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January PACT Meeting (Wincanton Partners and Communities Together)

Thursday 1 January 1970, 01:00
By Jenny Maynard

These are the minutes of the Wincanton Partners and Communities Together Meeting which took place at Churchfields on Monday 4th January 2010.

Present: Barry Taylor: Chairman, PCSO Jenny Maynard, PC Andrew Brown, PC Chris Dooley: Road Policing Unit, Steve Brewer: Community Safety Officer, John Smith: Chamber of Commerce, NHW Co-ordinators, Members of the public.

Apologies: Helen Rutter: Area Development Manager, Pam Williams: Re-generation Officer.

Chairman: Review of the last meetings priorities and ran through the updates:

New/ Improved CCTV System for the Town Centre

Pam Williams/ Town Council: Although it is agreed that an up to date CCTV system would be of benefit to the community of Wincanton, due to the current economic climate no investment will be made in the town CCTV system at this time. This will be reviewed at the next PACT meeting.

Parking issues in the area of Balsam Fields and Mundays Mead.

PCSO Maynard and PC Brown: Routine patrols have been carried out by the Wincanton Neighbourhood Policing team. A leaflet drop has been conducted in the Balsam Fields/ Mundays Mead area to educate residents on the relevant legislation. Throughout October 2009 to December 2009 in excess of 25 Fixed Penalty Notices have been issued in Wincanton.

Station Road Pedestrian Crossing.

Helen Rutter/ Pam Williams: Although it was agreed at the PACT Walkabout that the crossing would be commenced in early 2010, this has now been delayed. This is to allow for gas pipes to be laid across Station Rd for the Deansley Way Development.

Comments on updates:

Member of the public: raised concerns that Wincanton always seems to get forgotten about when it comes to funding and budgets, relating to the CCTV funding. He wanted to ensure that this doesn't happen again with the CCTV project.

PCSO Maynard: I understand that Pam Williams is the designated Re-generation Officer for this area, and she is dedicated to seeing Wincanton succeed. I can assure you that Pam is doing all she can to move the CCTV project along, but as said earlier, due to the current economic climate with the businesses of Wincanton, no investment will be made at this time.

John Smith: CCTV is a valuable tool for the town, but it is easy to loose thousands of pounds on a CCTV system. Another option is for potentially every shop in the High Street/ Market Place area to have their own CCTV camera pointing out of their premise window, therefore covering the majority of the High Street area.

PC Brown: I don't want people to lose site of the good CCTV system that we already have in the Market Place area. This system is a good deterrent and regularly helps with our investigations.

John Smith: Can we organise a meeting between Wincanton Businesses Together, Pam Williams, and the police, to see how to move the CCTV Project forward.

Member of Public: The junction with Balsam Fields and Common Rd is very dangerous and there is going to be a crash there one day.

PC Brown: That area is on our Patrol Plan and we deal with any issues as we find them.

Member of the Public: The Deansley Way Development will cause issues for the Wincanton roads because of the extra household vehicles that will be soon arriving.

Member of the Public: is it an option to narrow the road on South Street, outside the Nat West Bank. This would prevent people parking outside the cash point, therefore allowing traffic to pass more easily.

PC Brown: As we have said before Jenny is the only PCSO for Wincanton and therefore cannot spend all of her time just doing parking. If there is an issue in reference to parking in the town you can contact us via 0845 456 7000, and if we are on duty we will come and deal with it.

Chairman: Any new priorities from the public:

NHW Co-ordinator: We need more grit bins in the town. Wincanton is built on a hill and the ice is making it very dangerous for residents.

Member of the Public: the grit is ordered by County Council and the grit bins are ordered by the Town Council. I contacted the Town Council and they have the grit bins on order.

Member of the public: Fly tipping around the bottle bank in the Wincanton Memorial Hall Car Park is a real problem. There are not enough recycling banks for the amount of recycling produced. In other areas there is a skip that is provided once a month for residents to get rid of their waste.

Member of the public: if Wincanton were to do that it would be filled up within no time, and people would still fly tip.

Member of the public: the County Council had originally got permission for a recycling centre in Moor Lane, but nothing has come of it.

PCSO Maynard: I will get in touch with County Council to see if there is any update.

John Smith: I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Town for all its support on the Extravaganza on the 11th December 09. Also Coopers have a possible tenant in hand. It is being dealt with through the solicitors this month and an official press release will be soon to follow.

Chairman: Due to the passed priorities being long term, we will review any updates at the next meeting (Re. the Improved CCTV system, and Station Rd Crossing).

The agreed priority for this meeting is:

Review the Recycling facilities in Wincanton with a view to improving them.

PCSO Maynard: to make contact with County Council and ask them to attend the next PACT Meeting and give an update on the situation with the Bottle Bank in the Memorial Hall Car Park. To review the possibility of the Moor Lane site being utilised as a recycling centre.

Wincanton Businesses Together/ Pam Williams/ PCSO Jenny Maynard: organise a meeting to discuss the Town centre security and to discuss the possibilities for the CCTV system.

The next PACT meeting will be Thursday 29th April 2010 at 7pm, in the Area East Meeting Room, Churchfields, Wincanton.




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