MINUTES OF ST. LEONARD’S WARD PANEL MEETING
HELD ON MONDAY 18th FEBRUARY, 2008 AT 7 P.M.
PRESENT: Lee Alley (Chair), Ruth Edwards (Treasurer), Rosalie Lawlor (Secretary), Nabil Mezoughi (Community Safety Officer), Inspector John Duffy, Sergeant Louise Miller, P.C. Stephen Christmas, Kusumlata McVann, Paula Veiga, Jenny Golding, John & Phillippa Kanini-Parsons, Cllr Roger Giess, Cllr Clive Bennett, Jack Ward, Velda Lewis, Simon Hague (Streatham Area Housing Office), Geraldine Gough, Krystyna and Biag Zarafa, Philip Plummer, Katharine O’Donovan, Gaye Weston-Simons, Gillian Lunnon, D. J. Pain, Barry Rae, Ray & Margaret Lee, Joanna & Gabriel Eyarhono, L. Edmunds, Frances Pratt, Mrs Jeanette Newman, Andrew Stephenson, Susan & Charles Gibson
Apologies: Eugenia Anderson
1. Welcome
Lee Alley welcomed everyone to the meeting and especially our new Sergeant, Louise Miller.
LA explained that late last year we sadly lost our Vice Chair, Alan Davidson, and therefore there is a vacancy in the position of Vice Chair. LA proposed either for someone to come forward now to be proposed and elected, or, as our AGM will be at the next meeting, for someone to put themselves forward for election at that time. The meeting agreed to delay the election of a Vice Chair until the AGM. LA also added that at the AGM it might be an opportune time to put an amendment into our Constitution to cover such a situation as has arisen with the death of our Vice Chair.
2. Minutes of the Previous Meeting and Matters Arising
Unfortunately the Minutes have not been posted on the web site and in their absence Lee approved them as they are written. They will be posted on the web site for
everyone to view.
LA also used this opportunity to explain how ward residents can use the web site to make contact with himself, the Police or Superintendent Jonathan Tottman.
2. Simon Hague, Housing Manager for Streatham
Simon Hague introduced himself as the Area Services Manager in the Streatham Housing Office. He looks after the council housing in Streatham. He reported he has been employed in this position for six months and has attended all the panel meetings in the area. Michelle Gail is the officer in charge of nuisance and ASB and either of them will be attending these meetings in future. The supply of council housing is not very large in the St. Leonard’s ward, but there are the sheltered housing schemes. SH said he is contactable on 0207 926 6000 and to ask for him by name, or by his email address: shague@lambeth.gov.uk
3. Police Update
Sergeant Miller has replaced Sergeant Martin Wild who has become an Inspector and is working in Wandsworth. She has been a Police officer for 11 years, 8 of them in Lambeth Borough.
LM reported that the new figures for crime in the area are to be published tomorrow, so in effect today’s figures are out of date. Over the last 3 months there have been 552 offences to date, 589 in the previous 3 months period and 588 in the same period for 200/2007.
The priorities for the Police have been burglaries and the Dispersal Zone on the Green and around St. Leonard’s Church Yard. The burglary rate has come down by 13% and the team undertook a week long operation in the main target area of Conyers, Babbington and Gleneagle Roads and Fairmile Avenue. The team were working 14 hours shifts and in this week long period 50 people were stopped and searched and not one single burglary was committed. Of course, this level of policing in one area cannot be maintained, but it did make a difference and possibly the burglars have been dispersed elsewhere.
Motor vehicle theft and theft from motor vehicle has gone up and it is difficult to identify a pattern as it is scattered all over the ward and therefore it is difficult to create a prevention strategy.
Follow up visits to victims of crime is now done by the PCSOs because the decision about replacing the Crime Prevention Officer has not yet been made.
The dispersal zone finished on Sunday 17.02.08 and the Police have spoken to LBL about continuing it and the Police need the Panel’s support to keep it going. LM said she would like to see it expanded and to include a no alcohol zone for the whole of the High Road, but understands this is a bit unrealistic, but LBL have thought about expanding it. Charles Gibson a PCC member said that the Rector of St. Leonard’s Church is in favour of the Dispersal Zone continuing, but that it should not include the inside of the Church!.
There has been a knife arch at Streatham Hill Station and 22 people were stopped and searched. The Police were accompanied by Revenue Inspectors. The Police received a lot of positive feed back from the general rail users.
Sergeant Carol Rose from Streatham South is conducting a test purchase operation in our ward on vendors selling alcohol to children.
Cllr Bennett asked the Police to clarify the procedures residents should use to report ASB, suspicious callers etc. It was stated that for ASB concerning council properties contact should be made with the Housing Officer (HO) in that area, which is Michelle Gail for St. Leonard’s, and the Safer Neighbour Team officers and NM for non-council property and 999 if an incident is happening or there are suspicious persons in the area. The SN philosophy is for identifying and handling persistent, chronic issues and following the matter through to a satisfactory outcome.
