Agenda and minutes

Councillor Miss M V Chamberlain

RESOLVED THAT:

The minutes of the meeting held on Wednesday, 29 August 2018 be taken as read and confirmed.

MS provided the Forum with an updated from Tom Maccabe, the Council’s Anti-Social Behaviour Officer, in lieu of attendance and an update from the Police. The update read as follows;

“South Wigston Fairfield Park

At the end of September 2018, Leicestershire Police received emails from a resident in the Fairfield estate reporting anti-social behaviour from youths at the park. Police did a consultation on Sussex Road as a result of the emails from a resident. One resident was concerned with the bad language and litter although the other residents were not concerned with the increased number of youths using the park. Advice was given to contact the police if issues arise.

Two phone calls were reported to the police after the consultation, one on the 29/09/2018 and the other on 30/09/2018. They were informing police that youths were drinking alcohol on the park and attempting to set objects on fire. They second call informed police that youths were drunk on the park and throwing bottles around. The police attended and stated that there were different groups of youths using the park each time but all the youths were doing was playing music (not loud). They did not find any evidence of fires and youths were not drunk.

A further call was received by the police on 01/10/2018 stating that youths were playing loud music and drinking on the park. Officers again attended and located approximately 30 youths. There some signs alcohol and music was being played loud. Police requested that the youths left the park due to the issues and they did. One youths detail was taken due to being argumentative. Two other youth’s details were taken due to drinking alcohol and visits were made to their home addresses.

The IMPACT team from the Youth Offending Service received a referral to work in the area and were present from 03/10/2018.

Proactive patrols were conducted by officers who found the same group who were playing loud music on the park before, now were using a grassy area near to the park by the shops and flats. They were causing no issues at the time. More patrols were conducted throughout October but when on the park, no youths were causing issues.

Emails were being received by the same resident reporting that the issues were still continuing however no phone call at the time of the problems were made to the police which is the advice they were given. The IMPACT team advised that there were a large number of youths using the park but were causing no issues.

A further joint consultation was completed by the council and police towards the end of October. Again, the consensus was that although there are more youths using the park and can be noisy at times, they caused the residents no issues. One resident advised us of a problem that they have had with the youth. Again, advice was given to report incidents on 101.

A final report was made to the police  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.

The IMPACT Team were not present at this meeting and had not responded to requests by MS or Tom Maccabe to attend or provide an update for the meeting.

Tom did provide MS with a copy of the referral for Wigston that was sent to the IMPACT Team for reference. It was noted from the referral that the age of the young people involved in the current anti-social behaviour in Wigston had dropped from previous years, and they are now typically aged 11-15 instead of 14-17.

The Chair mentioned that during the most recent meeting of the Borough’s Youth Council several members raised concerns about an increase in their peers at Beauchamp College carrying knives in what was described as an ‘arms race’. It was mentioned that due to Beauchamp’s age range change, and a change in catchment area, young people from different areas who have not previously mixed are being thrown together which can create friction.

Members suggested that active work is undertaken by both Councillors and Officers to engage more closely with schools and colleges in the Borough. This Forum is to recommend to the PFD Forum that a named officer is tasked with developing, and undertaking, this work.

The Chair stated that the last meeting of the Youth Council was their Annual General Meeting, at which their Chairperson was re-elected, and a new Vice Chairperson and Secretary were elected. The election of a young person to the role of Media Officer was deferred due to the current post-holder not being in attendance, and a belief that the current post-holder should be given the opportunity to seek re-election should they so desire.

The Youth Council’s Terms of Reference were also updated, and are set to be formally adopted during November’s meeting. The updated Terms clarify sections around membership of the Youth Council, including the addition of ‘Trustee Members’, and grants the Youth Council the power to apply for, or collect, funding through any legal means to further their aims and objectives.

The Forum heard that the Chairperson of the Youth Council, Lauren Duguid, had received national recognition by the UK Youth Parliament for her role in the undertaking of the annual ‘Make Your Mark’ ballot, and that her name will feature in the published report of the ballot’s findings. Over one million young people participated in this year’s ballot, and knife crime scored highly on the priority campaign list.

None raised.