Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council

Big plans, bright future

Stockton Home Safety Association Minutes

Date:
Tuesday, 30th October, 2018
Time:
13:30
Place:
Ground Floor Conference Room, Municipal Buildings, Church Road, Stockton
 
Please note: all Minutes are subject to approval at the next Meeting

Attendance Details

Present:
Cllr Evaline Cunningham (Chairman), Michelle Bendelow (Vice Chair), Cllr Helen Atkinson, Cllr Mohammed Javed
Officers:
Andrea Gledhill, Dale Metcalfe, Sarah Whaley (DCE)
Apologies for absence:
Cllr Woodhead, Kelly Close, Marc Stephenson
Item Description Decision
Public
SHA
12/18		 EVACUATION PROCEDURE
Preamble
 
SHA
13/18		 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
Preamble
 
SHA
14/18		 MINUTES FROM THE STOCKTON HOME SAFETY ASSOCIATION WHICH WAS HELD ON THE 26TH JUNE 2018
Preamble
AGREED that the minutes be approved and signed as a correct record by the Chairman.
SHA
15/18		 CAMPAIGN TOPICS
Preamble
AGREED that the information be noted
SHA
16/18		 FINANCIAL UPDATE
 AGREED that the Trading Standards Enforcement Officer, Andrea Gledhill provide the total spend on the Stockton Event held on the 10th October 2018 at the next meeting which was to be held on 18th December 2018.
SHA
17/18		 REPORT OF TRADING STANDARDS OFFICER
Preamble
AGREED that the infromation be noted.
SHA
18/18		 REPORT OF CHILDREN'S CENTRE OFFICER
Preamble
AGREED that the report be deferred
SHA
19/18		 REPORT OF COMMUNITY SAFETY OFFICER
Preamble
AGREED that the information be noted.
SHA
20/18		 REPORT OF FIRE OFFICER
Preamble
AGREED that the report be deferred.
SHA
21/18		 POTENTIAL DATES FOR NEXT EVENT.
Preamble
AGREED that the Billingham Home Safety Event be scheduled for 25th February 2019.

Preamble

ItemPreamble
SHA
12/18		The Evacuation Procedure was noted.
SHA
13/18		There were no declarations of interest.
SHA
14/18		Consideration was given to the minutes of the Stockton Home Safety Association Committee meeting which was held on the 26th June 2018.
SHA
15/18		Members discussed and considered the next campaign which was to be held in Billingham Town Centre and which would focus on similar topics to that of the recent Stockton Home Safety Event which was held on 10th October 2018.

The main focus would be as follows:

- Fire Authority be asked to focus on ‘warm homes'
- Slips and Falls.
- Crime Prevention
- Services available to the general public at pharmacies.

Due to the success of the padlocks and door chains which were available to Members of the public at the Stockton event, it was agreed to provide up to 40 of these at the Billingham event.

Councillor Helen Atkinson thanked the Chairman and staff for a well organised and successful event.
SHA
17/18		The Trading Standards Enforcement Officer informed the committee of a recent ‘part worn tyres initiative'. Officers visited 8 garages within the Borough where part worn tyres were available for sale to the general public. After inspection, 28 tyres did not conform to the required standards. All substandard tyres were removed from sale. A follow up visit to those establishments that were found to have substandard tyres for sale would be scheduled again in the new year.

As the operation was carried out regionally, there would be publicity on a regional basis to highlight the issues found throughout the North East with follow up visits to ensure future compliance.

Discussion took place around whether a star rating scheme could be introduced, however a rating scheme would need to be in place to enable the authority to do that. Members were informed that there was a ‘Top Ten Trader list', where traders could be looked up to see if they appeared on that list.

The Committee were informed that Trading Standards had obtained their first ever closure order for 30 Norton Road in relation to illicit cigarettes until 19th Jan 2019.

In addition a local licensed convenient store known as Lezas located in Bowesfield Lane had recently been closed and had had their Licence to sell alcohol revoked.

