Notices On Trees

If your cat has disappeared, or you want to let people know about an event, it’s understandable to think about pinning notices on the trees lining our streets.                           But please think twice …

Brighton & Hove’s arboriculturalists have informed us that even tiny holes can damage the bark of trees and leave them far more susceptible to pests and diseases. The same thing goes for reversing vehicles into trees. Sadly, it can have a serious effect.

Please help protect our trees by not pinning notices on them and taking care not to hit them when parking.

If you need to put notices on the trees you can use string rather than pins or staples.

Click here for the Council’s tree web page.

Click here for the Council’s web page on flyers and flyposting.

Thanks to www.ditchlingrise.org

Theft from the person

To help tailor crime prevention messages to address ‘theft from person’ (e.g. pickpocketing and snatch theft), the Home Office has asked police forces for their knowledge and experience on this subject to share with other partners. The Home Office has created a pack that includes a collection of information that has been gathered from a range of sources including police forces, key partners and academia. Within the pack, there are examples of:

• Lessons learnt
• Example messages
• Existing offender prevention campaigns
• Advice for forces to share with businesses on reducing Theft from the Person crime within their establishments

There are five sections within the pack, a short summary of each section can be found below:

Section 1

This section includes background information on ‘theft from the person’, including where incidents tend to occur and the profile of ‘at risk’ groups.

Section 2

This section offers some lessons learned from previous communication campaigns targeting theft.

Section 3

This section gives example messages, focusing on two ‘at risk’ groups: students and young women.

Section 4

This section presents details of existing campaigns that are being used by partners across England & Wales, and focuses on offender prevention activity.

Section 5

This section includes messages to businesses on how to reduce ‘theft from the person’ within their establishments and some external links to more information.

The appendix at the end of the pack contains links to further sources of information on personal safety and crime prevention.

To download this pack, please click here.

Play Streets success!

The fourth Play Streets event took place on the 16th July and was a great success, a really good turnout across a wide age range.

More photos here.

Many thanks to Jenny, Sally and Val for the incredible job they have done in organising everything, and to all the volunteer stewards without whom the events could not have happened.

There’s no such thing as the Dog Poo Fairy

Only one person fined for dog fouling in Brighton and Hove last year

From The Argus today:

Just one person was fined for dog fouling in the past year – despite 432 complaints.

Four animal welfare officers carried out 315 dog fouling patrols but only issued two fixed penalty notices.

One of these was withdrawn due to insufficient evidence and the second was unpaid leading to prosecution.

Anthony Gallagher, of Windlesham Road, Brighton, was fined £100 and ordered to pay £350 court costs.

Dog owners who fail to pick up after their animals face fines of up to £1,000.

The figure was revealed at Brighton and Hove City Council’s environment committee after Councillor Graham Cox asked a question.

He said: “I asked the question because I suspected it would be quite low, but I didn’t expect it would be that low.

“I do think they ought to be a bit more proactive about it. I’m not suggesting they hide in the bushes or anything but maybe if they fine a few people it would put people off.”

He said dog fouling was one of top three issues raised by residents and called for a campaign to target the worst affected areas “as a matter of priority”.

Park rangers, PCSOs, seafront officers, traffic wardens and even residents’ should act as the council’s ‘eyes and ears’, he suggested.

He added: “The only way we will get offenders to change their ways is by increasing the likelihood they will get caught.”

‘Irresponsible’

Councillor Pete West, chair of the environment, transport and sustainability committee said: “Our small animal welfare team does an enormous amount of work, and in the last year they’ve worked on nearly 2,000 reports of fouling, strays, dog attacks, animal cruelty and other animal issues.

“Unfortunately we cannot be everywhere at all times to catch irresponsible dog-owners in the act. We instead focus on a mixed approach that includes education, advice and enforcement.

“We carry out targeted work in known hotspots, for example by doing specific patrols, and holding responsible dog ownership days in partnership with the Police and RSPCA to raise awareness and improve owners’ behaviour.”

The council’s cleaning, refuse and recycling team Cityclean is responsible for cleaning up dog mess in public places in the city while the City Parks team clean up in parks.

A dedicated crew empties anything between 400-800 kg from dog waste bins every day.

How to use the Council recycling service

City recycling crews have helped create this short video on how to use their recycling services http://bit.ly/12AGby3 

Crime Prevention Advice from Sussex Police

With the warm weather upon us, Sussex police would like to pass on some crime prevention advice on how to keep your home secure this summer:

1) If you leave your house empty – even when you are in the back garden – lock all the doors and windows. Be especially careful about those on the ground floor and above flat roof areas.

2) When you leave a room unattended, close the windows and doors – especially on the ground floor.

3) Keep all wallets, purses, credit cards and car keys out of sight.

4) If you want to leave your windows open while you are asleep, have window restrictors fitted to stop people climbing in.

5) Double check fences and boundaries to make sure they keep burglars out.

6) Secure garden tools and ladders in a locked shed or garage to prevent them being used to break in to your or a neighbour’s home.

7) Consider laying gravel on your footpaths or driveway, which can deter burglars from approaching your property.

8) Fit outside security lighting and a visible burglar alarm to help deter burglars.

The best defence against burglary is prevention.

Report any suspicious activity to the police at the time.

101 for non-emergencies, 999 in an emergency.

Kind regards,

East Brighton Neighbourhood Policing Team (NPT)

Sussex Police

The Argus Features SRRA Play Streets

The Argus has published a feature on the SRRA Play Streets events.

The second event took place on Wednesday 3rd July in Southdown Avenue between Rugby and Grantham and repeated the success of the first.

SRRA is running two more events in July along Southdown Avenue: Tuesday 9th and Tuesday 16th – both from 3.00-6.00pm. Volunteer traffic stewards are needed for both, it is a legal requirement that there are two stewards at each end of the road closure for the full three hours.

If you can help please contact Val at valedknight@virginmedia.com or  01273 506939.

Play Street goes ahead!

Good News! The weather is improving by the minute and today’s play street will go ahead.

3.00 to 6.00 pm in Southdown Avenue between Grantham and Rugby Roads.

Southdown Avenue Parking Petition

Parking spaces for 8 vehicles in the bay at the northern end of Southdown Avenue, outside the Methodist Church, have been designated as Exclusively Pay & Display to accommodate the request of the church community.

This designation is a change from that advertised during the consultation process: it was originally proposed as Shared Permit Holder and Pay & Display.

Some residents have raised a petition for these bays to be returned to shared use. 96% of Southdown Avenue residents have signed it and it will be presented to the next Transport Committee on Tuesday 9th July 4.00 pm, at the Hove Town Hall. All residents are invited to join the petitioners at the meeting.