 |
| Calshot Beach Huts |
Hello,
Welcome to this update of the beach hut watch newsletter. Events in the main are about the meeting for hut owners which took place on 09/06/07 at Jubilee Hall Fawley.
Firstly I would like to say a big thanks to all those who attended and to those who sent in their apologies.
The hall was full and I stopped counting when I got to 80 so I believe there must have been around 100 persons present. A fantastic turnout.
Thanks to Fawley Parish Council for letting us use their facilities and Cllr Holtham for his efforts.
The steering group comprises of the following persons Pauline Haden, Les Holmes, David Feltham representing NFDC and Stephen Hayes for Cadland owners, as well as myself.
The meeting discussed various issues affecting beach hut owners and a report was given of incidents which have occurred in the area this year and police actions to deal with criminal behaviour.
In the main it has quietened down for anti social behaviour from earlier this year. However I have to report that incidents do still occur on a sporadic basis with mindless damage to huts.
Also in the past 2 weeks there have been several incidents of theft from boats at Calshot, as such clearly thieves are operating in this area and I would urge everyone to keep valuables locked away and security marked. Also please do call in any suspicious activity.
Part of the meeting was given up to the principle of non confrontational patrolling by beach hut owners, firstly it has to be emphasised this is in addition to police and professional patrolling.
The idea is that beach hut owners will patrol the beach in pairs reporting any unacceptable behaviour or damage found to police using 101 or 999 depending on nature of incident.
These patrols are not intended to confront criminal behaviour but rather to have a deterrent effect by members wearing high visibility jackets.
If offenders are found then the means of dealing will be to call police straight away and to observe and pass on information (descriptions, direction of travel, actions, vehicles used etc) to the police controller so that officers can be intelligently deployed.
There will be times where police officers are not able to attend due to being deployed at other incidents however HAMPSHIRE POLICE ARE COMMITTED TO DEALING WITH CRIME and it will be the exception rather than the rule when officers aren’t available.
If you need assistance then please advise the controller as to the urgency as Hampshire police will deploy to all incidents were public safety is at risk. Around 50 members expressed an interest in patrolling and it was agreed that the best way to coordinate this would be to operate a diary at Hythe police station which I will maintain.
Members can email me at adrian.woodhead@hampshire.pnn.police.uk or phone me on 0845 045 45 45 Hythe police to advise of times and dates that they can patrol on. This diary will be kept at the front office at Hythe so you can also pop into the station to chose a date if you so wish.
I will be putting in patrols myself and hope to have the diary up and running with patrols by members starting around middle of July (I will be out of the office so to speak towards end of June so will set up and running as soon as possible but might be small delay)
NFDC have provided £300 to the beach hut watch group and it was decided by persons present that the most efficient use of the money would be to purchase hi visibility jackets and 2 D cell Maglite torches to be used by the group. As such the finance office at Lyndhurst is now making arrangements to purchase these items on your behalf. As soon as they are in my possession I will advise the group so that the items can be handed out where required.
It was requested that Beach hut watch signs similar to those used by neighbourhood watch schemes be investigated to see if it would be possible to obtain these. As such I have made contact with the crime reduction office to see if this is possible and will update as to any result I receive.
It is still being looked at where the best location to store items such as torches for patrols and it is envisaged that Calshot Activity Centre would be a likely and probable location however this still needs to be confirmed for definite.
In assisting in the setting up of this beach hut watch group my aim is to provide a high visibility scheme to deter offenders, protect property and reassure owners.
I don’t expect or wish this scheme to become an onerous burden on any member and any involvement is to be of freewill at a time convenient to the member.
For the hut watch to achieve its goal it can not have an adverse impact on the member or become a chore. Please participate where you can but this is a voluntary scheme which is to support you and enable you to enjoy your free time, not use it up!!
Finally you may be surprised to know that Hampshire police now have an auxiliary marine unit in addition to the more professional seaborne officers, which can occasionally be seen off shore in good weather conditions only.!!
Thanks again to all for your time and effort in setting up this scheme and I look forward to seeing you in the coming months for hopefully an peaceful, uneventful, and pleasant summer.
Adrian
PC 3216 WOODHEAD
|
