FAREHAM & DISTRICT NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH ASSOCIATION
MINUTES of ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
held on 29th March 2007
at Holy Rood Church Hall, Gosport Road, Stubbington
  1. Opening Address
    The Association Chairman, Mike Tyrer welcomed the Members and Chief Inspector Steve Wallace, Inspector Dave Hunter, Inspector Chris Manktelow, Sergeant Dave Spacey, Sergeant Phil Mills, PCSO Emma Barlow, and Claire Benfield from Fareham Borough Council. He once more apologised for the confusion as to venue and start time of the meeting but stated that as many avenues as possible had been used to let everyone know the changes.

  2. Apologies
    Apologies had been received from the sponsors Capital Securities, Mr & Mrs Jim Hall (Wallington), Mr & Mrs Sweet (Catisfield), Mrs Ray Bailey, Mr & Mrs. Ron Stead, Mr & Mrs. Gooding, Mrs Jenny King, Mrs Marion Stoddard, Mr. Dave Foster and Mr Tony Crump.

  3. Approval of Minutes of last AGM
    Minutes of the AGM held at Brookfield Community School, Sarisbury on 30 March 2006 had been distributed at the Meeting. Proposed by John Garrett and seconded by Mark Jones, the meeting unanimously approved the minutes and chairman signed these as accurate record of the proceedings.

  4. Chairman's report
    The Chairman thanked the Committee Members for their past support and in particular Janet Abery for her work in editing the Newsletter. He then gave an overview of the past year. After the demise of the National Neighbourhood Watch, the Hampshire NW Association had become involved in the South East Regional Forum (SERF). The Home Office felt the need for a form of national representation and set in motion a plan to resurrect the old regional forums and put a facilitator in place. The chairman, as former delegate for the Hampshire NW Association, was asked to be one of the two Hampshire delegates to the meeting to discuss the start up of SERF. (Margaret Filley - President of the Hampshire Association - is the other delegate.) The members of SERF agreed to restart the forums. SERF covers the police areas of Hampshire, Kent, Surrey, Sussex and Thames Valley. They will meet quarterly with each region hosting a meeting in turn; Hampshire's turn will be in July this year. Meanwhile all 10 regions have agreed to set up Forums with each Forum having 1 voting representative going forward to a National Forum, which in turn will negotiate with the Home Office.
    The Association has strengthened its links with the County NW by the secretary of our Association also being the vice-chairman of the County NW and this coming year will become the Chairman of the County NW. He also mentioned that he would remain on the County NW Committee and continue as delegate for Hampshire at the forthcoming Forum meetings.
    The Association also is involved in the new Criminal Damage Workshops/Joint Action Group meetings. Delegates of Police, Council (Claire Benfield is the Community Safety Officer present at the meeting), Fire & Rescue, Housing organisations, all get together in an effort to solve existing problems in specified areas of the District. John Garrett is our standing delegate.
    Also we have participated at Safe and Healthier Fareham Review meetings at the Fareham Borough Council offices.
    He thanked Sergeant Sitch for his consistent help and developing the email distribution in the Park Gate area which has helped to give the members in that area extra information in a timely manner. Sergeant Sitch has now moved on and in his place we welcome Sergeant Dave Spacey.
    He furthermore mentioned that we still would like to grow our organisation and would like to have the younger age group participating. Efforts to get local schools involved have yield not much so far, but a small sub-committee is trying to deal with this. Anyone who could be of assistance would be more than welcome to join the committee. Please volunteer when we come to the election time.
    Finally he advised the members that the Association has been invited to attend the Fareham Youth Conference in October this year.

  5. Treasurer's report
    Treasurer had handed out copies of the annual accounts as audited by Messrs M Gooding and S D Lewry. The accounts showed a positive balance of £2573 at year ending 31st December 2006. Upon Rosemary Billet's proposal seconded by Peter Holden, the accounts were unanimously accepted by the meeting. The auditors were thanked for their work.

  6. Election of officers:
    The constitution states that officers and committee members are elected for a period of 2 years. The following have confirmed that they will continue for the second year:
    Chairman - Mike Tyrer
    Treasurer - Jenny Price
    Secretary -Jan van de Nadort

  7. Election of Committee
    1. The following are willing to continue for their second year: Rosemary Billet, Yvonne Bragg, Graham Fuller, John Garrett and Peter Holder.
    2. The Meeting noted that the Police representatives on the Committee will be Sergeant Dave Spacey and Tony Walters (CRO).
    3. The meeting noted and gave their approval that Messrs M Gooding and S D Lewry will be the auditors for 2007.

  8. Any other business
    The Secretary advised that the Association has a website on which there now is an 18 page Community Safety Handbook based on the one produced by Denmead Neighbourhood Watch. The website is at www.fdnwa.co.uk
    He also advised that the Thomson Local Directory would be distributed at the beginning of May. The distributors are instructed NOT to leave books on doorsteps. However, should any of the members see that a book is left at their neighbours, could they please take these in and hand them to their neighbours when they return to the house. The company responsible for the distribution is Product Development Corporation UK at York, tel 01904 606300, website www.pdcuk.co.uk.

  9. Speakers: Chief Inspector Steve Wallace and Inspector Dave Hunter, Fareham Police Station
    Chief Inspector Steve Wallace from OCU 1 gave an overview of the latest changes in Policing. He explained that OCU 1 covers the areas of Fareham, Gosport, Winchester and Havant.
    The county will get 330 PCSO's by the summer, of which Fareham will have 16; each ward would have 3 and Park Gate West already has one PCSO (Emma Barlow - present at this meeting). He explained that the role of the PCSO's is to function as back-up for the police but are not to be seen as extra police officers. Their powers are limited. They patrol the areas and get to know the neighbourhood. They prevent crime and anti-social behaviour, provide public reassurance and are contact point for the public. They have the power of seizing alcohol and tobacco and issuing an array of fixed penalty notice offences from dog fouling to firework offences.
    Stolen Satnav's are the No.1 problem at the moment. Owners are leaving them in the car or are leaving the tell tale suction caps on the windscreens. Also, bikes are stolen in quantity.
    At the moment Fareham faces 25 recordable crimes per day. The area has the lowest count for burglaries. There are special constables at the weekend having a highly visible presence working in teams. They made a large number of alcohol seizures across the Fareham area. Most noticeable achievement was in the area of Stubbington where the team were able to tackle the persistent gatherings of juveniles.
    There have been several Joint Action Group meetings in the Stubbington/Locks Heath and Portchester areas. Anti Social Behaviour, violent crime and criminal damage forms 60% of all crimes and of that 80% is alcohol related.

    Inspector Dave Hunter mentioned that because of the aforementioned alcohol related crimes, Central Fareham has a Designated Public Places Order (DPPO) - a drinks ban. They hope to obtain a strict drinking ban for the whole of the district. The Borough Council is to make their decision on the 5th of April.
    He then mentioned some of the persistent problems such as mini mopeds (their will be zero tolerance for mini mopeds) and anti-social parking. In the long term they hope to work with the council and provide activities in the Summer for the youth in the borough.

    To conclude their presentation Chief Inspector Wallace and Inspector Hunter asked those present to write down on the form they had handed out what they felt the priorities/problems were that the police should consider tackling. They ask that Neighbourhood Watch


  10. Conclusion
    With thanks to the Police for their excellent presentation and to the members for showing their patience and understanding for the changed venue, the Chairman closed the meeting at 10 pm.
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