The South Glos Post

Residents across South Gloucestershire are being invited to nominate for an award those who do great work in their communities to help tackle anti-social behaviour.

South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) has launched the Strong, Safer Communities Awards 2011 and is looking to praise and reward people whose commitment and hard work in helping protect their neighbourhoods often goes unrecognised in their wider community.

Cllr Heather Goddard, executive member for communities, said: “South Gloucestershire is a safe place to live and work and these awards celebrate all those people who are helping keep it that way. The need for our residents to be safe in their communities is a priority for this council and our success in tackling anti-social behaviour is down to the support and hard work of residents which often goes unseen and unrewarded. The Strong, Safer Communities Awards give us the chance to highlight the work they do and also gives their neighbours the opportunity to say ‘thank you’.”

Read on to find out how to nominate someone for an award »

Source: South Gloucestershire Council

Volunteers from the community are helping neighbourhood police keep Little Stoke and Stoke Gifford safe.

Since the volunteers signed up in autumn 2009 they have helped police identify anti-social behaviour (ASB) hotspots, enabled officers to seize alcohol from underage drinkers, identified 60 speeding vehicles and carried out community clean-ups.

Neighbourhood PC Mark Graham said: “We asked for volunteers to help us tackle the three issues that the community had told us were their priorities: speeding, ASB and littering.

“These people are making a real difference to their community. Making the neighbourhood safer and stronger is a team effort. Police work with other agencies like South Gloucestershire Council, but we need the support of local people as well.”

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Source: Avon and Somerset Police

Local campaigners have revealed that a new CCTV system in Cadbury Heath has helped cut local crime by a whopping 25 per cent.

Funded by South Gloucestershire Council, two new state-of-the-art cameras on School Road and Newton Road were switched on in September 2009, after campaigners called for action to tackle numerous incidences of anti-social behaviour and other more serious forms of crime, which have occurred locally over the years.

Figures obtained from the council by local campaigner, Chris Skidmore, and the area’s councillors show that overall crime levels on the Parkwall police beat, which includes Cadbury Heath, is 25 per cent lower in the 3 months Sep-Nov 09 than the same 3 months in 2008 before the cameras were installed.

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Source: Conservative Group on South Gloucestershire Council

Local councillors have welcomed the switching on of a CCTV system to monitor an anti-social behaviour hotspot in Cadbury Heath, South Gloucestershire.

Funded by South Gloucestershire Council, the two new state-of-the-art cameras have been erected on School Road and Newton Road, after calls from the local community for action to tackle numerous incidences of anti-social behaviour and other more serious forms of crime, which have occurred locally over the years.

The School Road area, in particular, hit the headlines in 2007 when two men blew up a phone box using firework explosives. They were later jailed.

Local traders and residents, including the elderly residents of the nearby Alfred Lovell Gardens elderly people’s home, have regularly been the victims of anti-social behaviour in the School Road and Newton Road areas.

Despite being operational for a matter of days, the new cameras, which are monitored round the clock, have already caught an incident of three teenagers scaling the roof of the Cadbury Heath Hall on School Road with one of the group recorded attempting to break a roof window.

In a joint statement, Tony Olpin and Nick Barrett, Conservative councillors for the Parkwall ward that includes Cadbury Heath, said:

“Crime and anti-social behaviour have blighted the lives of many of our local traders and residents, including those who are vulnerable and elderly, and so we have been pushing strongly for action to address people’s fears.

In the short time the cameras have been switched on, an incident involving several youths climbing onto the roof of Cadbury Heath Hall has already been recorded meaning that the police can more easily identify the perpetrators and deal with them effectively.

We welcome the installation of these quality, state-of-the-art cameras because the more effective tackling of crime and anti-social behaviour that will come through their use will hopefully transform local people’s quality of life and help them to feel safer and be safer.”

Source: Conservative Group on South Gloucestershire Council