Statement from Earlswood Community Impact Assessment Group

Published: 21 September 2021

The Earlswood Community Impact Assessment Group is made up of a number of public agencies including Warwickshire Police, Stratford-on-Avon District Council, and Warwickshire County Council, the Canal and River Trust, Tanworth-in-Arden Parish Council, local councillors and community representatives. The group has been meeting monthly for some time and facilitates discussions between all the agencies who hold a statutory responsibility to reduce Crime and Disorder and groups attending.

During this period the group have explored a wide ranging and extensive list of options with the ambition of designing out crime and anti-social behaviour in the area. The consideration was to consult with residents and enact those options deemed most viable as soon as possible.

However as all of the options were explored two major concerns were raised by the group. Firstly that, due to the unique circumstances of the COVID 19 Pandemic that the data the group are in receipt of is not wholly representative of the complete picture of Crime and ASB in the area. Secondly that there was insufficient time and method to ensure that residents were properly and fairly consulted in relation to any changes that may be made. 

During the period of works carried out by the Canal and River Trust official crime and ASB statistics have shown a decrease in incidents taking place. It is often difficult to establish exact reasons for the increase or decrease of crime statistics, especially when the causeway has been closed for a relatively short period of time.

It is therefore proposed to have an experimental closure of the causeway to vehicular traffic for 18 months. Keeping the causeway closed to vehicular traffic will allow all the agencies and residents to understand if this decrease in incidents is as a direct result of the closure. By having an experimental closure of the causeway this will allow this data to be gathered which would not be possible if it remained open. It will also allow for a full, formal consultation to be conducted with residents. Given the temporary nature of the closure this will be kept under continual review and can be reversed at any time if required. The causeway will remain open for pedestrians, mobility scooters, horse riders and cyclists.

There will be a public engagement event at the Village hall in Earlswood at the start of October where members of the public will be able to speak to representatives of the group for further information. This will be advertised locally once a date is confirmed.