1.
Susan McGlyn and Tanya Dolphin presented a petition with over 1,500 signatures stating
“We petition the Council to reconsider the decision to make our Crossing Patrol Officer redundant
Kingshill Avenue is an exceptionally busy road, the crossing that the officer mans is used by children who attend St Raphaels, Downe Manor and Belmore school as well as older children attending local high schools. The whole community supports this petition and are outraged that this decision has been made. This is not about saving money it is about saving lives”.
Councillor Mahfouz responded
“As a parent myself and someone who got into local politics to improve road safety it gives me no pleasure to make these proposals. I have been a resident, councillor and governor in the area concerned and have been involved in a number of campaigns to improve road safety and lower speed limits. To improve safety at the junction concerned we have lowered the speed limit to 30mph, introduced the pelican crossing, brought in flashing signs, pedestrian guard rails, anti-skid surface and refuge islands in order to slow cars down.
However we are currently facing huge central government cuts which means we have had our budgets halved. This proposal is not something we have a choice about. If we had a choice we would have kept a crossing patrol but we still have £35m savings to identify on top of what has already been agreed.
We contacted the relevant schools when we made the proposals. I met with representatives from Downe Manor and after our meeting we shared details of what taking on the posts would entail. Unfortunately the schools feel unable to take on the posts themselves as they are worried about pressures on their budget in the future from Government cuts. Other options we can examine are whether we could look at sponsorship but the schools would like the sponsor to take on the post. We could also look at parents sharing the role voluntarily. If this is an option parents would like to examine we will do all we can to assist.
My view is that the last 10m of a child’s journey to school are the most dangerous. We need to do all we can to ensure that parents are not parking unsafely close to the school and endangering other children. Where we find this to be happening we will take tough action. We will also do all we can to encourage schools to help parents and children walk or cycle to school and give whatever assistance we can.”
2.
Lynne Palmer of South Ealing presented a petition stating
Over a number of years we have suffered break ins and malicious damage to the front and rear of our properties.
Some properties have been broken into more than once. The rear service road is also being used for fly tipping.
We feel that there is lack of police presence patrolling the front and rear of the properties.
We would like CCTV cameras installed at the front of the parade to reduce the incidence of crime.
This petition is to request that CCTV cameras are installed by the council and that the police maintain a stronger presence in daylight and night patrol to the front and rear to the properties.
Councillor Dheer responded
We are very sorry to hear of the problems suffered by shopkeepers on South Ealing Road, we have begun tackling this matter prior to Christmas and are working hard to put a plan in place to hopefully reduce and prevent future incidents of crime in the area. This problem was first brought to our attention in December and since then Safer Communities in partnership with the Police have undertaken a number of actions as part of a long term plan to bring security improvements to the area.
Safer Communities met with Miss Palmer to discuss her concerns and following this carried a thorough ‘Environmental Visual Audit’ of the area. The audit established that the area would benefit from CCTV, given it is a busy main road into the borough from its Southern boundary, and has heavy footfall from the South Ealing tube station. Additionally there are a number of betting shops and off licenses/ pubs, a petrol station, a major road junction and late opening grocery stores. A suitable location for a CCTV camera was identified, that will give coverage of the shops in question from South Ealing tube station area down towards the Popes Lane cross roads.
We are currently arranging the logistics for the re-deployment of an existing camera. It should be possible to operate the camera from the CCTV control room. The aim is to have this camera at location over a short period of time while the benefit of CCTV can be assess, should the camera prove to be an asset in detecting crime we will seek to identify potential funding streams for this camera to be a permanent feature at this location.
The following points were also raised in the audit:
• A number of the recent incidents of vandalism had occurred in shop fronts that have a recessed front door, possibly because perpetrators would feel more secluded. These shop fronts would benefit from shutters;
• The gates to the rear of the parade are still intact but in clear need of repair. However there are a number of problems associated with gating alleys behind shops and regular maintenance is an important and potentially expensive necessity;
• Generally the rear service road appeared to be well maintained however a number of shops had fly tipped or dumped rubbish in their backyards, and they could benefit from a security upgrade. It was noted that there are still broken rear windows and a general feeling of not being secure along this road. As a private road it is the duty of care of that land owner to ensure that they have the correct security on their land. It would not be appropriate for public surveillance of this service road considering the other measures which would need to be looked at first.
We have produced a draft crime prevention report exploring the various options that could be taken to reduce crime on this particular parade. As the parade is privately owned, clearly the onus will be on the landlord to finance any suggested improvements, such as repair of the gates, metal shutters, lighting the rear alley etc. As such we believe the best way to approach this will be as a partnership, applying pressure to the Landlord if they are not initially willing to carry out works.
We will seek to arrange a meeting with the Landlord and present our findings in conjunction with the Police. I understand that the current owners of the parade are relatively new, and do not appear to have managed as proactively as their predecessors which may be a contributing factor to the current problems. Formally bringing the problems to their attention will we hope provoke the owners into action, however we do not have legal powers to enforce any security improvements.
Further to this the local Policing Team has advised that they will undertake additional patrols in the area and increase visibility.