SNAP: We're serious about ASB

Anti-social behaviour and speeding have once again become priorities after the meeting of the Bowthorpe Safer Neighbourhoods Action Panel. At a meeting yesterday held at Chapel Break, the Bowthorpe SNAP decided upon 2 new priorities.

The first was to tackle speeding down Rawley Road by investigatingpossible traffic calming measures and increasing traffic officer presence. Rawley Road is a commonly used cut through in the area with a school at one end and with residential homes along it. There is an issue with speeding and with the school term about to start local people felt thisought to be an issue which is highlighted. The local police are very supportive of this initiative because it fits well with other traffic calming projects in the area and across the City. Bowthorpe has suffered the tragedy of losing of our youngersters in a road traffic accident and this priority hopes to remind all motorists of the need to stick to the speed limit.

The second priority was to tackle anti-social behaviour in the Peverell Road area by invetsigating the use of Dispersal Orders, increasingwarden/PCSO/Police foot patrols at key times and working with Norfolk County Council and Norwich City Council to design out the crime (i.e.block up alleyways used for crime and disorder).

This was the number one issue raised and I am grateful to local peoplefor their input into the matter. This is something which we have lookedat before, but the weakness of the SNAP priorities is that you can worktowards solving an issue, it then ceases to be a priority and then theproblem comes back.

Local hard working people have a right to live their lives in peacewithout intimidation. We were told of large groups of youths throwingstones at windows, lighting fires, urinating in gardens and pulling upplants in gardens. If challenged by residents, local people are jeeredand have abuse thrown at them. This has to end.

If yobs want to make life difficult for local residents they ought toknow that we will use every tactic to stop them. The Police are actively looking at Dispersal Orders to stop gangs of young people from hanging around, especially late into the night. We are ensuring that more footpatrols go on at key times to discourage anti-social behaviour. And we want to work together to make sure that we don't make crime easy - by cutting off alleyways that are used for nothing but crime and disorder we can send a strong message that we the community won't tolerate this anylonger.

I am glad Peverell Road is back on the agenda; we owe the decent residents of the area every chance to live their lives free from crime. This SNAP priority shows we are on their side and ready to fight for them.

Clover Hill Community Association: Proving communities can work together and succeed

Thursday night I was invited to attend the AGM of the Clover Hill Community Association; as a group they help to develop communitiy facilities within the area and administer the village hall too. I go around a lot of voluntary and community groups in the constituency and beyond and many (but not all) are suffering from lack of membership and/or interest. Some meetings are downright depressing with campaigners, weighed down by events, declaring that it is all falling apart! Well, this was nothing like that ...

... For a start it was combined with a great BBQ which lifted spirits and the short AGM meeting became more of a social event. We were pleased to hear from Bowthorpe's Canon Simon Stokes on his recent visit to India and what Indian communities, especially some of the poorer ones, can teach us in the West. He was extremely amusing to listen to and had a great message about what we can achieve together.

So from that we were told that the Community Hall made a finanical loss and that groups who used it were shutting down. The boiler was broken and more money was needed ... but this was not a miserable whinge - far from it! People there elected a large and keen new committee. Their costs are under control and they are actively seeking new users for the hall. They are pro-actively applying for grants and funding. The deficit is being reduced. The hall is being used almost to capacity. There is a genuine sense of optimism and enthusiasm about what can be achieved. The CHCA is a model for other such groups and I would suggest that Chair Mrs Wright and Secretary Mrs Sexton are well worth contacting for advice if your group needs it.

Norwich is full of really good community and voluntary groups and we should never forget that!

Back on the Campaign Trail

The Bowthorpe by-election is hardly behind us and we are already back out on the streets campaigning for the upcoming European and County elections. Our candidates nominations are ready, the leaflets are printed and its time to hit the streets ...

Last night I canvassed in West Earlham and tonight it was Clover Hill; the response was very good for the Conservatives but slightly worrying for politics generally and turnout specifically. A lot of people in the ward groan at the thought of another election and trying to impress the importance is vital. The fact that we have a real local candidate in Bowthorpe has gone down very well and our year round campaigning is appreciated. Early days yet, but it is good to be doorknocking again - a fantastic way to keep up with casework!

In the next few days I am helping out other candidates around the City and will keep you updated with the campaign and the issues being raised.

