Report back: meeting with Inspector Peter Walsh

by Lib Dem Team on 1 December, 2016

I met Inspector Peter Walsh on Thursday, armed with all the issues residents had asked me to raise. Inspector Walsh is in charge of policing across Cheadle, Gatley, Heald Green and the northern part of Cheadle Hulme.

Communications
The Police are doing a lot on Twitter, Facebook and via email to keep residents informed so follow one of those to get local police and crime information. There are leaflets going out too, in some areas (e.g. advising on home security). They will give advance notice of local surgeries on their social media accounts, so please follow them on Facebook: GMPCheadle&Bramhall and Twitter: @GMPCheadle

Staffing
To cover the whole area – Heald Green, Gatley, Cheadle and the northern half of Cheadle Hulme – there are three police officers (Mark Shaw in Gatley, Rob Hetherington in Heald Green and Phil Gibbs in Cheadle/Cheadle Hulme). They are assisted by three PCSOs. Those are the beat officers you’ll see on foot (and with so few these days it’s no wonder we don’t see the Police around as often as we used to) and their role is to focus on local issues

There’s also a team of officers responding to incidents 24×7.

Burglary and car crime
Theft of and from cars is one of the biggest issues the Police are seeing at the moment, with some expensive cars being stolen to order. Because new technology makes it harder to hotwire a car, the thieves need the keys and a lot of house break-ins are to get the car keys.

These sorts of crimes are seasonal and with the darker nights we’re seeing a rise. The Police advice is to have lights on timers to make sure you’re house is lit up when you’re out, to have a burglar alarm (or at least a dummy box) and not to leave your car keys where they can be snagged by someone fishing through the letterbox.

Operation Goblet is running at the moment, with the Police running more patrols to focus on burglary, getting more intelligence.

Shed break-ins haven’t increased – where they happen, it’s normally opportunistic and aimed at stealing bikes. Shed alarms are a good deterrent.

Pavement parking, speeding etc.
Inspector Walsh recognises how important issues like pavement parking, speeding, mobile phone-while-driving and dangerous cycling.

Where there are problems, he will get teams out doing checks and handing out penalty notices, so let him know.

He’s got a focus on traffic problems outside schools – especially primaries – and there’ll be more work jointly with schools and with pupils to influence parents.

We’re also going to get more enforcement of illegal through-traffic on the South Park Road Estate.

Anti-social behaviour
Inspector Walsh admits that tackling anti-social behaviour can be challenging and take a while, but there’s a commitment to doing it and success to show for the approach. With the arrest of three young people for multiple offences in the Councillor Lane area, anti-social behaviour there has fallen sharply in recent weeks.

Homewatch
A small team of volunteers are working to promote Homewatch schemes and the Police are keen to see more schemes working better. In the modern age, email and Facebook are the methods of choice to exchange information.

What next?
I’ve highlighted the current issues. Inspector Walsh and I have agreed to meet up again early in the new year on location in Cheadle or Gatley. It would be great for local people with any particular concerns to come along too.

   8 Comments

8 Responses

  1. Arthur Lampkin says:

    would be good if it was in the Centre of Gatley, like at one of the Church Halls, as these meetings always seem to be in Cheadle

  2. John Hartley says:

    Good to hear of likely action on the South Park Road estate. A periodic “pop-up” by the cops at the underpass, as they used to do, would work wonders. The drive-throughs could then never be sure if they would get stopped or not – so should be a good deterrent for minimum input.

  3. Jane McKenzie says:

    Anti-social behaviour causes a lot of distress, but addressing it is not just a police issue.
    I would like to know more about what is being done as part of multi agency approach.

    Thanks

    • Lib Dem Team says:

      Hi Jane – there’ an ASB team at the council who work with the Police and other agencies to tackle ASB and try to ensure that the root causes are tackled. Every case is different, but I can put you in touch with someone at the council who can have a chat to you about the approach if you like – Iain.

  4. Ruth Hill. says:

    What about the parking that is going on with cars and vans left by workers on the Barnes Hospital Site from 7am till about 6pm on the South Park Rd Estate? It makes parking outside our house impossible and the way some of the cars and vans are parked on the corners is extremely dangerous. This is likely to go on for another 2 years. At times no-one can walk on the pavements as the cars and vans are parked on them as the road is so narrow.

    • Iain Roberts says:

      Hi Ruth – we’ve been working on this. My understanding is that the Police should have visited the site this week and I hope we’ll see an improvement. If not, we’ll chase it up and the Police will hopefully be able to take legal action.

  5. jb says:

    In the case of builders and inconvenient if not illeagle parking, cannot the contractor arrange for his workers to assemble at a suitable car park at the appropraite time and then run them to site in a mini bus?

    This procedure is adopted on large civil contracts; why not here?

  6. AA says:

    What about enforcement of the 20mph speed limits on local estates. I have seen speed traps on the A34 but never on the residential roads – try Broadway at rush hour, it’s right next to the school and car often hit 60mph – it needs sorting

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