CHIRK TOWN COUNCIL

CYNGOR TREF Y WAUN

MINUTES OF THE ORDINARY COUNCIL MEETING HELD 9th FEBRUARY 2011

Present

Chirk Town Members

Mr J Vant (Chairman), Mrs H J Spragg, Mr R Jones, Mr F Hemmings, Mr N James, Mr Barry Evans,

Mr D Richards and Mr R Smith, Mrs C Gough and Mr S Hughes (Clerk).

Ceiriog Uchaf Members

Mr G Jones, Mr I Richards and Mrs S Crawshaw (Clerk).

Llansantffraid Glyn Ceiriog Member

Mr E Evans.

Wrexham CBC Mrs B Roberts, Mr T Evans and Mr I Roberts.

North Wales Police.

Inspector Iwan Jones and CBM PC. D Cullen.

Apologies

Apologies for absence were received from Mrs J Allen, Mr D Evans R Jones, Mr J Pierce and Mr Ian Roberts and Mrs J Davies (Clerk) Glyn Ceiriog.

The Chairman welcomed the representatives from the Ceiriog Valley Community Councils.

100. POLICING.

The Chairman welcomed Inspector Jones and PC Cullen and invited Insp Jones to give an overview of the recent changes proposed for the policing of North Wales and in particular the Wrexham South area as it affects Chirk and the Ceiriog Valley.

Inspector Jones said that financial saving of £20m had to be made in policing over the next four years and a review had been carried out to achieve this.  It is the intention to retain front line policing, making policing more effective in the restructuring of the whole of North Wales – a complete structural change.

There would be a freeze on recruitment and retiring officers will not be replaced and PCSO’s will be retained (funded partly by the Local Authorities).

The changes will include a three tier service;

A (front line) Response Service (24hr cover); An Investigation Service and Neighbourhood Policing Teams.

Four policing HUBS are to be made and are be located at Mold, Wrexham, Corwen and Dolgellau.

Chirk and the Ceiriog Valley will be in the Wrexham Rural District that will be controlled by Inspector Paul Jones who will have 22/23 officers in the District..

Local police stations are to be retained and at Chirk the compliment of officers will be as now i.e. CBM PC Cullen with PCSO’s Griffiths, Sawyer and Cheshire with working arrangements to ensure a presence at all times.

Officers will be used on a shared response basis to enable incidents to be dealt with as efficiently and quickly as possible

The date when the new policing arrangements start is the 4th May 2011.

Questions and comments were then made by members regarding: - retiring officers; recruitment; size of the force in the various areas; response times; relationship with officers; visual presence of officers “on the beat”.

Inspector Jones replied: -

Retirements are unlikely to affect Chirk as the officers are not near the age for this;

         The population size and geographical circumstances would determine the size of the police force in the various areas  

and districts;

   Response time of 20 minutes is to be maintained to deal with incidents.

         Surgeries at various locations in areas to allow officers to meet the local population as well as officers attending local meetings and getting involved and interacting with the community in local activities will build up relationships.