THE ISSUE
Crime and anti-social behaviour is a problem across the country but in Weston Village and Haywood Village residents have concerns about vehicle thefts and damage at night, ASB and drunken behaviour in parks, poor parking and fly tipping.
I know from discussions with police that in some areas of Weston ASB has increased by 15%.
A particular frustration for residents is the council’s strategy of the streets lights going off at night as it’s believed this entices more criminal and ASB.
Alongside this there are areas in this ward, particularly behind FoodWorksSW, that are fly tipping hot spots.
THE NEWS
CAMPAIGN UPDATE
I meet with both the police and the community response team regularly and share residents concerns about anti-social behaviour and crime throughout the ward. Concerns range from parking, ASB, fly tipping, and vehicle theft amongst others.
👮Update from meeting with police about Winterstoke ward
Annabelle, Charlie (Councillor Charlie Williams for Winterstoke) and I as councillors for Winterstoke ward regularly meet the police to discuss general issues across the ward and I thought it would be helpful to share a brief update on our discussion today.
As you can appreciate I can’t provide too specific information so will share as best I can.
📦 Parcel thefts
We know from the community Facebook pages that there has recently been some thefts of parcels left unattended on people’s doorsteps. The police are aware and are investigating, but there’s definitely been underreporting of this issue compared to what is posted on Facebook. As a reminder please report these issues direct to the police when they happen.
Ideally try and get these items left in a safe space or when you are available to sign for them.
🌳 Maltlands play area and other parks
There’s occasionally been some anti-social behaviour in some of our parks – Maltlands has been a more recent one. I can confirm the police are patrolling these areas and steps have been taken that has reduced this issue.
🚗 Vehicle break ins
There’s been some vehicles broken into at night – although certainly fewer than I’ve seen in the past following action being taken. Police are monitoring this, but there are very few reports to the police about this, compared to the number of times I’ve seen this mentioned on social media. I’d encourage you to report these to the police so they can build up evidence and take effective action.
🛻 Vehicles without MOT/insurance
Vehicles without MOT/Insurance on public roads should be reported to the police, not to the DVLA. Cars without tax should be reported to the DVLA. Recently a vehicle was removed from Weston Village for having no tax.
You can report cars on public roads without MOT/insurance here: www.avonandsomerset.police.uk/report/vehicles-without-mot-tax/
You can report cars with no tax here: contact.dvla.gov.uk/report-untaxed-vehicle
One of the key messages I think everyone needs to be aware of is report, report, report. You often see posts on social media, but it’s clear that the same level of reporting direct to the police isn’t always happening which means the police don’t always know, don’t have sufficient evidence or don’t have enough information to demonstrate resources need to be redirected.
📢 You can report non-priority issues online here: www.avonandsomerset.police.uk/report/
3 CommentsComment on Facebook
It doesn't help that couriers either just dump and go (take my amazon parcel yesterday, I was in but the courier didn't knock and I only knew it was on the doorstep as I had the email to say it had been delivered); they ignore the safe places or they leave parcels hanging out of letter boxes or out of gas boxes so they can be easily taken.
Nothing can be done about anything if the police don't know about it. So report - so many posts on Facebook by people who say "no I haven't told the police" ? Very strange.
Shane Tunsich
SHARING YOUR ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR CONCERNS
Today Councillor Charlie Williams and I met with our local Community Response Officer to share residents concerns and issues about anti-social behaviour, so the council have this local intelligence to try and take action.
We discussed your concerns about:
✖️ Haywood Village MUGA
✖️ Bad parking
✖️ Dog fouling
✖️ Rowdy drunken behaviour in open spaces
✖️ Fly tipping (particularly behind Food Works)
We'll regularly be speaking with the council (and where relevant the police) about these types of issues so please do let us know when these issues arise.
We'll also be monitoring what action is being taken to resolve some of these problems.
One thing we ask all residents to do though is to report these issues when they happen using the form below ⤵️
Your submission will be reviewed and actioned (if appropriate) and will also help the council gain local intelligence about problem hotspots which will feed into resource and response planning.
saferstrongerns.co.uk
What is anti-social behaviour, what constitutes anti-social behaviour, and how to report anti-social behaviour.0 CommentsComment on Facebook
I’ve had some success with working closely with the police as well as encouraging residents to report areas they feel unsafe by the StreetSafe app. The police have increased patrols of several areas of the ward – which has been possible due to residents reporting areas they feel unsafe – as well as action taken on ASB and crime.
If there is an area you feel unsafe or you need to report anti-social behaviour please use the buttons below.
CCTV is one strategy we have for helping to identify criminals which is why I was pleased when the Labour-led Town Council agreed to invest £100k in CCTV, including a temporary camera we can move to problem areas.
There has since been a further invest by North Somerset Council of £28k in CCTV including a camera at Winterstoke Road in this ward.
👮Additional investment in CCTV
One of the concerns residents feedback to me is around crime/incidents in the local area, and this has been something I've pretty much dealt with/raised since being elected in 2019.
Since 2019 I've met the police on various occasions to talk about hot spots and strategies, I supported the £100k investment in upgraded CCTV to clearer more digital cameras including a mobile camera, and led the case for the Town Council to invest in it's own Community Response Officer (I won't get political but it was a narrow win at committee). I've also regularly dealt with individual concerns about crime.
But I appreciate there's a lot more work to do which is why I'm glad that North Somerset Council and Avon and Somerset Police have invested a further £28k on CCTV and two of these cameras will be in this ward - at Winterstoke Road on the Lidl Roundabout leading up to the Runway (Haywood Village).
This is welcome news but I'm keen to see more done and my particular focus is to try and get more flexibility in the council's part night lighting strategy which sees some of the estate in complete darkness after 1am.
As a reminder you can report a crime or incident here: www.avonandsomerset.police.uk/report/
You can also report areas you feel unsafe on Street Safe: www.police.uk/pu/notices/streetsafe/street-safe/
I regularly see reports of concerns on social media but when I look into this with police it's rarely reported, so please do report things when they happen.
n-somerset.gov.uk/news/ps28k-investment-improve-community-safety
£28k investment to improve community safety
n-somerset.gov.uk
Eight additional closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras are being installed in Weston-super-Mare thanks to a £28k combined investment by North Somerset Council and Avon & Somerset Police.0 CommentsComment on Facebook
One issue that was clear to me is we didn’t have sufficient resources to tackle ASB in Weston so I led a successful proposal for the Labour-led Town Council to employ its own Community Response Officer whose role it is to tackle anti-social behaviour in Weston – alongside North Somerset Council’s Community Response Officers.
It was a long process but the Community Response Officer is in post and has already made a difference dealing with ASB at Grove Park and dealing with the illegal dirt track in this ward, amongst many other things.
Part-night lighting strategy
Areas of Weston Village are left in the dark at night due to the council’s strategy of switching some lights off at midnight until 6am, which I believe increases the risk of criminals taking advantage.
I continue to fight for the council to review this strategy and to allow Weston Village to keep its lights on at night if that’s supported by the community.
I’ve discussed this with the Executive Councillor responsible for community safety but i’ve yet to see changes. I’ll keep pushing for change.
GET IN TOUCH
I can help residents with various local issues who live in the ward of Winterstoke (Weston-super-Mare) which includes Haywood Village, Locking Castle and Weston Village.
Please use the contact form to get in touch with me. Please remember to provide as many details as possible, including your name, address and full details of your issue.