Chester Villages - Police Update

PCSO Bailey reports on events and crime for March 2021 in the Chester area...

The sun is out and things are looking brighter as we head towards more restrictions being lifted from the National Lockdown. It is fantastic to see children returning to school, activity in our parks and open spaces, businesses on the verge of reopening again.

Crime Update

The update will include information relevant to the local residents.

• Suspicious behaviour concerns with a varying nature from theft of scrap metal to possible drug dealing. As usual we take all reports and try to investigate, or be proactive in the area adding to patrol plans. High visibility foot patrols and vehicles patrols at varying times of day continue to observe areas, or disrupt possible offences taking place.
• Pearl Lane, serious incident attended by all emergency services, Cheshire Constabulary have given a statement on the incident and reports have been made by Cheshire Live.
• Several reports of possible COVID breaches that a dedicated COVID patrol attend or investigate. The general public have massively supported the efforts of Cheshire Constabulary, it is a small minority who have broken the rules.
• ASB, I continue to work with a team of PCSO’s and PC Robert Boulton in responding to ASB in and around the Chester Villages area.  Generally it is through social media or face to face conversations that people tell me their concerns about potential hotspot areas. Nitrous Oxide canister abuse is on the rise with lots of reports of this activity. I have highlighted this on social media, we work with schools also to educate and inform parents and pupils about the dangers of this.
• For advice visit our Cheshire Police website - https://www.cheshire.police.uk/cp/crime-prevention/residential-burglary/

Please use 101 or Cheshire Police website to report any incidents. 999 in an emergency.

Road Safety:

This month there was an opportunity to engage with a live discussion about plans for the A41, contnuious speed enforcement and a reduction of the speed limit to 30mph from Christelton to Rowton. I believe the virtual meeting was well atttended and representatives from Chehire Constabulary were present. We await to see the implimentation of some of these actions with the new financial year. As always I have completed speed monitoring throughout the villages this month and even had the help of some Community Speed Watch Volunteers.

122 Funding Success

Chester Villages has been awarded over £900 for various community projects that I have tried hard to enable all residents to benefit from.

A Bushnell speed gun, has been successfully approved to enable more residents and groups such as the Parish Council to go out and monitor speed. Once volunteers have been trained by CWACC, we can take details from cars breaking speed limits and send them a community speed watch letter. This reminds drivers not to speed in the areas where speed monitoring has been undertaken. Suitable high vis jackets will also be bought for visibility. If you are interested in volunteering to do some speed watch work please send me your name, contact details and which part of Chester Villages you would like to work with.

For each Primary School in the Chester Villages, which includes Mickle Trafford, Guilden Sutton, Waverton and Christleton, we have funding for a parking sign to be displayed outside the school. Each school may customise their own stand- alone sign or banner. This brings attention to the school drop off and pick up times for parking and road safety.

Rowton Parish Council were keen to look at littering and we have bought a set of litter pickers and hoops for the groups in the Chester Villages to share. This means organised litter picks can be planned however, we will need to liaise with CWACC for litter collection, and adhere to wearing high vis and road safety.

And finally, Littleton Parish Council will be fund matching an amount of £300 towards signage for the forthcoming cycle path proposed from Littleton to Christleton. This will serve the general public, but also be used daily by children attending Christleton High School. Another great project in the Chester Villages that is promoting cycle safety.