The local Police have asked me to make people aware that there has been an incident on Steyning High Street, where a female driver was in static traffic and while waiting for traffic to move, a male tried to get into the vehicle by trying the door handles. Luckily the vehicles doors were locked and he could not get in.

This incident highlights that locking your car doors whilst driving increases personal safety, as drivers can be in vulnerable situation when in static traffic, at junctions and traffic lights. This is an isolated incident in our area, but it reminds people that we do not know who’s around, and you will be much safer by locking your car doors when driving.

Following pressure from Steyning Parish Council and me, the County Council has confirmed that its £5000 contribution towards the annual cost of running the Neighbourhood Wardens in Bramber, Steyning & Upper Beeding and in Ashington will be made available to the Parish Councils via the Horsham Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership for 2009/10.

The County Cabinet Member concerned has, however, made it clear that after that date Horsham District and the Parish Councils involved must ensure that the Neighbourhood Warden Schemes are permanently financed from local funds, as elsewhere in the County.

The Bramber, Steyning & Upper Beeding Neighbourhood Wardens provide a tremendous service to local people, both old and young and I am certain that the majority of residents will wish to see it continue after 2010.

Following reports of illegal parking on yellow lines in Saltings Way and Pound Lane, Upper Beeding; Horsham Council officers (acting under delegated powers from the County Council) have told Derek Deedman that they will be giving greater attention in future to the illegal parking in those roads.

Residents are rightly concerned that much of this illegal parking is hazardous and could result in accidents if such parking is not prevented.

The meeting of the Steyning, Bramber and Upper Beeding Local Action Team (LAT) today heard that the Steyning Zero Tolerance campaign is a success. The figures for anti-social activities are being collated, but the indications are that they show a welcome downturn on the figures for the same period last year. Good news for the launch of the campaign in Bramber and Upper Beeding next month.

However, aggressive behavior by individuals who have become intoxicated with alcohol continues to be a problem. In my view we must start to change the culture in this Country, that getting ‘merry’ or drunk is just a ‘laugh’ and is something to be expected, especially from young people. The media is to be blamed for promoting such a culture, particularly on television.

Not that the media is much better on the smoking front. How many TV programmes can you name where people are unnecessarily shown as smoking and/or drinking to excess? We cannot expect young people in particular not to smoke or to drink to excess when leading personalities are shown doing just that almost every night. It would surely not be difficult to eliminate such activities from television shows? The savings to the NHS from fewer smokers and heavy drinkers would be enormous, as would be the benefit to family life and community safety from a reduction in anti-social behavior from drunks on our streets or in their own homes.

The Police, Police Community Support Officers and our Neighbourhood Wardens can help tackle the drunks in our community, but the Government, media and people as a whole can do much more to show that drinking to excess is unacceptable in a civilized society. And let’s do much more to show that anyone with any sense or concern about their own, as well as other peoples, health should not be smoking at all, not just in those places banned by law.

Sussex Police is very keen to promote the use of the Neighbourhood Policing Website and increase the readership of Police Community Support Officers (PCSO’s) individual blogs. Did you know that there is a facility for individuals to ’sign up’ to automatically receive blogs when they are published?

This is done by visiting the Sussex Police Website at www.sussex.police.uk selecting the individual PCSO for Steyning (Andy Reed) or Bramber/Upper Beeding/Small Dole (Carol Boniface), and click on the box ‘Get your Updates by Email’. You then simply complete your email details in order to receive regular blogs. This facility can be stopped at any time. (There is a link to the Sussex Police website from this website under ‘Neighbourhood Policing’)

This seems a great way of increasing PCSO contact with local people and I hope many people will take up the offer.

The Liberal Democrats have today outlined radical plans to tackle youth crime.

The dual approach aims to stop young people committing crimes in the first place by enabling them to play a full role in society through increased training and volunteering, as well as stopping criminal behaviour early by making young offenders face up to their crimes.

The main proposals contained in the paper A Life Away From Crime (copy from me via my email address) include:

· The creation of a Youth Volunteer Force, to engage with young people, involve them in community projects and give them skills to benefit them in later life
· Establish Community Justice Panels across the country, where offenders admit their guilt to the community and agree on a Positive Behaviour Order as a course of action
· Create a dedicated PCSO youth officer within every Safer Neighbourhood Team to identify and work with teenagers most at risk of offending
· 10,000 more police on the streets by scrapping the ID cards scheme
· Intelligence-led stop and search and ‘hot spot policing’ targeted at gun and knife crime
· Restorative justice programs to be run in every community, specifically targeted at early intervention with widespread use in schools and care homes

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Affairs Secretary, Chris Huhne said:

“This Government has spent 10 years trying to sound tough while failing to cut youth crime.

