Hi, hope you are all well and looking forward to your summer holidays? We’re really looking forward to lots of community engagement over the holiday period commencing with a Blue Light event in Newton Aycliffe town centre in conjunction with the Town Centre Management team, the Fire Service and Newton News. If you’re free on Wednesday 24th July between 11am and 3pm, then come and see us (advertisement to follow).
June has seen a decline in Anti-Social Behaviour which is great to see, but has the problem just moved elsewhere, or is it being under-reported? If you’re experiencing problems then please ring 101 or contact a member of my team who are really keen to problem solve around your issues. We are still having problems with off-road bikes/quads though, so please help us by taking photos and videos (when safe to do so) so that we can identify and robustly deal with offending people.
Crime wise, burglary and vehicle related crime remains very low. Shoplifting saw an increase and action is being taken to target repeat offenders, address their criminogenic needs, and get them before a court. Plain clothed patrols are planned to proactively target and prevent offences.
At the end of May we ran a road safety week around all the Junior Schools in Newton Aycliffe.
An officer was outside every school at drop off and pick up times to challenge poor driving and inappropriate parking. Whilst the kids were in school, we ran Community Speed Watch operations, worked with Durham County Council to target waste carriers and scrap collectors, targeted people using off road bikes and quads with our own off-road motorcycle team, and proactively focused on drivers driving without appropriate documentation and drink drivers. We ran a school poster competition in all the schools and the best ones received prizes. The week was sponsored by Gestamp and local councillors who purchased school figures to be displayed outside of each school to remind drivers to be safe around school premises. It was an amazing week, and the positive feedback we received from the community was awesome. We are hoping to organise a similar week in the near future.
There were a number of ACE (Aycliffe Community Excellence) awards presented in June, this is an award scheme sponsored by McDonalds and ROF59 to reward kids for doing great things in the community. The stand out award went to Lauren Bulmer and Nicole Humes who went to the assistance of a vulnerable female in the town centre, got her help, and waited with her until the police arrived. This just goes to show that we have some great kids in Newton Aycliffe doing great things!
We are on a number of task groups in the Newton Aycliffe area. There is a TLP (Time Limited Project) running in the Western area in conjunction with Livin, DCC, junction 7, Hub of Wishes and local councillors around increasing youth provision and creating a community garden in an effort to reduce ASB. This is coming along very nicely and we hope to have some positive results in the very near future. We are also working on more for the kids to do in the town centre to reduce issues there, these are all work in progress.
Newton Aycliffe continues to be a great place to live, work and visit. There is some amazing work being done by various voluntary groups, businesses and government organisations to address issues around vulnerability. The hope, going forward, is that we can support and supplement this great work to improve life for all.
We remain committed to maintaining your confidence, and hope that you will work with us to help you. Till next time, take care out there!