Clover Hill Village Green: Labour Council does it again

On the first day of the summer holidays, local people were surprised when a digger turned up on Clover Hill village green. They took down the goal posts, and ripped up the grass. It was then left for days until the council admitted that they hadn’t consulted residents on the crucial issue of installing new play equipment.

When residents complained, the scheme was put on hold and a full consultation was held which showed that local people wanted to keep the green and the football pitches. The council have now done a full u-turn and the play equipment will be installed elsewhere – this time with full consultation.

This episode is a disgrace and local kids have had their play area and football pitches destroyed just as the summer holidays have got going. The council said to local councillors that they had carried out full consultation but they had not. Now they are even saying that planning permission may be required. What a disaster from beginning to end. Why are City Hall so afraid of asking residents what they think about these plans? One local person told me that the only consultation he saw was a poster up in the village hall. It isn’t good enough and now the village green has been ruined for the summer.

Now the community faces a second blow as the works site for City Care to replace local tenants kitchens has been placed on the green space at nearby Waldergrave.

With the news that Waldergrave cannot be used, local people must be asking themselves where they can go to have a kick-about. Have the council decided to cancel summer for some reason?

If we don't get assurances of a better service, this is an issue I will take to the next full meeting of Norwich City Council. This has been an error from beginning to end but we must learn something from this. Consultation must be real and extensive – no more half measures. We can never allow this to happen again.

The statement from the Council to residents, issued by Paul Nicholson said:

Basically the problem at Clover Hill stems from the fact the we should have undertaken a much more in depth consultation with local residentsbefore progressing this project. We had intended to erect a play areathat would help to serve a lot of local children and this seemed like agood location. Our project officer was very keen to respond to requeststo erect something quickly so that the children could have a new playarea in time for the Summer. Unfortunately, this haste meant that people like yourselves were not fully consulted, for this I apologise.When we realised that there would be some opposition to the play area,we immediately asked for the work to be halted until we completed a door to door questionaire to Peverell Road area residents. The replies that we've had show that there are significant concernsabout using the village green to site a permanent play area andtherefore this work will stop until we discuss the matter with localcouncillors and community representatives. In addtion, I believe that planning permission would be needed to continute to build the play area.This is something that we would be unlikely to get in light of the correspondance that we've received. As a result my advice to officersand councillors is that we should look to use our resources on othersites and to leave the village green intact.We'll put back the village green as it was - work in progress to dothis. I'm very sorry for the trouble this has caused everyone and wewill make sure that, in future, we undertake much more fuller consultations in Norwich than we have done previously in order toprevent a similar situation occuring.Once we've finally agreed what to do next I'll ensure that all local residents are kept informed and they are asked for their opinions onfuture play areas that are proposed.

Well Done City Council for putting your hands up on this issue, but we really must do better in future.

CCTV Please!

Today was a day back on the streets, knocking on doors and talking to people around Bowthorpe about key local issues.

Following the awful stabbing in Clover Hill village centre last week, we launched a new campaign "CCTV Please" asking people to sign a petition to get the council to introduce cameras and make the area safer. We had loads of people on the streets gathering signatures and we were really pleased to be backed by the police, the victim's sister and also the newsagents in the centre who have had their lives blighted by the anti-social behaviour in Clover Hill.

During the time we did a walkabout and made loads of notes about other issues - litter, graffiti and over hanging bushes - that can be dealt with to make the area nicer.

There was a good feeling on the street today - not just because we are championing a popular and important initiative but because somebody was taking action. A few residents around Peverell Road wanted to know why after 30 years representing the seat why Labour hadn't already done this. A good question!

We will keep the pressure on and are out delivering leaflets next week about this issue - more can be found here. This afternoon I met with John and Niki to plan our activites over the summer - a lot to do!

Tonight: The Police, Clover Hill & Thatcher

I am going to spend an evening with the Norfolk police force tonight at one of their "meet-the-poice" events, held in Peverell Road, Clover Hill.. Both John Wyatt and myself are looking forward to getting to grips with this, ahead of tomorrow's campaign launch for the extension of CCTV into the Clover Hill village centre. Then when I get home ... a real treat! On Iain Dale's advice I have bought "Thatcher: The Final Days" on DVD. Friends who have seen it said there wasn't a dry eye in the house, even from rapid antt-Thatcherites. Am looking forward to it!