Monthly Newsletter

Investment in Dorset
The budget announced £1.6 billion of additional funding for developing “advanced technologies” and that will be of interest to our universities and research-intensive industries

Dorset has a thriving digital economy and a world-leading digital sector that Christchurch now has an opportunity to participate in.

The increased “transforming cities fund” will be of relevance to us as our new unitary council prepares to work with the Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) to create a “city by the sea”.

The development of a Local Industrial Strategy to which Christchurch makes a full commitment will play an important role in this. Locally, we have a good story to tell and we need to make sure that our representatives shout about this great place and the opportunities it presents.

There are already some success stories. Up to £950,000 of Local Growth Funding has been awarded to Bournemouth University to fund additional equipment, to provide training for UK and overseas surgeons and other high-value healthcare professionals, and to deliver training in conjunction with industry.

More than 4,500 jobs and an estimated £200m worth of investment is underway at Lansdowne, Bournemouth. £8.5million of Local Growth Funding secured by Dorset LEP has been awarded to Bournemouth Council and is being used to improve the access from the station to what will eventually be a major business centre.

Dorset Police Struggle

As reported in the Echo, Dorset Police had one of their busiest summers on record this year.

In 12 months, violent crime which results in an injury has increased by 21 per cent

Stalking and harassment offences were up 44 per cent and burglaries increased by 300 per cent.

Chief Constable, James Vaughan said continuing cuts to the police budget and subsequent reduction in officer numbers meant providing a good policing service in the county was becoming "an increasing challenge".

A £5 million hole in funding has already been identified in the 2019-20 budget which is the equivalent of 150 to 200 officers. He said:

"I am extremely concerned that the stark reality of our current financial outlook means that we may no longer be able to provide anything but the most basic services to the most vulnerable sectors of our community"

Since the beginning of the government's austerity programme, Dorset Police’s budget has been cut by £25 million and as a direct result we have lost the services of 500 officers and staff. Apart from a small one-off amount of funding to support counter terrorism policing, the recent budget has not provided any additional funds for police forces.

Over recent years, the dynamics of local crime have shifted markedly, and we are now experiencing higher levels of sexual assaults, domestic assaults, child sexual exploitation, modern slavery and cybercrime.

Such crimes require specialised and time-consuming investigations in order to protect and safeguard victims, particularly those who are vulnerable.

The Chief Constable added “My predecessor and I have sought to save money by collaborating with partners such as Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Devon and Cornwall Police, but there are limited further efficiencies that can be made in those areas”.

Drug Dealing in Dorset

A group of experts have been brought together

They will discuss new approaches to tackling “county lines” drug dealing and criminal exploitation in Dorset. County lines – in which gangs from large cities supply drugs to smaller towns – has become a national issue affecting forces including Dorset Police.

The gangs involved target vulnerable individuals, including young people suffering from poor mental health and addiction, and coerce them into moving drugs across the country.

Dorset Police regularly patrols areas known for street dealing, and shares information with other forces across the country, but this is a problem that is larger than the police and requires a response from a wide range of organisations.

The Local Safeguarding Children’s Boards, Community Safety Partnerships and Adult Safeguarding Boards across Bournemouth, Poole and Dorset have identified criminal exploitation and county lines as a priority across the county.

Sarah Elliott, of the Local Safeguarding Children’s Boards, said: “We welcome this opportunity to work with other involved parties. We wanted to encourage and support commitment by partners to tackle this abhorrent issue in our county.”

Joined Up Planning

Delivery of infrastructure is a major issue across Dorset

Particularly transport, education and health facilities.

In the case of transport, lack of adequate investment in the transport network is affecting many areas and a strategy for transport will cut across all local authority boundaries.

At the same time, most authorities are struggling to meet the housing requirements forced on them by central government and are considering using Green Belt land in order to meet their responsibilities. For Christchurch there is a significant likelihood that imposed housing requirements will not be fully met within our local authority area.

The clash of uncoordinated planning can be witnessed daily in our area as an increasing population blocks the roads, schools have no spare capacity and surgeries struggle to meet demand. The whole mess was highlighted during November when a lorry crashed into Longham Bridge and the main road from the A31 to Wallisdown and Poole was closed for hours with a ripple effect across the whole area.

To meet the requirements of central government, East Dorset Council plans to build 2,000 new homes at Longham as part of the proposed local plan. Earlier this year, plans for 386 new houses on land east of New Road, West Parley went before the council.

Hundreds of residents attended a public meeting hours after the crash closed the bridge. Many spoke of their fury at ongoing problems with infrastructure and traffic in the area. One resident asked: "Why can't the traffic jams be sorted out before we consider any new development? It seems we are going about this the wrong way around." We wonder if he knows about the new houses to be built at Roeshot Hill and the redevelopment of the old Magistrates Court site.

Speaking of which, Developer Aster Homes has submitted its plans for that redevelopment. They include 131 homes, 39 sheltered accommodation units, a new link road between Barrack Road and Bargates, and a public open space. Two pedestrian crossings and a pedestrian island are also proposed. The Pit Site car park will be lost.

Here’s your chance to have your say. A Transport Survey instigated by the Shadow Council. -

News from Westminster

Fresh from blocking a bill designed to punish up-skirting our local MP has now scuppered a bill concerned with preventing female genital mutilation.