4. Future of Streatham Police Station
Inspector Duffy explained that the MPA (Metropolitan Police Authority) have overall management of the Metropolitan Police Service’s assets and a review of the assets has been carried out. The assets are the buildings in which the Police operate. A lot of the buildings are very old and are now not fit for the purposes for which they are being used. A lot do not conform to the Disability Act, they are hard to heat and hot in the summer and cramped. It is also not suitable for victims and alleged perpetrators to pass each other in public areas (which happens in some stations) and there is a lack of privacy in front offices. In Streatham, for example, it would cost about £50m to demolish the building and build another one.
There have been pilot studies carried out in some areas where the Police response teams withdraw to a centralised area (for example an industrial estate), where the facilities are better and the fleet can be managed more efficiently. The public face of policing would be maintained by the use of another building in the area manned by the SN teams. For Streatham the proposal would be for a desk in the old FADS building in Gleneagle Road and another office elsewhere in Streatham. This is all under consultation. All the information relating to this subject is available on the internet, www…………………..
One observation from a resident was the link between lack of Police presence and crime and this was acknowledged by JD who said that police officers patrolling is a deterent not the fact that there is a Police station in the area. He acknowledged they are symbolic to communities, but the MPS cannot afford to keep maintaining ageing buildings. Enfield has the new centralised response teams and they work well and there has been no reduction in response to incidents by these teams. The politicians are to decide what will happen, not the Police. JD highlighted the successful move into the centre of Norwood for his Police team.
Cllrs Bennett and Giess wanted to know how this consultation would work and how residents would register their views and how they would be assessed? There is a general view that people feel if we are left with just a front desk we are left vulnerable and we need more substance in the alternative. Also, why is it that Streatham has to potentially lose its Police station?, and concern was expressed that a front desk only alternative is not manned 24 hours a day like a conventional Police station.
In reply the meeting was told that representations and views need to be made to the MPA, but it will all boil down to money and politics in the end. But residents expressed frustration that it seems from previous experience that, despite local views being made known, local people are not listened to and it cannot always be just about business and politics, communities need to be considered.
Brixton Police station have a triage system in place, which works very well and the meeting was assured that if Streatham Police station was to close it would not happen within the next 2-3 years, but pressure needs to be put on the MPA from the community. LBL is one of the best Policed boroughs in the MPS and Streatham station is not full of Police officers, they are on the streets, and even if the station moves north or south in Streatham, the Police will still be providing cover.
In response to a question by Bill Payne about a safety audit needing to be done on the post office in W. H. Smith, Jack Ward confirmed that one had been done.
From 01.04.08 there will be a dedicated team of 6 officers and 1 sergeant to patrol the High Road Monday to Friday. They will be dedicated to doing foot patrols along the road to provide visible reassurance. This is still in the planning phase, but the officers have been recruited and they will be proper police officers.
Velda Lewis asked if crime figures will be extracted for the High Road from the general ward figures and the answer is no.
The replacements for the vacancies in our team of PCSOs will be replaced within the next 2 weeks.
4. Officers’ Reports:-
Secretary’s Report
The Secretary has attended 3 meetings on behalf of the St. Leonard’s ward panel since our last meeting in December.
The first meeting was when she chaired the Streatham & Norwood Chairs Co-ordinating Group in January. Due to the policing of the southern sub-command we are policed together with Norwood and this group is where the Chairs of all the panels in Streatham and Norwood meet and exchange information. If you think about it,
Streatham Wells(on the other side of the High Road) may make decisions that could
affect St. Leonard’s and vice versa, and Norwood and Streatham Hill share
boundaries and each other’s priorities could impact on each other. There have only
been 2 meetings so far. At the most recent meeting held in January Councillor Mark
Bennett came and gave a talk. Councillor Mark Bennett is a Councillor in Streatham
South and is also a Cabinet Member with responsibility for Safer Communities so he
was an ideal person to come and talk to us. In response to a question about
CCTV coverage for Streatham, Councillor Bennett reported he was going through the
budgeting process at the moment and trying to find money for CCTV, but a big
problem for Lambeth is that the CCTV infrastructure will be overloaded if more
cameras are installed. Councillor Mark Bennett said he would look into the
investment needed for upgrading the infrastructure. Two CCTV cameras will be in
place by April near the ice rink and Hopton Road. There is an audit on business
CCTV taking place.
There was a long a passionate debate about the future development of this meeting
And the following questions were asked and answered:
Is this meeting in any way going to control the teams and the panels?, answer, No.
Is this meeting or any other method an attempt to amalgamate the teams?, answer, No. Each panel is to send two members to the meeting and they wll be the voting members.
Will the number of councillors attending this meeting be restricted?and will they have voting rights? Yes one Councillor from each ward will attend and they will be non-voting members..
The Community Safety Officer will be present and also be a non-voting member.
