Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors Lee and Levien.

No interests were declared.

The notes of the meeting held on 12 June 2023 were noted.

The committee action sheet was noted.

Agenda item: Open Forum // Minute reference: 23/12/SAC Councillor Davies to follow up issues raised by Coordinator Neighbourhood Watch Scheme (Secretary RARA) regarding CCTV in Red Cross Lane/Greenlands.

Councillor Davies referred to the answer given by Community Safety Manager in Open Forum (see minute item 23/18/SAC). CCTV would be reviewed to see if it could be made permanent.

Agenda item: Open Forum // Minute reference: 23/12/SAC Councillor Slatter to follow up issues raised by public speaker about apartments on Whittle Avenue.

Councillor Slatter said scaffolding was still in place. She had contacted the people responsible for commissioning work. Maintenance of solar panels had caused delays. If the resident who had originally raised issues still had safety concerns, they could contact Councillor Slatter.

Agenda item: Councillor Hauk to follow up issues raised by public speaker about anti-social driving on Addenbrooke’s Drive. Specifically contacting David Plank Trumpington Residents’ Association (TRA) to get further details about CCTV footage that could be passed to the Police to take enforcement action.

David Plank addressed the committee:

Cambridge Biomedical Campus: No Through Road

      i.          There were two related but distinct parts to the question: (1) failure to stop misuse by drivers of the Cambridge Biomedical Campus’s (CBC) no through roads, and (2) driver behaviour including speeding on Addenbrooke’s Road.

Sergeant Sutcliffe said the campus roads were owned by CBC so the Police could only process rat running tickets sent to them by CBC.

     ii.          It was in CBC’s interest to issue rat-running notices to the Police to ensure campus roads were used mainly by CBC related traffic and not general commuters. TRA had received no explanation from CBC what had ‘gone wrong’ (tickets not being issued).

   iii.          Planning conditions stipulated it was CBC’s responsibility to take enforcement action in liaison with the Police. CBC could not get a private company to do this on their behalf.

Action Point: Councillor Young (supported by Queen Edith’s Ward Councillors) to follow up with Cambridge Biomedical Campus why no tickets issued for rat running on Addenbrooke’s Road.

·       Report progress back to next meeting.

·       Councillors to advise Chair if they would like a Cambridge Biomedical Campus representative to attend a future South Area Committee meeting.

Addenbrooke’s Road: Driver Behaviour & Speeding

Councillor Slatter said she had met with Highways Officers in 2022 to seek the implementation of 20mph speed limit on roads in Trumpington. The speed limit was expected to remain 30mph at present.

Action: Councillor Beckett to invite County Council Officer to attend a future South Area Committee meeting to talk about speed limits across the city.

The Community Safety Manager suggested residents could volunteer for the Speed Watch training program to undertake speed checks in their area. https://www.cambs.police.uk/advice/advice-and-information/wsi/watch-schemes-initiatives/community-speedwatch/community-speed-watch/

Mr Plank said it was difficult to organise a Speed Watch campaign.

Sergeant Sutcliffe suggested drivers would drive as fast as possible on a road, regardless of the speed limit on road signs, so lowering the speed limit may not reduce speed. A more effective method was changing road layout and street furniture to create features that physically made drivers slow down.

Councillor Hauk asked if CCTV could be installed on Addenbrooke’s Road. It was unclear if this was a City Council or Police responsibility.

The Coordinator Neighbourhood Watch Scheme raised the following issues:

                i.          Asked if  the Cambridge City Council temporary CCTV could be made be permanent as it had an enormous positive impact on the whole neighbourhood not just Greenlands Cambridge CB2 0QY.

               ii.          65% drop in footfall on Greenlands daytime, 95% drop 12 midnight to 5am - replicated on Red Cross Lane and Stansgate Avenue - with similar stories reported from Musgrave Drive Ninewells.

             iii.          This has not just been external footfall and vehicles travelling through from the Park and Ride/Trumpington to and from the hospitals for work, contractors, meetings/training or treatments and to Nightingale park.

