We've secured an agreement with Persimmon to attend to street lighting outages in Houghton Avenue within 10 days, the same standard we have in place with PCC. We're in negotiation with Nene to commit to the same as a minimum.

If you spot a light out please let us know.

Park Farm NHW - We're doing it!

See the latest outage status

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At last our negotiations with EDF have finally resulted in the new roof being fitted and the scaffold removed.

The scheduled litter pick within Heritage Park School grounds and the surrounding area was well attended this morning and proved to be a great success far surpassing what was expected. 9 members of the Peterborough ATC joined coordinators and members to clear all the rubbish from within the trees and shrubbery. This proved extremely difficult as some areas had dense growth and were covered in thorns.

A staggering 23 bags were filled with rubbish which thankfully did not include any needles but broken bottles a plenty. Makes you wonder about the mentality of those idiots who smashed glass in the school field and play areas in the first place doesn't it?

Hundreds of glass bottles and cans were also recovered along with the usual array of plastic bags, undelivered newspapers, cigarette packets, crisp bags and sweet wrappers.

Funniest find though was a half jar of pickled onions...........the mind boggles!

Anyway, our major thanks go to Flight Lieutenant Mike Davison and all the guys from the ATC. Their efforts will be used as evidence of Community Service for the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme. And of course to those members who put the effort into serving their community.

I hope that if you were too busy to help this time you'll consider doing your bit for Park Farm the next time. I appreciate we all have busy lives but just an hour or so here and there makes all the difference and everyone gets the benefits.

The morning was rounded off nicely with a round of applause for the fabulous effort and bars of chocolate for all which seemed to go down extremely well.

Finally thanks to Mick Saggers of PCC who supplied us with the 12 additional litter pickers and for arranging collection of the bags by his team.

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Evening Telegraph - 14th September 2006

RESIDENTS are being urged to help police take criminals and louts off the streets of Peterborough – by using mobile phone cameras to get evidence. Chief Superintendent Paul Phillipson, the man in charge of Peterborough police, said the public could turn their mobiles into a new weapon in the fight against crime and anti-social behaviour which is blighting many areas.

Making the plea, Chief Supt Phillipson gave a pat on the back to members of the neighbourhood watch scheme on the Park Farm estate at Stanground, whose camera phone evidence has already resulted in one conviction and three other court cases pending.

Chris Harper, chairman of Park Farm Neighbourhood Watch, urged residents in other areas to follow their lead, and said:

"Members have been gathering evidence with their cameras, and the bonus for us and everyone living on Park Farm, has been a massive drop in problems, which is what we wanted."

Things have certainly been quieter since residents caught a man in the act of illegally riding a scramble bike on the roads and pavement. Now he's been banned from driving for six months and fined £180, and has discovered this neighbourhood watch group means business.

Ch Supt Phillipson said: "We are asking communities in Peterborough to join in the fight against crime and make their streets and neighbourhoods no-go areas for criminals. "To this end, we are encouraging people to capture crime and incidents of anti-social behaviour and disorder using their mobile phones whenever it's possible and safe to do so.

"Capturing a visual record of an incident can make a huge difference to us in the investigation of a crime, and in providing solid evidence as part of a prosecution case.

"We don't want members of the community to go out targeting people or putting themselves at risk or in danger by photographing incidents, but we do want them to photograph or record, if they can, suspicious activity, crimes or anti-social acts, and supply it to us for further investigation.

"We have had a number of successes, thanks to the hard work of officers, and neighbourhood watch groups using this technology to supply us with the valuable information, intelligence and evidence we need." Stanground crime-fighters have caught several incidents of anti-social behaviour on their mobiles, including an alleged incident of youths racing motorbikes on the pavement, and several prosecutions are now under way.

Mr Harper said: "We liaised with our local Community Beat Manager Pc Ben Duce because we had a problem with mini-motorcycles and lots of complaints from members and non-members of the scheme. "Pc Duce advised us that the best evidence we could give him was photographs of people on the bikes. "That way, we could e-mail him or he could pick them up from us. We've had some good results from this work."

Mobile phone or camera footage can be supplied to your street coordinator, the police through the e-cops e-mail scheme, or direct to officers via e-mail. "Pictures can also be printed off and taken into, or posted to, Thorpe Wood and Bridge Street police stations.

