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downsmail.co.uk Loss ofwardens ‘disastrous’
THE chairman of a leading local crime prevention group has warned that the idea to almost halve the number of Kent’s com- munity wardens “could lead to disaster”.
KCC has Jim Wilson
been consult- ing the public on a proposal to centralise the service, which would lead to a reduction in wardens from 79 to 40 and widen each of their geograph-
ical areas of responsibility. The proposal would save the county council £1.28m and go to- wards its overall target of cutting £206m in the next three years. Jim Wilson, chairman of Maid-
stone and District Neighbourhood Watch, told the Downs Mail: “Com- munity wardens are attached to particular parishes and areas and are trusted by people who see them not as a threat or an authority, but as a fellow person who will help them.”
Community wardens tackle is-
sues including anti-social behav- iour, fly-tipping, graffiti, vandal- ism, domestic and neighbour disputes and traffic management. They cannot make arrests but pass on intelligence to police and the emergency services. “They know their limitations but
get around that by building up a tremendous level of trust,” contin- ued MrWilson. “They always follow up their
conversations and get back to peo- ple.
“Often people are daunted by communicating with police or a local authority and are not sure which department to contact. Com- munity wardens are considered neutral by people who don’t want to talk to police, or be seen to be talking to police.We are risking this relationship and it is a tremendous threat. “It could lead to a disaster and
we, as a neighbourhood watch, get on with all of our community war- dens. We cooperate and exchange our ideas with them and support each other at various events.” MrWilson said that the commu-
nitywarden scheme’s success since KCCintroduced it 12 years agowas
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due, in part, to clever recruitment. He said: “They attracted the right people who have sympathy with communities. They have been in- credible. “Getting rid of them would be a double whammy because it would come out of KCC funds at a time when police funds are also being cut.
“If the changes go ahead, the
wardens will have huge areas to cover and consequently the one-to- one relationships they have built will be lost.”
COMMUNITY wardens in Kent are fighting proposed swingeing cuts to their service. An official e-petition has been launched. If it receives 2,500 sig- natures the cuts have to be con- sidered by the KCC cabinet. As the Downs Mail went to
press, more than 300 people had signed the petition. Stuart Ellesmere, from Maidstone’s communitywarden service, said: “This is a very valuable service to
Maidstone Council leader Annabelle Blackmore wrote toKCC chairman Paul Carter a year ago, pleading with him not to reduce the number of communitywardens. She said: "These people are our
eyes and ears on the ground. They know who the vulnerable people are in their areas and interact with all the different age groups, from older people to youngsters who hang around in bus shelters. They have to stay." KCChas now finished consulting on its 2015-16 budget.
Petition calls for a rethink
vulnerable people around Kent.” A number of the community
wardens have signed the peti- tion, including district support warden Dawn Riach-Brown, Liz Lovatt (Boughton Monchelsea and Loose) and Adam McKinley (Bearsted) aswell as several bor- ough councillors, including Mar- tin Round (Headcorn), Stephen Munford
Monchelsea) and Fay Gooch (Barming).
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