CREW UPDATE

Sorry I haven't updated my blog in a while I have been on my holidays. I combined a four day break with my love of football this week as I visited Holland and showed my support to the English national team who played a friendly in Amsterdam on Wednesday night.

I have a letter published in the local press today - which fleshes out some of the details of the Community Respect and Environment Week held in Alamein Ward last week. It gives a list of key achievements - plus an invitation to let me know of anything further that needs doing in the Alamein Ward to improve the environment.

Here it is;

LAST week (3 -7 August) saw the Test Valley Borough Council led Community Respect and Environment Week (CREW) come to Roman Way and Cricketers Way in my ward. It was a great event with various agencies including the police, the DVLA, Twice as Nice and Mencap joining TVBC officers and neighbourhood wardens on the stand outside the Tesco Express on Cricketers Way. Events like this are fantastic because they really bring the community together and certainly the people I spoke to last week were enjoying themselves. On a sunny Monday over 40 children joined in on a litter pick on the playing field and again over 40 children took part in the football event on Friday afternoon. I was able to get down there on a very wet Tuesday morning joining council officers talking to the public about recycling and again on Wednesday knocking on doors in Roman Way with PCSO Snudden. We chatted to people about the environment they live in, about crime, neighbourhood watch and community safety. The week wasn’t just about talking though there was some very practical measures being taken to improve the area, these included; Some 1,410 kg of fly-tipped waste removed, six abandoned wheelie bins removed, the DVLA issuing 25 no tax tickets, 38 graffiti jobs passed onto the team for action, 800 kg of shrubs removed in tidying up the footpaths outside Shepherds Spring Medical Centre, the grounds team cutting all the open space in Roman Way and Cricketers Way, the police deploying their automatic number plate recognition device and a car with no insurance was seized and several tickets were handed out.

As a local councillor there is only so much you can see and get sorted when you walk around the ward – but with a team of people you can really blitz a specific area and improve the environment. It does not stop here though – if there is anything you feel that could do with improving in the Alamein Ward please contact me. My email address is Cllrpnorth@testvalley.gov.uk and my phone number is on the Test Valley Borough Council website.

Cllr Phil North, Alamein Ward.