Neighbourhood Watch Returns

Hello again faithful readers!
You might well have been wondering where I have been of late and what I have been up to. Well truth be told it has been a fairly busy few months in Rushmoor Council-

• We have been working with St Modwen on the new town centre to make sure that despite the recession that the town centre development will go ahead as planned and to schedule. This has been quite a success- St Modwen have promised us that we will get the cinema, Sainsbury's and store units we are expecting, and on schedule. We are of course still waiting to see who fills them but we are feeling positive.
• We have been working hard with the local beat officers to achieve the ward priorities on cycling, neighbourhood watch expansion and Queen Elizabeth Park (where a new CCTV camera is due to go in soon)
• We have been working on the council budget to ensure that council tax rises are kept to a very minimum- the Westminster government is up to its old tricks of using unfunded mandates to make us pay for more of what they promise, thereby taking more money out of the pockets of council tax payers in Rushmoor- so we are trying to find local economies to compensate
• And a lot more...

For the near future though our top priority will be setting up neighbourhood watches- especially in the Marrowbrook area and the streets off it.

The police have quite a backlog of watches to set up but we are not going to be resting on our laurels and are still striving for 100% ward coverage.

So the chances are, if you live in that area you'll see me on your doorstep again sometime soon!

Neighbourhood Watch

As promised in my election materials- one the top priorities that I and my fellow councillors have is to secure 100% Neighbourhood Watch coverage for Empress. The benefits of this will be not just safer homes but also closer communities and a stronger deterrent effect against petty crimes and anti-social behaviour.

I have already started going round the Marrowbrook and the streets off it and have been impressed at the levels of engagement shown. We are also starting from quite a high level of coverage and I do think that this aim is

In many areas people believe that they have a Neighbourhood Watch because they have signs on their streets but a lot of these have died off as people have left the areas.

Neighbourhood Watches are exactly the sort of community involvement that I have been arguing for over recent years- they show that people can take responsibility for their own areas and do things effectively without the need for government legislation. For this reason, as well as all the benefits they can deliver, I am determined to make this succeed.

So whilst I'll be going round most evenings and weekends there is also a challenge to you. Can you be a coordinator for your area? If so let me know and I'll link you up to our excellent beat officers who will do all they can to help.