Agenda/Minutes

                   Sue Cavalier                            Abbey &Ryemead

                   Claire Marchant             Marlow Southwest Rural

                   Nigel Entwistle              Stokenchurch, West Wycombe etc.

                   Madeleine Howe            Bucks County Council

                   Ian McDougal                Booker & Sands

                   Tim McGirr                             Inspector TVP

                   Edward McLean            Superintendent TVP

                   Scott Messenger             Inspector TVP

                   Marten Clarke                Abbey &Ryemead

                   Rebecca Mears               Chief Inspector TVP

                   Lee Turnham                 NPC TVP

The chairman welcomed attendees to the meeting. He explained the meeting was to review the operation of the NAGs and to encourage working together and spreading best practice.

The Notes of the last meeting held on 18/9/14 were accepted. Since the last meeting the Disraeli NAG had been launched and some assistance had been given to the Micklefield NAG. There were still gaps in Marlow Centre and Terriers/Amersham Hill. The University was still being pursued to help. Tim McGirr reported that no specific projects in areas not covered by NAGs had been raised.

The latest list of NAG Chairs and contact information was circulated. Chairs present made corrections, but it would be helpful if absent Chairs would confirm the details.

Scott Messenger outlined the police view of NAGs as very positive, in making communities more resilient to crime and taking some of the pressure off them by the community carrying out certain activities. In particular Community Speedwatch was raised as a very successful activity carried out by NAGs. PC Lee Turnham gave some details of the effectiveness of CSW particularly locally. In the Thames Valley area (from where 9157 letters were sent out) some 66% was carried out by Wycombe NAGs. For Bucks, HW LPA produced 76% (6017 letters) of this 36% was from Hughenden Parish, where Lee started the activity. He is now spreading it throughout the LPA.

Ed McLean outlined the problems Thames Valley policehad because of the budget cuts. They had already saved some £58m, but were being asked to save another £45m over the next three years. Although most conventional crime had decreased over the past 10 years, cybercrime and some sexual crimes were on the increase. There were some 5m cases of fraud of which 2.5m was cybercrime. He was particularly concerned about vulnerable elderly or disabled people being targeted by criminals such as rogue traders. He suggested that NAGs might be able to do more to identify and protect such vulnerable people. Sue suggested this was a role carried out also by Neighbourhood Watch. Stan pointed out that the role of NAGs was to pull together various contributors to reduce crime and most NAGs had NHW representation as well as Resident’s associations and parish councils. It was suggested there were other agencies and individuals who could also contribute to identifying vulnerable people such as social services and medical centres, and if this item was put on our next NAG agendas these could be invited to the meeting.                      Action: All

Ed concluded by saying that staff would have to be cut to meet the savings, so anything the community could do to reduce pressure on them, the more resources they could put on serious crime. This was the principle of “Citizens in Policing”. It was agreed that more thought was needed into how communities could participate in safeguarding themselves.                          Action: Ed/Stan

Because of their cutbacks the District and County Councils werenot able to attend NAG meetings. However, Madeleine repeated her offer to help to target the correct contact at Bucks CC who might attend meetings on specific issues.

It was reiterated that NAGs with intractable problems should raise them with Stan who would arrange a meeting (with police help) with the appropriate institution (e.g. District or County Councils) to seek their help.   

                                                                                      Action: All/Stan

As NAGs have developed in different areas to suit their requirements, it was agreed that each NAG would make any changes to its Constitution thought necessary and then pass the revised version to TVP to check it did not divert from the NAG Principles. The insurance cover provided by TVP when carrying out actions on their behalf was an important consideration with constitutions. Stan tabled the revised Hughenden constitution and Sue tabled her NAGs revised constitution.

                                                                                      Action: All

The idea that University students undertaking courses involving the community might carry out activities to support NAGs was still being pursued.   

The national NAG website was discussed. At present there is a Hazlemere sub-site, but not current, a preliminary Wycombe LPA sub-site and one for Hughenden. It is not anticipated these would be “live” sites updated frequently but contain useful information for NAGs to share such as agendae, minutes, constitutions and events. It was agreed that a NAG with a lot of confidential information might find it difficult to use, but many NAGs do not have this issue. If any NAG wants to participate Stan will help set it up. The list of Wycombe NAGs and Chairs will be put on the LPA website, but each Chair is asked to inform Stan whether they are happy or not to add their e-mail addresses.

The date of the next meeting was discussed and 6 monthly was agreed, alternating between afternoons or evenings to give everyone a chance to attend.

                   Neighbourhood Action Group Chairs Meeting – 15^th October 2015

1.     Welcome

2.     Apologies for absence

3.     Notes of last meeting (attached)

4.     TV Police view of NAGs

5.     Constitutions

6.     Sharing experiences and working together

7.     Website (www.uknags.org.uk – search lower right)

8.     New and renewed NAGs

9.     Actions agreed

10.                        AOB

11.                        Future meeting

                   Sue Cavalier                            Abbey & Ryemead

                   Nathan Davis                 Princes Risborough Inner

                   Nigel Entwistle              Stokenchurch, West Wycombe etc.

                   Madeleine Howe            Bucks County Council

                   Ian McDougal                Booker & Sands

                   Tim McGirr                             Inspector TVP

                   Edward McLean            Superintendent TVP

                   Scott Messenger             Inspector TVP

                   Colin Seaton                  Chief Inspector TVP

                   Alex Slater                     Hazlemere & Chepping Wycombe

                   Robert Thornberry                  Princes Risborough Inner

The chairman welcomed attendees to the meeting. He explained the meeting was to review the operation of the NAGs as some were working well while others had lapsed.

Ed McLean introduced himself as the new Commander and outlined the problems the police force was tackling in High Wycombe LPA from counter terrorism to ASB. The economic squeeze was being managed with more officers in the front line. Neighbourhood policing was being standardised. Ed would prefer if all NAGs were run by the community rather than the police.

Tim Girr has attended national meetings on NAGs and can impart knowledge of best practice. One idea he suggested was to have a team of knowledgeable volunteers who could undertake a project that focuses on a specific issue in an area where there was no NAG or the existing NAG needed help.

Because of cutbacks the District and County Councils had not been attending NAG meetings. However, they expressed the willingness to help if issues were brought to their attention. Madeleine would help to target the correct contact at Bucks CC who might attend meetings on specific issues.

It was proposed that NAGs with intractable problems should raise them with Stan who would arrange a meeting (with police help) with the appropriate institution (e.g. District or County Councils) to seek their help.   

                                                                                      Action: All/Stan

It was agreed that each NAG would make any changes to its Constitution thought necessary and then pass the revised version to TVP to check it did not divert from the NAG Principles.

It was suggested that University students undertaking courses involving the community might carry out activities to support NAGs.    Action: Tim McGirr

Rather than try to set up NAGs where they do not exist, it was recommended that we wait for specific issues to arise and take appropriate action to address such as the Project Team mentioned above. Tim McGirr would monitor the situation and inform us when action was needed.                 Action: Tim McGirr

It was agreed to hold the next meeting to assess progress in January 2015.

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