CAN YOU HELP US SET UP A NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH SCHEME?

Whilst the village of Acton Turville remains a safe place to live, it is not crime free. Regrettably, police statistics show that crimes such as burglaries, vehicle thefts and thefts from outbuildings continue to occur, causing distress and financial impacts for every victim. 

It’s a long time since Acton Turville had a dedicated local village bobby, and like many rural communities we can sometimes feel frustrated at the level of any visible police presence within our village. The Parish Council have raised this issue with our local police support team (based in Chipping Sodbury) and even raised it with the Police & Crime Commissioner for this area, but the reality is that significant changes to local policing levels are not going to happen in the short term.

We are therefore looking to set up a Neighbourhood Watch scheme for the village. 

Running a successful Neighbourhood Watch scheme should not be onerous, but it relies upon a network of volunteers who operate in support of an overall village coordinator. Although the Parish Council can provide support and advice, we are not resourced to run the scheme, and for that we need help from members of the Acton Turville community.

We are therefore looking to set up a group who can work with us to investigate how we might go about launching a Neighbourhood Watch scheme for Acton Turville, and to establish what is required to make it a success. The good news is that there is plenty of guidance and good practice to help with this task; we will need to see how it can be made to work in our village, then make it happen.

If you think you can help, please contact the Parish Clerk, Sue Radford-Hancock, on clerk@actonturville-pc.gov.uk. 

Let’s get the conversation started and see what we can achieve.