Kington council want police to become more visible as they support local priorities

Kington Town Council's policing priorities match with West Mercia Police's local focuses.

The council was asked recently to consider the local priorities and make suggestions for any changes they felt are needed.

The first priority is road safety and the police said they would conduct speed enforcement on high-risk routes within the safer neighbourhood area and other areas identified by residents as a concern, inform and educate road users in respect of legislation governing the roads, using pop-up events, social media and Neighbourhood Matters and target individuals suspected of committing offences using the road networks and take positive action to address this.

The second priority is anti-social behaviour. The neighbourhood policing team said they would deal robustly with people committing anti-social behaviour, making use of available legislation and civil orders, ensure officers are visible in areas identified as of heightened concern to divert offenders and prevent harm and educate members of the public around anti-social behaviour, using pop-up events, social media and Neighbourhood Matters.

They said the third current priority is rural crime. The team said they would provide a wrap-around service for all rural burglary victims within the safer neighbourhood area, providing crime prevention advice and resources, deal robustly with poaching offences and wildlife crime offenders making use of all legislation available and educate and inform members of the public around aspects of rural crime via pop-up events, social media and Neighbourhood Matters.

A a recent town council meeting Kington Deputy Mayor Councillor Buzz Bishop said: “I think the priorities are OK but I think they need to say how they will deal with these matters.”

Councillor Leonard Timmins said he lives next to the A44 and the speed of some of the traffic is unbelievable. He said there should be a speed camera there.

Councillor Patrick Conrad agreed and said people do speed too much in the confines of the town.

Councillor Martin Blackaller said; “The important thing with anti-social behaviour is response times because you can wait 30 or 40 minutes for a response and by then the anti-social behaviour people have moved on.

“I would also like to see the Herefordshire Against Night-time Disorder scheme brought back, it used to inform other businesses if there were people about being anti-social. Sadly its no longer in existence.

Kington Mayor Councillor Martin Woolford said: “Our priorities do match the police's priorities as long as they become more visible and we would like more information on how they are going to undertake these actions.”

Members agreed to accept these policing priorities.

Meanwhile, West Mercia Police and Crime Commissioner John Campion asked the town council to complete his annual Town and Parish Council Survey.

He said in an email; “Town and parish councils play a vital role in representing local communities and ensuring local concerns are heard. That is why I continue to run this survey because I value the local insight you provide.

“In previous years, councils have said they wanted greater engagement from local policing teams, better understanding of what the police are doing in their area and more opportunities to raise local concerns directly.

“As a result, West Mercia Police’s activity and response is aligned to the priorities and concerns raised.”

Kington Mayor Councillor Martin Woolford said he would complete the survey on behalf of the town council.