Thank you for the invitation and the opportunity to report on NW activities.
I would like to start by paying tribute to Karen and Ian and their commitment to NW. This will be a hard act to follow.
As Karen’s deputy I feel compelled to continue her work, but I am not involved with all the groups that she was. We had our first NW meeting on 25 April which had been delayed for 6 months due to my injury.
NW has been going for over 40 years and last year they brought out a new logo which will slowly be incorporated. NW has changed over the years and has a great online presence which has a lot of information and good advice about many aspects of safety and security.
We come under HINWA and they have been very supportive, as has PCSO Richard Williams, Victoria at the Netley Marsh NW group who kindly invited me to one of their meetings to see how they run things. And indeed, yourselves as the Parish Council.
Until recently I just cared for my own scheme at the top of Ashdene Road and Pine Close. A&C NW scheme covers Ashurst this side of the railway line, Knellers Lane in the east, the Forest Hotel in the west and Deerleap Lane in the South. Woodlands Road comes under Netley Marsh South NW.
We have much to do to increase the number of NW members, but our Coordinator numbers are somewhat depleted due to some who have passed, some who have moved away and some who are simply too busy. However, there are 8 of us now and we were very pleased to welcome Trevor Brookes as a Coordinator, who some may already know as a Cyber Champion with the Blue Lamp Trust. Ideally, we would like a Coordinator in every road who is known by the residents and is approachable to help. Any resident who is interested in NW will be looked after by myself if we do not have a Coordinator in their road.
Most of us relay information to our schemes by email so we must be careful regarding GDPR. But those who do not have email get hard copies or get messages by word of mouth. I will be looking into WhatsApp to get urgent messages out. We do have a Coordinator ring round procedure where messages are passed around quicker than emails. We also pass on information from PCSO Richard with his Beat Report and information from the National NW group regarding scams and security information.
We have three NCCZ and that has made a significant difference to the numbers of cold callers. We are called Pensioners Park and some think that we are a soft target.
It is NW week 3 – 9 June and we will be encouraging residents to join Neighbourhood Watch and register with Ourwatch.org.uk. Obviously, some residents are not online, but we can certainly still help them with information and to feel less vulnerable.
New Forest Heart Cops Beat Reports
These are written by our PCSO Richard Williams and published monthly. They are then circulated to residents who are in the NW scheme. They provide details of crimes in the Forest and just picking out what has been happening in Ashurst since September last year…
- 1 burglary
- Several bikes stolen
- Windscreens smashed
- Naked man in the woods
- Thefts from cars
- Motorbikes stolen
- Vehicles broken into
- Car stolen
- Jet ski and trailer set on fire
- Salvation Army bin broken into twice and clothing stolen
- Man convicted of harassment
- Garages broken into
Several people spoken to for speeding through the village and one was caught doing 79mph in the 30mph limit so he was dealt with accordingly
Some of the items were recovered and returned to their owners.
New Forest High Harm Team was launched to make the Forest a safer place and April saw this years Safer New Forest campaign launched to tackle seasonal crime. They have joined forces with Forestry England and the New Forest Park Authority patrolling much of the New Forest looking for suspicious people and vehicles and handing out crime prevention advice aiming at stopping people becoming victims of crime.
These Beat Reports give details of the monthly Beat Surgeries held in the Happy Cheese where residents have the chance to talk in person about issues concerning them.
All in all, we have a busy time ahead.