With Assistant Town Centre Manager, John Coward
Castle Café - Road Safety - Night Marshals - A Surprise Retirement
Thursday 1st August 2024
It was cloudy hot and sultry day when I arrived in Hinckley. I had hoped the overnight rain might have cleared the air, but no such luck. It was like walking into a sauna.
Fortunately, the Castle Café on The Borough had outside seating and a cooling breeze was blowing. I had a chat with the lady behind the counter. She said that they did not get any crime or anti-social behaviour, which was good news, though she had heard that some of the shops suffered shoplifting.
Having fortified myself with a bacon sandwich, I walked to The Hub to meet with Council Leader Cllr Stuart Bray. Cllr Bray had contacted his councillors to see what the main concerns were across the borough. These turned out to be centred around road safety (particularly bad parking), shoplifting and anti-social behaviour – which seemed to be a real problem in the parks. We discussed ways to tackle these.
I was really pleased to learn that the councillors all agreed that they had a good working relationship with the local police. Cllr Bray singled out some officers for particular praise and I will be writing to them to pass on his thanks.
I then walked through the muggy air and up Castle Street to reach the offices of the Hinckley BID (Business Improvement District). This organisation works on behalf of businesses in the town centre to increase footfall, stage events and liaise with the council and police to keep the town centre attractive and safe.
The joint working between the BID and Council was immediately evident as Mr John Coward was walking out as I was walking in. He stopped to fill me in on his work, which was kind of him. Mr Coward is the Assistant Town Centre Manager. He told me about the forthcoming event in Argents Mead as well as his work with Night Marshals in the town centre. All good news.
Then Mr Steve Wegeriff of the BID dropped a bombshell. He is retiring after 15 years in the job. I was aghast, but Steve was able to reassure me that his replacement – starting work in a few days’ time for a handover period – was extremely capable. I look forward to working with her.
Next up was some free-range time in Stoke Golding. This is a beautiful village which traditionally has had little in the way of crime or anti-social behaviour. But the population has recently grown dramatically with the building of new estates, so I wanted to find out what residents were thinking.
As it turns out they believe that the village is still a low crime area, which it is, although there were concerns about youths driving through the village, throwing rubbish into people’s gardens. Regarding policing, everyone was very supportive. But they expressed real concerns about the public disorder in Southport, Hartlepool and elsewhere. Without exception they believed that the police and courts should respond robustly and take firm action.
Next was Market Bosworth. There I met with PC Heath and his colleagues. We had a patchwalk to discuss local issues such as anti-social behaviour, rural crime and some road accidents caused by bad driving and poor road layouts. PC Heath kindly recorded a video for me which can be seen on Facebook: https://fb.watch/tQk0lPuyR7/.
My final stop was at Sutton Cheney Village Hall where I met with Parish Cllr Peter Jeffrey to learn about issues in the village. Speeding on Wharfe Lane and Main Street were the main concerns, but there was also a worry that an increasing number of HGVs were ignoring the weight restrictions through the village, put in place because of the narrow street. They were driving up on to the pavement, which was becoming damaged.
As I left the village hall, a few big heavy drops of rain began to fall and within seconds a short, sharp downpour had begun. It cleared the air nicely!
Rupert Matthews
Police & Crime Commissioner for Leicester, Leicestershire & Rutland
Posted on Thursday 8th August 2024