             iv.          Much of the drop in numbers has been surprising as a lot has been from a reduction in occupancy on Greenlands Estate and vehicles visiting the estate to deliver food, take aways, goods, amazon/DPL and other courier services, Private Hire Vehicles mostly Panther and some unknown, individual motorbike/bike deliveries.

              v.          The Neighbourhood Watch Scheme has been invited to cover Nightingale Community Garden as the people operating in Greenlands have displaced to there since April and the ones operating in the park are the ones who were doing drops, dealing, smoking and heating drugs and meeting up with vehicles/motorbikes/bikes/young pedestrians on Greenlands prior to CCTV on both the Greenlands Estate and highway.

The Community Safety Manager said:

                i.          The effectiveness of all redeployable CCTV cameras was reviewed after 3 months. The Greenlands camera was due for review and due to the number of reports to both Police and the Council’s ASB team, they were of the view that the CCTV should remain in place for a further 3 months, after which there would be a further review.

               ii.          In order to secure new permanent CCTV, additional funding to purchase the camera and pole was required plus additional yearly funds required to monitor and maintain the camera. At present there are no available budgets to meet these costs.

             iii.          To ensure the council is maximising the value/return on investment of its existing public space CCTV camera network (200+ cameras), officers were undertaking a review of all the public spare camera locations against ASB/crime evidence to determine whether, or not, there are any locations, where existing cameras are no longer needed; and which could be re-located to other locations of need; and new locations where cameras are needed.  If unable to relocate cameras, then results of review will be used to support a capital funding bid to cover the supply and installation of additional public space cameras.

Councillor Young raised the issue of anti-social behaviour in Nightingale Park. Councillor Davies commented that anti-social behaviour had transferred to Nightingale Gardens. Councillors suggested implementing better youth facilities to address the underlying causes of anti-social behaviour. Installation of CCTV on its own just moved the problem from one area to another.

The Committee received a report from Sergeant Sutcliffe regarding policing and safer neighbourhoods trends.

The report outlined actions taken since the last reporting period. The current emerging issues/neighbourhood trends for each ward were also highlighted (see report for full details).

The virtual Area Committee would not be making a decision, so would not vote on priorities set by the Police. The Police reported back on the local areas of concern they were currently focussing on. Councillors and members of the public could not change these, but they could suggest ideas/issues for the Police to focus on.

The Committee discussed the following policing issues:

      i.          Hate crime.

     ii.          People may not report crimes to the Police due to a lack of trust. How to overcome this?

   iii.          If people did not want to report details directly to the Police, or have their contact details passed on (Police could not take action on hearsay), residents could be signposted to community groups. Details were available on the City Council website.

   iv.          The Police were addressing anti-social behaviour in Cherry Hinton.

    v.          Drug dealing, general crime and cycle crime in the Hobson Square area. Residents would appreciate hearing about experience from other areas on how to address issues.

   vi.          Cycle crime was a city wide issue. The Police were trying to address through measures such as bike marking so owners could be easily identified.

 vii.          How to feedback ways on improving property design to the Shared Planning Service to design out crime?

Members of the public asked a number of questions, as set out below.

1.    What happens if an incident occured but there was no positive outcome eg an arrest?

Sergeant Sutcliffe: Options would be discussed with one/both parties. If action could not be taken immediately, information would be gathered for future action.

Community Safety Manager:  Referenced https://www.cambsvictimservices.co.uk/

Councillor Flaubert said people could also seek advice from the Citizen’s Advice Bureau or EES website. They may also consider taking civil action instead of a criminal prosecution where appropriate.

2.    Anti-Social Behaviour from a female from Fawcett Primary School towards a child on the way to school.

Sergeant Sutcliffe: If person linked to school, suggested trying to resolve the situation through the school first. If incident occurs on the way to school, then the incident could be reported to the Police. Committee Manager to ascertain if complainant’s contact details can be passed onto the Police, or they may wish to contact the Police direct.