By Carl Phillips, Chair
Even though it was a dreary and damp even-ing on November 21st, it was still a full house that turned up at Shepperton Village Hall for the Autumn SRA Open Meeting. County and local Borough Councillors and the Residents’ Association Committee were present as usual, and we had the Police Com-missioner as our main guest of the evening with her deputy and a number of officers rep-resenting the Police service.
Surrey Police Commissioner Lisa Townsend gave a talk about her priorities for the Surrey Police Force. Inspector Maxine Cilia, Spelthorne Borough Commander, gave an account of how her officers were setting about their duties in and around Shepperton.
In her talk, Lisa Townsend maintained that there were 20,000 new police officers nation-ally and so, contrary to what a member of the audience suggested, there has been no reduc-tion in police activity. She also claimed that Surrey had a very good record in preventing crime and in reducing offences such as bur-glaries, which she admitted was an increasing problem in Surrey, as is fraud.
Calling 101 also drew criticism from the resi-dents. No response or very delayed response were the experiences of some in the audience. The advice from the Commissioner was to always call 999, and let the operator assess and put you on the right service.
The audience was very engaged, asking a number of questions regarding burglaries, theft from sheds and garages and shop lifting, as well as the police reaction and response times in dealing with these issues. A specific example of a burglary case was raised by a concerned and affected resident. She felt that the lack of police interest and response was alarming. It is always difficult to deal with specific cases out of the blue, but the inci-dence of other such cases did warrant atten-tion and many in the audience felt the same way.
Whilst Inspector Cilia maintained that police were working hard on behalf of the local resi-dents and the community, and also claimed that the incidence of burglary in the Shepper-ton area was reduced, it was also clear that this was not perceived to be the case by many in the audience. Police image also needs to be addressed. However hard they work, it is how this is perceived by the public that holds sway.
On the subject of shop lifting, the Chairman of the SRA represented Sainsbury’s in detail-ing how easy it was for people to do this, without fear of reprimand, or even being pre-vented from doing so. Quoting the use of CCTV is some recent cases by recognised repeat offenders, the store was unhappy with the lack of police response, even though they had CCTV evidence. Inspector Cilia said she would look into it and a police officer was sent to the store the next day.
Other topics raised were the desire to have increased police officer visibility (“bobby on the beat”), more control over use of nitrous oxide cannisters and the abuse they indicate. There was a brief debate on travellers who can be an invasive nuisance and, in some in-stances, cause real fear and damage. Whilst tolerance by residents to travellers is encour-aged, it is also incumbent on the visitors to obey the law and behave responsibly.
The Commissioner then rounded up her ses-sion by reminding us that wealthy areas like Surrey do attract more criminal activity in-cluding modern methods like romance fraud through social media platforms. She also reminded us of one of her main priorities was the prevention of domestic abuse and control-ling behaviour, another area that needs more police attention. The Commissioner and her colleagues and the Police representatives then left the building to polite applause.
There then followed two appeals for support, one for the restoration of the church tower at St Nicholas. Secondly, an appeal for audi-ence signatures towards supporting funding of a new building for our local Sea Cadets.
Peter Hughes (of the SRA) then gave a brief summary of some of the changes occurring to the appointment system for our local GP prac-tice at the Medical Centre. This should make it easier for patients to see the doctor face-to-face and make appointments over the phone. Peter is also Chair of the Patient Participation Group.
Planning developments was covered by Ken Snaith. The main topics were the Eco Park, now fully functional and with very few com-plaints. Also, the imminent road works around Shepperton Studios expansion that will cause disruption early next year. This is being compounded by the Esso pipeline trench work which is already underway. Alt-hough work on the Shepperton/Laleham road will cause delays, the expansion of the round-abouts will benefit the area in the future, and help with the increase in traffic that will arise with the larger studios complex.
On the positive note …. the installation of the M3 noise barriers is well underway!!
Bill Cunningham gave us an update of the recent scams and fraud to be aware of.
On a final note, please shop in your High Street as much as you can. We have a great High Street, the heart of the village and we need to keep our shops thriving in these hard times! HAPPY NEW YEAR, everyone !