Billingshurst Action Initiative Team (BAIT)

Introduction

BAIT acts as Billingshursts' Local action Team with organisations such as Sussex Police, Billingshurst Parish Council, Billingshurst Community Partnership, Horsham District Council, Neighbourhood Watch and local Housing Assoiciations, to name a few, having representatives on the group. BAIT is one of a number of Local Action Teams in the Horsham District. 

BAIT acts as a forum where crime and anti social behaviour can be discussed and measures suggested as to how these problems can be tackled. BAIT meetings give its members a chance to make local Police and Community Support Officers (PCSOs) aware of any specific problems, known offenders or areas of concern; in return the Police can ask the help of the organisations that are involved in BAIT. There are many groups and individuals in the area concerned or affected by anti social behaviour, BAIT gives these the chance to get together and share ideas. BAIT is linked very strongly with Billingshurst Parish Council and the Billingshurst Community Partnership and as such, projects aimed at giving youngsters in the area more positive things to do are often discussed. 

It is very important for an area such as Billingshurst to have a Local Action Team. The group is keen to attract new members either from local organisations, or individuals who have an interest in local safety and security or have particular expertise or experience that they could bring to the group. If you are interested please contact the Parish Office.

Projects 

BAIT was involved in getting the CCTV coverage around Billingshurst Railway Station increased, as such there are now a number of additional cameras covering the surrounding area, as well as the Station itself. 

Currently BAIT is trying to get the lighting along the Church Path improved and is also trying to get some CCTV coverage at the Jubilee Fields complex. Recently BAIT was represented at a meeting which discussed getting by-laws in place locally to help the Police deal with certain aspects of anti social behaviour; the Parish Council has now submitted an application to the Secretary of State regarding this.

 

Can you help?

We urge anyone who sees any incidents of crime and anti social behaviour to contact the Police with any information that they have. The Police cannot help if they are not made aware of the problems. In an emergency always call 999, or when less urgent call 0845 6070999.

Billingshursts dedicated PCSOs are Louise Tilley and Adrian Bell.

   

Neighbourhood Watch

Is there a Neighbourhood Watch scheme in your road? If not, why not start one up? Please contact Catriona Dobson on 01403 783855.

Meeting Minutes.

DRAFT Minutes from BAIT Meeting of Thursday 8th November 2007,
held at 4.00pm at Billingshurst Fire Station.

In Attendance:            Mr P. Berry (in the chair), PCSO Adrian Bell, PCSO Louisa Tilley, Mr K. Brown (Station Road LAT), Mr R. Margetts (BPC), Mr Gurdeep Gahir (Saxon Weald), Mrs C. Dobson (Neighbourhood Watch), Mr Perks (Billingshurst Community Partnership).

  1. Apologies for Absence

Received from Greg Charman, Denise Campbell, Gillian Yarham, Rev. Brian Prichard and Helen Abbott.

  1. Minutes of 27th September meeting and actions thereof

These were approved. It was noted that Mrs Abbott had offered her apologies for the meeting on 27th September but these had not been minuted.

  1. Jubilee Fields CCTV- update
      The Parish Council had agreed to support the application for 3 cameras and to insure them against vandalism. Discussions were ongoing with Phil Montgomery        from HDC and Viridor regarding the procedures in place regarding access to the footage etc. PCSO Tilley asked where the recording took place (on or off site)        and how easy it would be for the Police to access footage. ACTION – Mr Berry would find out.
  1. Church Path Lighting- update
      The Parish Council had agreed to support BAITs application to WSCC. The application form had been completed by Mr Berry and the Clerk of the Council and          would be sent off with the comments received from members of the public.

  1. Report from Station Road LAT

Mr Brown asked what the situation was regarding getting by-laws in place locally. Mr Berry and Mr Perks advised that an application had been submitted by the parish council to the Secretary of State but it was too soon to have expected a reply yet.

      There had been a planning application submitted to change the use of one of the retail premises in Station Road to 2 take-away outlets. Local residents were             objecting and the Station Road LAT had sent a letter of objection. BAIT would send an objection based on the following points-

The white van body had been removed from behind the old pavilion.

The BT phone box was in a bad state. Could it be re-located to nearer the station where it would be covered by CCTV and might be less likely to be vandalised? ACTION- Mr Berry would write to BT.

There had been no volunteers to run a Neighbourhood Watch Scheme to Station Road. A leaflet drop was planned to help encourage people to get involved with this, and with the LAT.

Mr Margetts reported that the Manager of the Fish and Chip shop was looking in to using the old pavilion as a café and youth club and possibly setting up a boxing club at Manor Fields. These ideas were praised by BAIT.

Mr Brown reported that the LAT had been running for just over a year now. Mr Berry wanted to put on record his thanks and praise to everyone involved in the Station Road LAT, especially Mr Brown.

  1. Membership Issues

Mr Berry advised that in the next few months he would like to pass the chairmanship of BAIT on to someone else as he feels he cannot commit the time to do the group justice. It was not just the BAIT meetings but there are other related meetings that should be attended.

     Mr Berry wondered if it would be a good idea to publicise BAIT and seek new members. It was agreed that a flyer should be produced and sent out with a Parish        Council newsletter to all households. BAIT should have enough money to fund this.

  1. Police Report
     The PCSOs reported that it had been fairly quiet of late. This was probably greatly helped by the fact that one of the worst troublemakers had been given an                ASBO and banned from Billingshurst and another had signed an ABC which had a curfew attached to it. Mr Berry asked how much the PCSO’s were involved in        getting ASBO’s and ABC’s set up. There was a lot of work involved as the PCSO’s needed to build a file of evidence up and work very closely with HDC’s Anti          Social Behaviour Team. In the case of the person with the ABC, the PCSO’s had also encouraged him to try harder at school and prove to everyone that he would       behave. Mr Berry thanked the PCSO’s for their efforts as he felt that without them, the ASBO and ABC probably would not have been possible. The PCSO’s               reported that they now had 2 more ‘targets’ that they were building a case against. Mr Berry felt that it was very important that this should be reflected in the                 minutes so that people, especially Parish Councillors, were aware of the hard work put in by the PCSO’s behind the scenes.

The current areas where youths seem to be hanging around are Jengers Mead and near the library. The PCSO’s would monitor this.

The PCSO’s will have a stand at the Billifest event on 1st December.

  1. Any other business

Mr Berry presented a verbal update from Denise Campbell that could be sent out with the minutes.

Mr Berry reported that BAITs web site was due for renewal. He had not been able to commit as much time to this as he would like so suggested that instead of BAIT having its own site, some pages on the Community Site were used for BAIT matters instead. This was agreed.

Mr Berry had written to the Parish Council encouraging it to try to seek more volunteers for the Speed Indicator Device (SID). Billingshurst currently has access to a SID which was part funded by a grant to BAIT. The SID was shared between 8 or so villages but it had not been used in Billingshurst for around a year. Mr Margetts was acting as the Councils representative for the SID project; Mr Berry thanked him for this.

Mr Gahir reported that Saxon Weald had around £1000 available for use as a grant for a worthwhile project in Billingshurst.

The date of the next meeting would be arranged when he could find out the PCSOs shifts in January and February 2008.