NELC has recently released the Annual Report for 2006 – 2007.  In it you can find information on the priorities, performance and finances of NELC, along with information on some of the major acheivments for the year.

Download the Annual Report from:-  http://www.nelincs.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/1A12C093-0C20-4C9A-A0C7-8E97516E2FF6/0/AnnualReport.pdf

Cllr Mary Little has been unwell recently and as she is currently in hospital in Hull she is unable to reply to any correspondence until she is discharged.  If you require the services of a Ward Councillor in the mean time please contact either Sarah Leak or myself.

Contact details for Sarah Leak can be found at http://www.nelincs.gov.uk/council/councillors/leak.htm

The multi award winning Fusion Youth Theatre are offering an amazing opportunity to local youngsters…………To work with a team of professionals to design and make an exciting range of fashion clothing! Your outfits will be modelled in a huge event in February 2008.

Young people interested in dancing and modelling are also encouraged to sign up and learn new techniques and routines to strut their stuff on the catwalk.  They will have the chance to wear a range of amazing outfits, from elegant dresses to fantastic costumes………as well as the latest high street fashions provided by local high street stores.

The project begins on Mon 12th November, 6.30pm-8pm and continues weekly at the Central Hall.

The performance is scheduled to take place on Thursday 28th Feb (to be confirmed)

Ages 7-19 are welcome. Youngsters will work with a group of their own age and experience. All shapes and sizes welcome!

All profit goes towards our ‘Go to Ghana’ fund, to send a group of our young people to Ghana, Africa to work with a professional dance/music company.

Visit www.fusiontheatre.co.uk for more info.

AN acclaimed crime fighting kit which has been credited with reducing burglary rates is to be made more widely available to residents of NELC than ever before.

The Safer Communities partnership, which includes North East Lincolnshire Council, will make SmartWater burglary prevention kits available to all homes following a review by a council Committee.

SmartWater marking kits will be available from the Municipal Offices for the subsidised price of just £15 from November 1, fafter the Council’s Safer and Stronger Communities Scrutiny Panel, of which I am a member, decided that all residents should be able to buy one…

The liquid crime marking solution had previously only been available in selected areas and were distributed by Safer Communities to those thought most to be in need.

SmartWater itself is designed for use on electronic equipment such as TV’s videos or other expensive items and each bottle issued to homes contains a unique DNA style chemical code specific to each house.

While undetectable to the human eye, traces of SmartWater left on goods can be detected by an ultraviolet scanner and matched against an index to help police trace recovered stolen property to the buildings they were taken from.

The substance can also leave a long lasting but harmless and invisible mark on the skin of anyone who handles anything marked with it.

Since the introduction of SmartWater Humberside Police have scanned everyone taken into custody with special scanners to see if they are tainted with SmartWater.

Those who have shown traces of the agent have then been checked against a database recovered property which has been protected by Smartwater to see if they can be linked with unsolved burglaries.

Smartwater has been praised as a ‘spectacular success’ both in the borough and in other parts of the country where it has been credited with lowering burglary rates by as much as 80 per cent.

Andrew De Freitas, the leader of North East Lincolnshire Council, said: “SmartWater has been widely acknowledged as a real success story across the country and has found widespread favour here in our borough.

“We wanted to make sure that people could buy it if they wanted it and have worked hard to make it available at the best price we possible can.

“As a member of Safer Communities we continue to do all we can to make the borough safer and I believe this move will be widely welcomed.”

The Chairman of the safer and stronger communities scrutiny panel, said they had been delighted to offer Smartwater to all residents.

He said: “Members of the panel were impressed by the initial results of using SmartWater in helping to reduce crime and were keen to make sure that all residents had an opportunity to use the product to reduce the possibility of theft in their area

“Initial results were quite spectacular as we have found people who used it were not subject to the same level of burglary as others.”

I recently attended a meeting of Yarborough Forward, of which I am the Secretary which was held on 4th October at the Community Centre in Yarrow Road.  The minutes of the meeting are included below:-

10-07-2007.pdf

Yarborough Forward is an organisation which is intended to represent the interests of people who live within the regeneration area of the Yarborough Ward.  Any resident of the area is welcome to attend.  If you would like come to any of the meetings, or learn more about Yarborough Forward please contact me or any other member.

I have just learned that there is an online petition on the Downing Street web site urging the Government to improve the surface of the road.  If you would like to add your name to the petition it can be signed at  http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/a180fixit/

I would like to thank the many people who took part in the recent residents survey in the Ridgeway part of the Yarborough Ward.  This was the first of a series of questionnaires that will be sent to people in different neighbourhoods to give you the chance to tell us about the area that you live in, and to let us know of some of the things that your ward councillors can do to make it a better place to live in.  I have analysed the response from the replies, and they will be acted upon in the future.  The item that was put forward by almost everyone who replied was to point out the need for a safe crossing point on the Laceby Road.  Your Ward Councillors have already made representations to NELC to make sure that they are aware of the need for a crossing, and also to Humberside Police to request that they enforce the existing speed limit.  A report on road safety on the A46 has been commissioned and the results should be available in the near future.  This means that financial provision can be made for road safety improvements on the road in the following financial year.If you would like to help your Ward Councillors to make your neighbourhood a better and safer place to live please download a copy of the local-residents-survey.pdf and return it either to the name at the end of the form, or to les.bonner@nelincs.gov.uk 

For a long time the residents of Clare Court have been forced to endure regular flooding caused  by the level of water in the pond in nearby Kingston Woods which has meant that at times there has been almost two feet of water in their gardens.  After this was brought to the attention of NELC by your Ward Councillors the Council have agreed to carry out work to install an overflow pipe which will allow the excess water to flow into the nearby storm drains.  This should reduce the level of water in the pond and eliminate the risk of flooding in this area in the future. 

Following the rain and flooding in June I carried out an inspection of the drains in the Yarborough Road area.  It revealed that many of them were blocked with debris, and some of them had things growing out of them.  NELC were informed, and many of the drains were cleaned out, but during the work it was discovered that the underground drains have been damaged.  Remedial work on the drains has been scheduled, and should be carried it sometime in the near future. This should produce a significant improvement in the amount of water that accumulates during heavy rain, and should ensure that the risk of flooding is considerably reduced.

It was pointed out to me recently that the two willow trees situated each side of the approach road to the Laceby by-pass had been allowed to grow to such an extent that they were an obstruction to pedestrians using the footpath, and that they also obstructed the view of motorists when using this piece of road.  The neighbourhood services team from NELC have now trimmed the trees and the job has been added to the annual schedule of work so that this problem should not arise in the future.