“In fact, ministers have embarked on the mass criminalisation of a generation of young people. By dragging more and more young people through the criminal justice system, they have reduced the fear of a criminal record and contributed to the problem.

“Instead of shock tactics to grab headlines, we need practical measures that are proven to work.

“Only the Liberal Democrats propose a dual approach to stop kids from getting involved in crime in the first place, and measures to make them face up to the consequences of their actions if they do.”

Operation Crackdown, which has been a great success in removing abandoned vehicles from local neighbourhood, has been extended to try to tackle anti-social drivers.

A representative of Operation Crackdown was at the Chanctonbury County Local Committee on Tuesday to explain the new campaign which has been in operation for a few months.

You can tell Operation Crackdown about anti-social driving you have seen by using the new Sussex-wide Operation Crackdown website (using the link from this website).

Speeding, thoughtless driving or riding, under-age drivers or riders, drink or drug driving, tailgating, mobile phone use whilst driving, vehicles in an unsafe condition, abandoned cars, untaxed cars ans motorbikes……

If you see any of these things or any other unreasonable behaviour by drivers or riders: -

*if in another vehicle, pull over safely (or ask a passenger) and write down the details of the vehicle causing concern (make, model, colour, number plate), location (house number, shop name, road name etc), and what happened.

*when able to access a computer, visit www.operationcrackdown.org or call 01243 642222 with your information.

Remember, do not attempt do do any of this while driving!

Your information will be analysed and appropriate action taken by Sussex Police.

If you, like me, are tired of anti -social driving in our area, especially speeding on our residential roads, don’t tolerate it…. Report it!

The Steyning, Bramber & Upper Beeding Wardens now have their own website and a link to this has been added to this website under their name.

Go to http:/sbubwardens.squarespace.com for news, information and how to contact them.

Increasing anti- social behaviour at the Memorial Field  was the topic of many complaints and calls for action at the Parish Council meeting last night.

Local people attending the meeting complained that, despite the attention of the Neighbourhood Wardens, the actions of a few local youths were making their lives a misery, especially on Friday and Saturday nights. Drinking leading to bad language and abuse, using the area as a toilet, youths going into back gardens to collect footballs, and use of the children’s play equipment to stand on to look into back gardens were examples of the problems faced by Newham Lane residents.

The Police were viewed as not being a great help, as when they did arrive in answer to residents phone calls the youths saw them coming and disappeared before they could be caught and identified.

The Neighbourhood Wardens suggested varying their working hours to try to catch the major culprits. It maybe, however, that other more expensive measures (with possible implications for the parish precept), such as moving the play area to the other side of the Field away from houses, providing a high fence to protect back gardens or even employing another Warden to concentrate on supervising the Memorial Field and other open spaces will have to be considered.

Clearly more needs to be done to reduce this anti-social behaviour occurring in the first place, perhaps working with parents and schools, but this will take longer to achieve and people, quite rightly, want action now.

At the recent Annual Upper Beeding Parish Meeting the Neighbourhood Wardens for Bramber, Steyning & Upper Beeding presented a report on their activities during the last year and their plans for 2008/09.

Now the Wardens can issue penalty tickets for dog fouling and dropping litter they will be working to reduce this sort of anti-social behaviour across the area. Fortunately this sort of behaviour is only carried out by a few people, but it has a significant impact on the street scene, and can also be a danger to health.   (And don’t forget that dropping cigarette butts is also litter.) Contact the Wardens, Paul Sweeney on 077344 387 888 or Kylie Calder on 07734 387 889 (or via the office on 01903 813 236) if you have information on regular sites/times when this sort of anti-social behaviour is carried out.

The Wardens will be continuing with their work to control other sorts of bad behaviour such as under age drinking in our recreation grounds, whilst at the same time working with the junior wardens from the Upper Beeding (and soon Steyning) Primary Schools.

And they are still able to help those more older residents who are unable to get out by collecting medicines etc for them.

Our Neighbourhood Wardens are doing a great job - help them to do an even better one!