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Do we want a Community Support Officer? - Freddie Dawkins (17th Nov 2003 - 10:37:43) All here - What do you think? Should we consider this for Bramshott & Liphook? I can see arguments for/against this latest initiative. Freddie Dawkins Parish Councillor From the Home Office website at: http://www.pm.gov.uk/output/page3574.asp Extra 1,200 community support officers to fight crime More than 1,200 extra community support officers will on the streets in England and Wales, thanks to a GBP41 million funding boost. There are currently over 1,350 CSOs in post around the country. Community support officers are a key part of the Government's police reform programme and are helping to crack down on anti-social behaviour. The extra recruitment means the government is on track to meet its target of 4,000 CSOs by 2005, according to Home Secretary David Blunkett. He said: ...the police cannot win the fight against crime and nuisance behaviour alone - extending the police family will strengthen links with communities to bring about real change in the way that we tackle local issues and engage the public in tackling crimes that affect them the most.

Re: Do we want a Community Support Officer? - Jenny Alexander (17th Nov 2003 - 11:40:25) This sounds good but i can't help but wonder if it would cause another rise in our already massive council tax rates? how would it be paid for or does the grant cover the whole cost? Please forgive me if this is a silly question!

Re: Do we want a Community Support Officer? - Freddie Dawkins (18th Nov 2003 - 09:24:41) Jenny - As I understand it, the total cost is £20,000 per annum. Half of that has to come from the Parish, with the other half coming from the Home Office. We already have the Police office at the Millennium Centre, so there would be no extra accommodation costs. In the current year, we are paying an increase to Hampshire Police of around 15.9%. The figure for next year has still to be finalised - but it will almost certainly be high. Yet according to the local press, Whitehill and Petersfield (and possibly Alton) are going to lose officers to other, higher crime areas. If we lose 2-3 officers from Whitehill, we are surely bound to experience slower responses and slower investigations of reported crimes. The lack of resources experienced by local Police, is one of the reasons why we don't see officers occasionally covering duties such as school crossing patrols. With Liphook experiencing more housing growth and therefore an ever-increasing population, rising crimes rates are - I guess -unavoidable. rgds Freddie Dawkins Parish Councillor

Re: Do we want a Community Support Officer? - Steve (18th Nov 2003 - 13:31:12) Any truth in another 12%+ Council tax rise? I heard it on 5 live the other day. The South East to get hit by another big increase in council taxes. I'm still waiting to find out what benefit I received from last years rise. Noone mention emptying of wheelybins please. Oh damn, now I'm on it. Is it true that even though we get our recycle bins and rubbish bins emptyed on alternative weeks the lorries empty it all in the same place? This is because the new recycle centres have yet to be finalised and paid for? My dustbin lid was open by an inch the other week and the dustman refused to empty it. I then received a letter through the post explaining the reasons for this. A friggin INCH. This probably should be a different post but...

Re: Do we want a Community Support Officer? - Freddie Dawkins (18th Nov 2003 - 16:09:05) Perhaps we could ask our edtior to move this thread to a new one, titled something like: Council services - good value? Steve - I'm not the one to defend the East Hampshire DC waste collection services. This is something that will run for ever. All I'll say is: 1. We have one green bin and two grey bins. 2. We recycle everything we can. I have three different compost heaps and they are not on economy scale!! 3. I drive to Bordon dump once a week, loaded with at least 4 bags of household rubbish. This from a family of 4 and two dogs. However, and there's always an however, if I were living on my own, then I'd be quite happy with the fortnightly collections. As to that inch. Well, how many times have you opened your bin to find rubbish still stuck in it? We average once a month. Freddie

Re: Do we want a Community Support Officer? - Mike Grimes (18th Nov 2003 - 23:28:39) Last year we suffered a 29% increase in the Hampshire police precept. What did we receive for this? We are now threatened with a proposed merger of Whitehill, Petersfield and maybe Alton into one together with the loss of maybe 10 (for now) officers. Whitehill have often been assisted by MOD police but this force will also be significantly reduced as the Army withdraw from Bordon. This is likely to significantly increase the average police response times in this area. I presume that this leaves the police office in Liphook rather underutilised - how is it funded? I have heard that other areas have financed community support officers locally but found that these are not immune from being taken away from the area that funded them to perform duties in other areas. All in all, it sounds like another fraudulent attempt to increase council tax without it being added to the headline rate. All to pay for a limited replacement for what is being taken away from us in spite of a huge increase in contribution from us. Yes I think we need community support officers and I think we have already paid for them!

Re: Do we want a Community Support Officer? - Jenny Alexander (19th Nov 2003 - 12:25:35) I can see what good the CSO would do but i have to agree with Mike, we have already paid huge amounts in council tax and i don't see why we should have ot pay more. I would still like to know what exactly i am getting for £98.00 per month for a two bed flat? I am actually moving into Haslemere in the next few weeks as the council tax is actually cheaper on a three bed flat in surrey than it is here. From the feedback i have got i also don't think i will be the last to move because of the unrealistic rates that are asked of us. There must be something we can do rather than just constantly laying down and accepting more money being taken from people on low wages who work hard for their cash.

Re: Do we want a Community Support Officer? - Freddie Dawkins (19th Nov 2003 - 17:14:31) Jenny - Lobby your District and County councillors. Come along to Parish Council meetings and make your views known. It does work. If you want contact details, look at the Parish Council pages on this site, or call the Parish office on 01428 722988. All your Councillors live in the area and we are all Council Tax payers. At Parish level, we are trimming budgets to keep the Parish Precept as low as possible. At the moment, we expect the Precept to be 3% - which in real terms will be 2.2% (approx) on the overall bills for next year. That's not too bad. But we don't yet know what will be imposed by EHDC, HCC and the Police. Mike Grimes is absolutely right about the massive increases this year to pay for Police expenditure. The increases we are suffering are in part due to a shift of central government funding from the South to the North. Hardly a fair and equitable solution! Freddie Dawkins Parish Councillor

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