Palmers Green ward panel meeting, 30 May 2023

Share share on facebook share on twitter share on Bluesky

map of palmers green ward

The panel met shortly after the (public) PG ward forum of 22nd May. Data from that was employed as input to the panel’s decision process.

Rick Jewel, Cabinet Member for the Environment, also supplied details of activity and plans in the areas of parking and fly tipping/llittering. Residents may have already noticed the increased enforcement activity, and more is planned. The panel is also looking at additional initiatives. A similar picture holds for other local problems issues such as begging. There is no quick or single fix, but several things are now moving forward across a broad front.

Local shopkeepers have produced a new website to aid their reporting of crime (the admin sometimes makes shoplifting reporting too much trouble) as well as leaflets for distribution highlighting issues and how and when to report. This is all part of the community now working with the police (and council) to help them to help us.

In helping ourselves to reduce crime (and so eg reduce our PG level insurance premiums) the panel concluded there were actions we can all take as part of the effort:

  1. Do not buy goods outside of legal routes – a high level of shoplifting is sold on at a discount to residents. Just don’t do it. There can even be shoplifting to order. Possible related hubs are being addressed by our police.
  2. Join Owl. Offences such as phone snatch and theft from cars is increasing across PG. Owl regularly gives advice/reminders of what to do/not do, as well as highlighting local crime trends to be aware of. Owl is available from www.owl.co.uk and the Owl app via usual app stores. Free and police approved. Over the coming months our local police will be encouraging us all to sign up. The SNT monthly newsletter is always available on the PGC site - but you can sign up for your copy direct – and that also contains timely advice. Much is common sense, but we need to do it!

Throughout the summer our Safer Neighbourhood Tea (SNT) will also focus on capping outdoor sun-encouraged ASB. We have a few emerging local hotspots now on their radar. If you see it, report it, 101 or other. Vehicle registrations are useful if they can be obtained safely.

There are a few other, longer term, projects now tootling along in the background which will take a few months to come to fruition and one planned to commence later in the year. One at least is going to include outreach into our less represented communities. The panel may need wider community support when we are ready to roll on that.

Next meeting will be in early September with members wishing to avoid school holidays to ensure maximum attendance.

Thanks to the Fox for both hosting and their panel membership.

Links

First meeting of the new PG Ward Panel: Town centre problems require a holistic response(Palmers Green Community article with additional information in forum comments)

Log in to comment
Posts in discussion: Palmers Green ward panel meeting, 30 May 2023
Karl Brown posted a reply
#6876
09 Jun 2023 15:57
I’ve received a few DM’s concerning the PG Panel (and community interest is positive) making me think more detail might assist.
Neighbourhood policing has been around for a couple of decades, fundamentally cut-back by austerity, we’re still on a bare skeleton of a safer neighbourhood team (SNT) despite the reported 20,000 new police recruits because apparently even more have left. More uniform on our streets in the near term therefore looks unlikely. That arguably puts more onus on “us”.
The Panel are not “police commissioners”, dealing with the full operational spectrum, and certainly not the (999) response team. Instead, it’s a case of understanding what’s happening in PG and based on that deciding where best to steer the SNT to spend more of their time. Naturally that changes as problem aspects ebb and flow.
Hence reporting crime is fundamental to better build the picture, as is reporting softer stuff – those things seemingly outside of the normal, anti-social behaviour (ASB) and others which we are well placed as a community to see. The SNT can be contacted by mail, telephone, catch them on the street (as if), one of their “cuppa with a coppa” sessions, or be creative. The regular Ward Survey, always flagged on PGC, is another route to raise issues, worries and the like.
While these panels are a statutory requirement of the police, the idea is that they are community-led. I think we’ve achieved that hurdle in PG. There’s a strong team in place with a common wish to make PG a better place. So, as well as setting near term policing priorities we’ve started operating a wider agenda, including running with or playing-off items raised at our councillor’s Ward Forum. Hopefully we’ll keep moving forward, contributing as one of PG’s local groups seeking to make for a better PG. Many of PG’s groups are represented on the panel to help ensure alignment.
Panel positions are broadly for a year, or two, so new faces will be needed as time moves on. At this stage I’d be most interested in geographic representation from the south of the ward as well as some of our non-core community segments and cultures. Accurate ward representation is key. The SNT can be contacted with any suggestions.
“Gatherings” of different forms have been raised as problematical to some. This last time it was ASB linked to gatherings in several PG spots, such as the station car park and St Johns. The time before it was gatherings outside some cafes, primarily on Aldermans Hill. Our SNT now have a priority task to cap this recent ASB before it grows throughout the summer. On cafes, the police worked with our council to visit some premises, talking to the owners, and setting helpful guidance. We heard of no problems about the cafes for this last panel.
But we are aware the cafes have touched nerves, so we have been exploring with players who have deep experience in diverse communities, places such as South Africa, Leicester, Bradford, south London and the northeast. Broadly there are two ends of a possible spectrum:
- enforce the law and cultivate a strong-armed response based on lines such as smoking in public places, disturbing the peace and causing an obstruction; through to
- involve, consult, engage and integrate based on mutual awareness and respect.
We’re a very multi-cultural centre and this is the latest culture to take a place within it. It’s going to be for the wider PG community to decide how it wishes to move towards effective integration, because it’s reasonable to assume that they are not going away. I would add I have come across no suggestion from those with experience that waving a big stick has been a solution to integration. Personally, I experience bigger issues elsewhere in PG but this one is a hot topic to enough in PG to indicate that we’re going to need to address it, and that’s us individually as well as collectively. So I leave with a, what are you going to do?
PGC Webmaster posted a reply
#6877
10 Jun 2023 23:03
Just to add to what Karl's written above, a reminder of the information about ward panels that was provided by Jennie Arkwright, the PCSO that you will have seen patrolling the ward. This is a couple of years old, but I imagine is still current.

For more detail, see the Ward Panel Community Members Handbook - again, a couple of years old but probably still current.

File Attachment:
.

Finally, a reminder that Karl is looking for more people to join the panel:

Panel positions are broadly for a year, or two, so new faces will be needed as time moves on. At this stage I’d be most interested in geographic representation from the south of the ward as well as some of our non-core community segments and cultures. Accurate ward representation is key. The SNT can be contacted with any suggestions.

0