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Agenda item

Police Issues

30 minutes is allocated for questions to the Gwent Police representative.

Minutes:

Superintendent Mike Richards provided an update on current local policing priorities, before inviting questions from Members.

 

The Leader welcomed Supt Richards to the Council meeting and referred to the demand on service provision and the safer streets funding.   She also reflected on partnership working and moving forward, recognising the different pressures of moving  into covid recovery.  As custodians of our communities, we should highlight to resident services that aren’t provided by the police and we all have a role to play in accurately signposting residents to the right services.  The Leader also commented that it was fantastic news on the new Police recruits.

 

The Leader also asked  about the active travel bids and being able to introduce safer streets pilot with 20mph speed limit.  Residents were still expressing concern  about people breaching speed limits and asked MR if we could work together with Go Safe around speeding enforcement, as we didn’t want to lose the momentum.

 

The Superintendent endorsed the Leader’s comments about the need for partnership work  between the Police and the Council.

 

Questions from Councillors:

 

Councillor Holyoake asked which streets in Pill would be benefitting from the Safer Streets initiative and have speed cameras installed.  Supt Richards highlighted that these would be Commercial Road and Francis Drive.  Insp Blakemore would also make contact with Cllr Holyoake to discuss this in detail.

 

Councillor Jeavons thanked the Superintendent for the update on Operation Snap in Alway and Ringland.

 

Councillor Suller congratulated the Superintendent on the apprehension of the drug dealers and raised concern regarding ‘boy racers’ in Coedkernew, A48 and Imperial Way and asked whether traffic calming measures could be put in place.  Supt Richards would ask the local inspector to make contact with Councillor Suller in relation to this.

 

Councillor Harvey thanked the Superintendent on the speed of the arrests made in relation to the tragic incident in Always that took place in early June.

 

Councillor Rahman thanked the Superintendent for the street surgery arranged for the Bryn Derwin Road area and referred to incidences where a vehicle which was related to drug dealing a couple of years ago was spotted recently on Bryn Derwin Road.  Residents wanted assurance that by ringing 101 to report crime that the Police would act on the intelligence received so as not to lose faith in the police. Supt Richards assured Councillor Rahman that all 101 calls were responded to and would ask Insp Cawley to make contact with the Councillor.

 

Councillor Forsey referred to the increase in cycling its related accidents, including one fatality in Newport and asked if Operation Close Pass would be implemented in Newport.  Supt Richards advised that Gwent Police were looking to implement this in Newport imminently and would provide timeframes to the Councillor.

 

Councillor Linton informed the Superintendent that the local arsonist had returned to Ringland and referred to an incident which took place the previous evening at the Friendship Pub.  What were the police doing to look into this?  Supt Richards advised the councillor that he was meeting with Inspector Cawley and would ask him to share plans with Cllr Linton.

 

Councillor Hayat mentioned that the installation of CCTV cameras in the Pill area was good news and was looking forward to meeting with Insp Blakemore and his fellow ward member Councillor Holyoake in the near future.

 

Councillor Spencer referred to several accidents along Chepstow Road about 18 months-2 years ago due to speeding cars. Residents were waiting for feedback on this and asked if this could be chased up for the residents. Supt Richards would make contact with both Inspector Cawley and the councillor to provide this information.

 

Councillor Fouweather welcomed the Safer Streets funding for Pill but advised that there were other parts of the city that needed funding and that the initiative would make it difficult for criminals in Pill to move around, which might mean that they would move to other parts of Newport, spreading crime further afield. Councillor Fouweather therefore wanted to know if funding would be made for other parts of Newport.  Supt Richards advised that funding would be available and the bid for Stow Hill last year was unfortunately unsuccessful. These bids were set by the Home Office and the criteria had to be met in order to receive funding, therefore Pill met the strict criteria for Safer Streets.  The next bid needed to be in by 15 July and that was for violence against women and this would probably focus on the city centre.

 

Councillor Routley reported the issue of speeding traffic in Langstone, along the A48, Rock and Fountain to Coldra/Magor Road.  There were no speeding cameras on road and residents raised concern, horses recently bolted from speeding, which could have been very serious.  Councillor Routley therefore requested a meeting with the Superintendent along with Councillor Mogford his fellow ward member to look into a resolution to ease the speeding problem.  Supt Richards agreed to this and would be happy to set something up in the near future.

 

Councillor Al-Nuaimi thanked the Superintendent for their recent meeting regarding stop and search powers, which allayed Councillor Al-Nuaimi’s fears.  Councillor Al-Nuaimi also mentioned that any more information on how things were progressing would be gratefully received.  Councillor Al-Nuaimi also expressed his thanks to Inspector Davies after the recent issues of anti-social that were addressed at Belle Vue Park.