Lord Berkeley’s private members’ bill would have seen a one-line amendment to the Children’s Act 1989, which would have extended protection to girls at greatest risk of genital mutilation. The furious crossbencher said his bill had already been subjected to microscopic examination and added “it is amazing that Chope can halt such an important improvement”.

Sir Christopher has been widely criticised in the House of Commons. But our MP justified his objection on procedural grounds, suggesting the proposal had not been subject to proper debate.

Are you happy?

The annual Office for National Statistics report on how happy we all are (seriously, they spend good money on this stuff) has shown that in the period April 2017 to March 2018 Christchurch was the fourth happiest place in the UK. We came behind Leigh-on-Sea, Farnham and Monmouth.

A selection of local inhabitants was asked to rate: their level of life satisfaction; whether they are doing worthwhile things; community spirit; whether they feel safe; local amenities and cultural environment; and proximity to green open spaces. Luckily nobody mentioned the amount of time spent in traffic jams!

Citizens Advice Christchurch

CBC has supported Christchurch Citizens Advice for many years

It is currently party to a Service Agreement which gives funds of £65,000 per annum to them in return for the provision of services in Christchurch.

Over the last few months, Citizens Advice Christchurch have been discussing with Citizens Advice Bournemouth and Poole, ways of working more closely together with the result being that there would be a merger of the services which would follow the lead of the councils.

These discussions have covered how the merger might work operationally, what would happen to the assets held by Christchurch and of utmost importance, how both the council, and the residents of Christchurch can be assured of a service continuing to be delivered in Christchurch when services are merged with Bournemouth and Poole.

The quite small Citizens Advice Christchurch has recently experienced severe staffing problems and for this reason propose to merge services with the rather larger Bournemouth and Poole Citizens Advice as soon as possible rather than in the new year. The new service will be called the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Citizens Advice.

In 2016-17 clearing up fly-tipping cost councils £57.7 million, with around two thirds of all fly-tipped material containing household waste.

Residents have a legal ‘duty of care’ to ensure they only give their waste to a licensed carrier. In November legislation was laid before Parliament creating new financial penalties of up to £400 for householders who fail to properly exercise this responsibility, and whose waste is found fly-tipped.

The new penalties, which are expected to come into force early next year, will make it easier for councils to tackle fly-tipping and provide an alternative to putting cases through the courts which can be a lengthy and costly process.

The risk of a penalty can be avoided by only using certified waste carriers. Their credentials can be checked by visiting the Environment Agency’s website, where you can enter their business name or registration number to immediately confirm their status as an approved company.

A New Country Park

CBC Community Committee has approved a proposal to create a coastal country park subject to confirmation from Natural England of their support for the plans. They discussed the merits and pitfalls of a plan to get rid of the Two Riversmeet golf course and to create a new park in its place.

Responding to questions about where toilet facilities would be provided, CBC Strategic Director Dave Barnes said public toilets already existed in Bridge Street and there were no issues with the public using the toilets at the Leisure Centre.

He added that the creation of the park would be funded via contributions to CBC from developers. That would represent a diversion of funds away from other projects (such as building affordable housing) but such contingent matters were not discussed.

Deploying an emotive argument, he told the committee the proposal would deliver something for the greater good of the community. It would leave a legacy to residents from the council when it ceases to exist in April. He did not address any issues that would be created by the loss of revenue that would result from the closure of the golf course.

Christmas Bin Collection

To see the days on which your bins will be emptied, click here.

From Monday January 14^th collections revert to their normal schedule

DWP will not remove real Christmas trees. You need to cut it up and put it in with other garden waste if you use that service. Alternatively, take it to Wilverley Road

You can recycle cards, envelopes, wrapping paper and of course cardboard. You should not recycle polystyrene, plastic film or foil

The Hall on the Hill need your help

The Hall Management would like to put on more evening quizzes if they could get more volunteer quiz masters.

The quiz masters prepare the questions and answers, organise the questions and marking on the night and keep track of the team scores. The Hall provide volunteers with an evening meal, a good bottle of wine and flowers as a thank you. The Hall do the setting up, arrange sale of the tickets, order the food, buy the prizes etc.

On behalf of the Hall Management, Sue Spittle said: “The idea is to provide a social event for the community and with such an intelligent crowd quizzes are very popular and relatively easy to run. If you would be prepared to have a go, please contact me on sue.spittle@ntlworld.com”

Our November Newsletter

We ran into some computer problems sending out the November newsletter with chaotic results.

Some of you received three copies whilst others didn’t receive anything. Our webmaster Eileen diagnosed the problem, which was related to changes brought about by new security measures related to mass e-mails.

If you didn’t receive a copy and would like to read it, you can find it on our website and then click on “Newsletters”

Festive Greetings

Best wishes to all our readers. Enjoy the Christmas-New Year break. We’re taking some time off in preparation for another fun-packed year ahead!

Community Matters is produced and edited by a team of local residents who try to present you with the facts that will both keep you informed and enable you to make up your own mind on local issues
Jumpers and St Catherine's Hill RA

Your Residents Association Newsletter

Community Matters - December 2018