To celebrate this change, there is a Launch Event happening right here in Whitchurch on Thursday November 17th at Whitchurch Community Centre in the hope of gaining new members and new Watchgroups.

There are many active Watches in Cardiff but there are equally some groups that are in decline and at risk of becoming dormant.
With the support of South Wales Police and National Neighbourhood Watch it is hoped that residents all over the city can work together on a street by street basis and look after each other and the surrounding properties.

The launch event is open from 3pm until 7pm and anyone can drop in during these times for a friendly chat and see why Neighbourhood Watch is so important and what they can do to make sure they get the maximum benefit for their street. People can come and talk to current NHW Co-ordinators, PCSO’s and officers from all over Cardiff and representitives from National Neighbourhood Watch.

To coincide with this event, a new website has been launched for the association: www.cardiffnhw.org.uk with the aims of helping existing NHW groups and to provide a platform for anyone interesting in joining a Watch group or if none currently exists in the area, starting up a new one.
Bringing Cardiff NHW into the 21st century they are embracing social media with a facebook page and a twitter account which should help keep members communicating on a frequent basis.

Neighbourhood Watch on the web:

www.cardiffnhw.org.uk
Cardiff NHW Facebook
Cardiff NHW Twitter
www.ourwatch.org.uk – National NHW website
Our Bobby

These are provided by South Wales Police

Present:
Chairman Pete Ryan
Cllr Tim Davies
Cllr Brian Griffiths
PC Stuart Cozens
PC Paul Tebbutt
PCSO Emma Bowden
Bill Farnham (neighbourhood watch)

This was my first PACT Meeting since before the summer and I was pleased to see 18 members of the public arrive for the meeting, two were student journalists writing on crime prevention in Cardiff.
One gentlemen had brought a large kitchen knife with him…..he’d found it laying on the ground at Whitchurch Common and handed it over to the police.

An update from the Hollybush estate was given, several arrests and warrants issued, mostly drugs related.

There was no update on the non-emergency number 101 as there had been confusion at the last meeting on what sort of incidents should be raised to 101 or the Council after 101 had referred people to Connect2Cardiff who were then referred back to 101.

Some residents from Old Church Road questioned what could be done about the on-going graffitti problem at the back lane of their houses. The lane which exits at the rear of the car park has previously had bollards installed (which have now been damaged and vandalised) but residents were asking if the exit of the lane could be blocked off completely. Councillors will look into this and update at the next meeting.

Bill Farnham gave the Neighbourhood Watch update outlining the recent change of name from Cardiff West NHW to South Wales NHW, Cardiff and also the new NHW group recently launched at Whitchurch Rugby Club for Samuels Crescent.

And that’s about it. No soapbox moments or anyone telling their life stories.

The Next PACT Meeting is Tues 6th December at the International Hotel, Tongwynlais at 7pm

According to many many reports these guys are a bunch of cowboys and you should consider looking elsewhere for your garden jobs, perhaps even someone based local

According to reports on some review websites, they do not complete jobs and then take your money and often find unnecessary extra work with extra expense.

The leaflet looks exactly like the image shown below and you can read genuine reviews about this company on this website.

The Whitchurch and Tongwynlais meeting was at the International hotel in Ton and with 11 members of the public attending, that’s about average for the meetings in this venue. On the panel were Chairman Peter Ryan, Councillors Linda Morgan and Brian Griffiths, PC Stuart Cozens and Neighbourwatch guru Bill Farnham.

An update was given by the police about the “ongoing” issues at the Three Elms Pub and the anti-social behaviour coming from it. I’m pleased to report that since the pub has introduced an over 21′s rule on the weekends they have had no reported incidents and this is echoed at Warren Evans Court also. The residents at Warren Evans are looking at setting up a neighbourhood watch for their area, along with the residents of Mervyn Road which is due to be launched soon.

Car Parking in Whitchurch was discussed with the new carpark 3 hour limits having a great effect with both car parks now having spaces available throughout the day and traders have said there is an increase of customers. Traffic Enforcement Officers have been spotted out and about and during the period of July 5th and 20th, 44 tickets were issued in Whitchurch and Tongwynlais (see attached echo article). It was asked about the traffic enforcement officers attending PACT meetings and apparently they will not attend but are however planning their own public meetings (surely combining them would save money?!)

The Old Dairy Site on the Philog is to go to a public enquiry. Anyone interested in this on-going saga is encouraged to attend the meeting on November 4th at 10am in Room B at City Hall. I understand from Cllr Morgan that the council intend to issue a compulsary purchase order on the site.

On Wednesday afternoon I attended the Llandaff North PACT meeting at Lydstep fields or “PACT in the park” as we like to call it. A different approach to what I am used to but I really like the idea of taking a PACT meeting to the streets. PCSO Jessica Southam along with her new partner in crime, a new PCSO for the area and Councillor Jacqui Hooper. Unfortunately there isn’t much to report here. The meeting did attract a few residents that were passing by but other than large dogs roaming free in the parks and people parking on pavements, there were no issues raised.

It was mentioned that PACT meetings in Llandaff North need to be moved to out of office hours as many people are in work and not able to attend.
Click here to see the echo article about the Parking enforcement figures (PDF format)
As Always feel free to leave comments below…(thanks to Jen for spotting my typos!)