Correspondence from Sergeant Stacey Naughton
Published: 04 March 2021
I have a meeting on Monday (8th March) regarding Earlswood, specifically developing a working strategy that we can implement to enforce the PSPO put in place when it goes live as there is little point having this in place if we do not act on this from day dot.
Further to this, CCTV will soon be going in too so I’m told – I have not been given an exact date for this yet.
I currently have discussions in place regarding the introduction of boulders to Valley Road, to permanently prevent the use of the layby being used for additional parking. I am also in discussions with what measures can be put in place on Malthouse Lane to disrupt the speeding and car cruising. Unfortunately, it does not appear that I can utilise bollards (permanent fixed roadside furniture) to the area, but I am waiting to hear back regarding speed humps being introduced to disrupt the speeding incidents. Our partner agencies are to visit the site and conduct an assessment on this before making a decision – this has now been left to them, until the assessment has been completed and report sent back to myself.
I have also spoken with the Traffic Management team, regarding the lack of presence of civil enforcement officers (CEO’s) within the area, especially around Malthouse Lane and Valley Road at busy peak times, such as weekends. This is to encourage the CEO’s to attend and issue fixed penalty notices/fines to vehicles contravening parking on double yellow lines – as this power has been removed from Police.
I have spoken with the C&RT regarding the accessibility of their car parks and what measures they can put in place to ensure the car parks are managed correctly, ensure they are only accessible during certain times and hold them to account for what incorrectly appears to be labelled as a ‘police problem’.
I will be speaking with them further regarding how they plan to assist Police, with patrolling the area whilst the water levels are being reduced and the ‘natural beaches’ are formed – thus making the area more attractive to visitors especially during the nicer weather.
I completely understand the frustration that residents are experiencing in the area. Obviously, with this only being my third month working here, I have been establishing contacts and trying to hold partner agencies to account for their responsibility and duty of care to residents also.
I have directed my team, to create operational orders, whereby we collate a number of officers, including our special constable colleagues, to bolster our numbers and attend the area on mass to target this specific anti-social behaviour during what we have established is the ‘peak times’ for ASB being reported.
I have asked that we create these plans for the next 3 weekends, to ascertain how viable this is as a policing measure, moving forward, whilst also managing our existing workload for the other areas we are responsible for.
Please be assured that I am working very hard to improve the public’s confidence in the Police and to establish a long term fix to this problem.
I am more than happy for this to be disseminated to the residents. Please however, can you make mention that where possible, I am not directly contacted by each resident and receiving repeatedly the same concerns/questions/complaints – as you can see, Earlswood is my main priority whilst I am in this role.
Reports of ASB must be reported in the usual manner by calling 101, but please direct any further comments to Ewen Cunningham, Chair of the Earlswood & Forshaw Heath Residents Association, who will then pass the collated information to Stacey -
chair@earlswood-forshawheath.org.uk