The police will be present, non-voting members
The next meeting she attended on behalf of the St. Leonards ward panel was the first
Lambeth Safer Neighbourhood Annual conference. The main topic for discussion
was Constitutions. As some of you may be aware we agreed and signed a Constitution for this panel in January 2007. The Constitution was based upon a template provided by the Metropolitan Police. Before the conference there was a lot of chatter amongst panels about a new Constitution being imposed upon the panels by Lambeth Council. There was great disquiet about this because the beauty of ward panels is their individuality because of the demands and concerns different wards have and the panels have agreed Constitutions that reflect the areas they serve. So, the idea that a one size fits all Constitution was anathema to panels. This in effect has been going on since the summer and Lee, our Chair, has been involved in a working group to construct this Constitution. It was agreed at the meeting that panels should go back and study their Constitutions and ensure that core values are included and if they wish to keep them as they are fine, but if they wished they could use this opportunity to change things if they saw fit. The discussion continues.
Nabil Mezoughi (CSO) added that a new camera is being installed at Streatham Hill Station on Drewstead Road, and the one in Greyhound Lane will be reinstated on the Streatham Common side.
There was a brief discussion about the 5 cameras on Garrads Road and whether they are needed there or not. Residents expressed their reluctance to see these cameras moved elsewhere as they felt they were a good deterrent to prostitutes and their customers. The Police also gave the opinion that the cameras are good for tracking criminals who use the roads down to the common after committing a crime in the High Road.
For general information: the cost of installing a new camera is £50,000 and the running costs are between £15-25,000 p/a.
Chair’s Report:-
Lee confirmed that he had been representing the Streatham Chairs on the Constitution working party and at the AGM it might be worth considering using the opportunity to alter/amend some of the wording of the Constitution considering ours was based on a template given out a long time ago now. The Constitution is a most contentious subject amongst panel Chairs and the proposed Constitution was too prescriptive. Three panels do not have a Chair or Constitution, 2 panels are Chaired by the Police, 2 are dysfunctional and 2 others do not have any documentation incorporating them as a group. Some individuals do not think such administration is necessary, but others do, including LA, considering the Police spend up to £4-600,000 on the Safer Neighbourhoods.
The took kit for panels is still being created. This took kit is an assembly of items/services which will be at the disposal of panels to use, such as translation services, printing, contacts and so forth.
5. Fernwood Avenue, Pollarding of Trees
Because the trees in Fernwood Avenue have not be pollarded properly in years they have created a canopy and street light cannot get through and the street lights were renewed a couple of years ago. This results in a very dark road which is unsafe to walk down at night As a result of years of neglect the usual budget allowed for such work is not sufficient and a special budget arrangement is required. Cllr Bennett sent in a petition to full Council and unfortunately has not received a report from officers of Lambeth yet. Cllr Bennett said he would take the matter up with the mayor and will put in a public question. NM said he would take this up with the Environmental Services Dept.
ACTION: Cllr. Bennett and NM
A resident raised the question of the refurbishment of Streatham Hill station which was promised and nothing seems to be happening. Cllr Bennett said he would make enquiries.
ACTION: Cllr. Bennett
6. Prentis Road, motorcycle riding on pavement and fly tipping
This has been sorted out.
The problem of rubbish being dumped behind the Synagogue was discussed. The Environmental Services Dept. has visited and the Police have visited the landlord. Cllr. Bennett said he would also look into this and NM said he would arrange a visit between John Dyer and the landlords who own the properties behind the Synagogue along the back alley.
The problem of fly-tipping at the top of Norfolk House Road and Mt. Ephraim Road was discussed. Mr. Barry Rae a local resident said he would speak to the Police and NM.
ACTION: NM AND Mr. Barry Rae
ACTION: Cllr Bennett and NM
7. Lead Being Stripped from Property
LA reported that he had learned that lead stripping is up 560%. John Parsons (whose property the lead was stolen from) reported that he had painted anti-climb paint to deter thieves. He wanted to know how vulnerable people could get help to paint anti-climb paint on their property. He wondered if there were any community groups that could be contacted. NM said there was a scheme called “pay back” run by the Probation Service, but a referral from this committee would be required. John Parsons will write to LA such a request, but the other way to get work down is for the individuals to contact the S/N panels to request the work to be done.
ACTION: JOHN PARSONS/LA
8. Norfolk House Road
Unfortunately Eugenia Anderson the officer dealing with this matter was not at the meeting. But lessons have been learned from this incident. LA explained that if there is an ASB incident, NM is the contact between S/N panels and the ASB Unit.
8. Any Other Business
There were no objections to LA’s request for permission to use email addresses for circulation purposes only.
9. Priorities
1. Burglary and to include motor vehicles. More work to be done on the motor vehicle theft problem, i.e. identify areas, patterns, target patrols, and gather intelligence.
2. ASB and street drinking on Streatham Green and the St. Leonard’s church yard.
9. Date of Next Meeting
30th April, 2008 at 7 p.m. and this will include our AGM