Anyone submitting a photograph or video footage should ensure they include their details, and as much information about when and where the incident took place as possible.

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I would like to state that the police stations are not closing and a police presence will continue from each of these sites. The visible police presence has and will continue to increase at these locations with the recruitment and deployment of more Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs). It is intended that with the development of the Neighbourhood Policing Teams we will be able to offer a more suitable service to local residents through neighbourhood panels, police surgeries, police and community workshops, problem solving groups etc, which will be staffed by the local Community Beat Manager (CBM) or PCSO at a time more suitable to the public.

The telephones situated outside Bretton and Orton police stations will remain, allowing members of the public to contact the force control room directly, at no cost to them, when they require 999 services. We also hope to increase the number of users of e-cops and use of the non-emergency police contact number of 0845 456 456 4, as user surveys show that if members of the public know how to contact the local police they do feel more reassured.

The decision to alter the manner in which these stations operate has not been taken lightly. There has been a comprehensive review of the enquiry office function within the force and it highlighted that these stations only had one or two members of the public visiting them each week, whereas Thorpe Wood and Bridge Street were receiving a high volume of callers and needed additional resources. We are therefore redeploying resources to these enquiry offices in order to improve the services and meet the demands of the public.

As you can see this is not a reduction in services but instead a new means of delivering those services.

I hope this goes to reassure you in some way that the situation is not as stark as portrayed in the Evening Telegraph.

Superintendent Nigel Trippett
Peterborough
Cambridgeshire Constabulary

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With the help of Peterborough City Council (PCC) Park Farm NHW scheme have been able to obtain agreement for 2 new litter bins on Park Farm. The new bins are along the footpath that leads to the lake and river from Park Farm Way. They are located on lamp columns no. 39 and no. 46. Thanks to PCC for all their help and input over recent weeks.

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ANGRY residents are so fed up with vandalism, graffiti and late-night noise, they have decided to take matters into their own hands. More than 60 people living in Park Farm, Stanground, Peterborough, have joined forces to launch a new Neighbourhood Watch scheme – in a bid to fight the thugs who are blighting their lives.

Photocaption: FED-UP: Chris Harper shows graffiti in the Park Farm play area. (6AL0210166) Pictures: ANDY LAITHWAITE

Chris Harper, who is co-ordinating the scheme, said he was determined to stamp out the problems which have been making life a misery for residents. He said: "I have lived in Park Farm for seven years, and I love it here, but in recent weeks we have seen graffiti appearing on fences and play equipment, empty beer cans being dumped all over the place and bottles being thrown into gardens.

"Every Friday and Saturday night, groups of young people loiter on the playing field, get drunk and make lots of noise. We have decided to try to stamp this bad behaviour out before it develops into something more serious."

The residents have already held their first Neighbourhood Watch meeting, and have vowed to be more vigilant and report all incidents of anti-social behaviour. In a bid to inject more pride into the area, they are also planning to organise regular litter-picks. It is hoped that by giving the police and city council a more accurate account of Park Farm's problems, they will be able to take action.

Mr Harper, an electrical engineer, who lives on Park Farm. He added: "Part of the problem here previously has been that people see vandalism and graffiti and bad behaviour, but presume that somebody else will report it. But that often is not the case, and if we want the authorities to help us, we need to make it clear what the extent of the problem is."

Inspector Dominic Human, who is in charge of policing in the south of Peterborough, today welcomed the creation of the new Neighbourhood Watch scheme. He said: "It is fantastic that we have such a large and active group of people who are determined to help us deal with crime in the Park Farm area. Scheme members have vowed to report every problem they witness, which will give us a better idea of where our resources are needed. I have no doubt that, together with the residents, we can put an end to the anti-social behaviour."

Tell us your story
The Evening Telegraph launched the Fight The Fear campaign to tackle the fear of crime in our community.
We have been working with the police, council and other organisations and throwing the spotlight on residents who are making a positive difference.
Just write in with brief details of how you are fighting the fear to Fight The Fear, Rachael Gordon, The Evening Telegraph, 57 Priestgate, Peterborough, PE1 1JW. You can also e-mail Rachel Gordon.
14 February 2006

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