The Committee discussed issues surrounding ‘Fag houses', which were more difficult to find. A lot of intelligence was required to seek them out and the authority needed a ripper authorisation from Magistrates to obtain that. Currently there was no one in Stockton Borough Council to sign these off, however procedures were being looked into to rectify this.

Members briefly discussed the safety of Halloween costumes in relation to fire safety and also fireworks compliance. The Trading Standards Enforcement Officer asked anyone who saw fireworks for sale on social media to inform Trading Standards. In terms of fireworks stock in shops, Licensing Officers were investigating this in relation to compliance.
SHA
18/18		No Children's Centre Officer was in attendance at today's meeting and no reports offered.
SHA
19/18		The Community Safety Officer provided Members with a verbal overview on recorded crime and anti-social behaviour incidents in the borough of Stockton for the time period of 1st April 2018 to 30th September 2018.

The main topics discussed were as follows:

Violence against a person
- Homicide
- Death or injury due to driving
- Violence with injury
- Violence without injury
- Stalking and Harassment

Sexual Offences
- Rape
- Other Sexual Offences

Robbery
- Business Robbery
- Personal Robbery

Theft
- Burglary - residential
- Burglary - Business& Commerce
- Bicycle theft
- Theft from a person
- Vehicle Crime
- Shop Lifting
- Other Theft

Members were informed that violent crime against a person compared to last year was up. Stalking & Harassment offences (which included domestic violence) had seen the largest rise. This had also been evident across the three other local authorities within the Cleveland Force area. Malicious communication offences (sending of texts/phone calls etc.) were also recorded within this category which had contributed to the increase.

Violence without injury had seen an increase 29.7%.

Violence with injury had increased by 8.2%.

There had been only one death or injury due to driving last year and none to date this year.

In relation to homicide there had been none recorded last year and 1 recorded so far this year.

Members discussed issues in relation to quad bikes / off road bikes being ridden around estates which were linked to anti-social behaviour. These included driving around erratically and drug dealing. There had been some successes on some estates where the police were operating a programme targeting off road bikes, however the police did not have the necessary resources to tackle this properly and enforcement officers had no powers to deal with the problem effectively.

The introduction of Section 59 notices on lampposts, only worked if enforced by the police. It was a first warning to have a vehicle taken away. If a vehicle was taken away and it was taxed and tested it could be retrieved following payment of a fine, otherwise if it was an off road vehicle without tax and test the vehicle could be crushed. The Committee felt this would be a good deterrent to promote that vehicles would be crushed and it could be advertised in Neighbourhood News, Twitter and on Facebook.

The Community Safety Officer highlighted the positives, which were as follows:

Robbery in Stockton Borough had reduced by 28.6% this year compared to last

Residential burglary had reduced over 10% and business and commercial burglary was down by 27.5% with other thefts down by 11.6%

Brief discussion took place regarding crime figures relating to scams.

Nationally the Government had reported that crime had reduced, however it was felt locally that this was not the case. In relation to crime in the area the Chief Constable had reported that the whole of Cleveland was more likened to a Metropolitan, however only had a small police force to deal with it. MP's had been contacted to speak to Home Secretary in relation to increasing funding.
SHA
20/18		No Fire Officer was in attendance at today's meeting and no reports offered.
SHA
21/18		Members and officers discussed possible dates for the Billingham Home Safety Event which would be held on a market day in order to connect with as many members of the public as possible.

The Trading Standards Enforcement Officer Andrea Gledhill agreed to re order leaflets debit/credit card protectors and additional door chains. The Trading Standards Enforcement Officer was to also seek out purse bells and a wooden structure which had been used in the past to help members of the public identify pills versus sweets and the dangers associated with medicines being mistaken for sweets.

The Governance Officer would investigate representation from pharmacies to help promote services available to the public.

It was agreed that the Event would take place on 25th February 2019 between 10.00am and 2.00 pm.

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