cherry Beath said:

“It is the Community’s desire to protect and safeguard the Firs over the long term, and we would not be recommending this to the Community if we did not believe there are tangible benefits over and above the current position. It is in the Council’s interest to make the new arrangements work better for the Field because they wish also to solve the problem of keeping Bath Rugby on the Rec.”

Please report cold-callers to the Police

The Police are asking residents to report any instance of cold-callers knocking on doors trying to sell cleaning materials and the like. In some cases they state that they are ex-prisoners trying to earn an honest living. Although many of these visitors are genuine, there are concerns regarding the activities of some of them. The Police would like to check these peddlars have the relevant licences and are legitimate traders.

As always, check that any back doors are locked before answering the front and always use a door chain if possible. Don’t let anyone you don’t know or aren’t expecting enter your home.

If you are visited by any suspicious callers, please report it to the Police on 0845 456 7000.

Fire Chiefs warn of illegally parked cars

Fire chiefs in Bath are warning about the dangers of illegally parked cars after emergency services had trouble reaching a fire.

Crews were called to a kitchen fire in Seymour Road, Camden at 9.10am on Friday.

As the house is round the corner from Bath Fire Station, crews assumed they would be on the scene in a matter of minutes.

But they were hampered by illegally parked cars on Snow Hill, which resulted in one fire engine becoming stuck and unable to reach the house.The watch manager and one of the fire crew ran to the house, where a man had managed to use the family’s fire blanket to extinguish the fire on the hob.All three people in the house had to be treated for the effects of smoke inhalation.

But the situation could have been much worse and fire chiefs are warning people to make sure they leave enough room for emergency vehicles to get through when they park.

Avon Fire & Rescue Service’s group manager for B&NES, Rob Davis, said:

“Thankfully the family were alerted to the fire by their smoke alarm, so were given that vital early warning that they were in potential danger.

“Every second counts when it comes to a fire and the heavy parking caused considerable difficulties for our firefighters trying to get to the scene.

“We have a number of areas in Avon with narrow streets, Bath in particular causes challenges for emergency service vehicles.

“We’re appealing to people to ensure they think before they park, especially on junctions, whether an emergency vehicle could get through.”

Although the gentleman was extremely brave to tackle the fire himself, we would always advise that as soon as someone finds a fire, they shut the door to the room where the fire is, get out of the property and call 999.”

(Taken from the Bath Chronicle, last week’s edition)

Student rewarded for best ‘Bloomin’ Garden’, but minimum garden maintainance standards are needed

The winner of the 5th ‘Bath’s Bloomin’ Students’ Garden competition this year is Ronald Bradberry, a PhD researcher in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Bath, for his flat in Beaufort East.

The competition was originally set up by Cllr Shaun McGall and is organised by the Student Community Partnership, made up of the Council and student and staff representatives of the University of Bath and Bath Spa University.

James Turner and housemates from the University of Bath came second closely with Fiona Haines from Bath Spa University third.

This year the competition was sponsored by Roman City and Trustease Lettings and the entries were judged by Graham Evans from the Council’s Parks dept.

It is great that this annual competition is now in its 5th Year, and those who enter the competetion do a great job with their gardens.

However, in our honest opinion the mast majority of gardens in privately rented houses across Oldfield Park are not maintained well by their landlords/ladies.

The Council really now needs to work with the ‘good’ landlords and letting agencies, such as Roman City, to work towards the introduction of garden maintainance standards in the Council’s HMO Accreditation Scheme which cover nearly 2,000 HMOs in Oldfield Park and the wider Council area. Please email us with your thought on this idea.

Tories attack local readers

A consultation exercise is soon to be carried out by the Council on cutting the mobile library service. Many of these cuts fall on villages, but they also fall on communities in Bath. In Foxhill, for instance, the two library stops in Hawthorn Grove and in Bradford Park are to be cut. Mobile library visits to Twerton will be cut altogether.

These cuts fall on the least well off and most vulnerable in our communities. Getting to the central library by bus is too expensive. The mobile library service gives easy access to books, in particular, for children from the poorest households. This administration seems unable to recognise the importance of making books available to our less well off residents.

This move by the Conservative Administration is about shaving off a relatively small amount of fuel costs, and we are concerned that a valuable service that goes out to residential areas is under threat of reduction. The danger is that some people might well be put off altogether from using the library.

The mobile library will disappear from Twerton altogether. What message does that give to youngsters eager to improve their reading skills? Email us or contact us via the website and let us know your views on these proposed cuts by the Council.

Book of Condolence open for war hero – Harry Patch

The Council is opening a Book of Condolence which will give members of the public an opportunity to pay their respects to Harry Patch. It will be available for members of the public to sign from Monday August 3 – Friday August 14, on Mondays to Fridays from 8am – 6pm.
The Council will also be putting up a special commemorative brass plaque at The Guildhall to celebrate his life and dedication to his country. Harry was the last British soldier from the First World War. He was born in Combe Down, Bath, in 1898 and died on July 25 aged 111.

The Book of Condolence will give local residents the chance to pay their respects to Harry, who was our last serving soldier from World War One. The plaque will be unveiled in October at a special ceremony. Further details will be announced closer to the date.