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PLEASE NOTE THAT THE WEATHER FORECAST FOR THE SOUTH WEST OF ENGLAND IS GOOD FOR THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS! DESPITE BEING THE HOLIDAY SEASON. THE ONE PERSON LEFT WHO UNDERSTANDS HOW TO WORK THIS COMPUTER INTERNET THING HAS DECIDED TO GO AWOL IN CORNWALL FOR A COUPLE OF DAYS. THIS MEANS THAT THERE WILL BE NO DIARY ON THURSDAY AND FRIDAY. WE HAVE SUGGESTED THAT THERE MIGHT BE A LETTER FROM CORNWALL ... OR EVEN SOMETHING POSTED HERE ON SATURDAY! WE SUSPECT THAT THERE MIGHT BE A FEW WORDS ON THE DELIGHTS OF TRURO, OR HOW THE WAVES WERE IN NEWQUAY! BUT NORMAL SERVICE WILL BE RESUMED ON MONDAY AT THE LATEST!
We had a VIP visitor today! The Deputy Chief Constable of Gloucestershire Police came on a "fact finding" mission to our estate to find out about the Police Information Point (PIP).
He wanted to know everything ... including any ideas on how the PIP could be improved and any shortcomings that we had encountered.
It was good to have to scratch our heads to think of shortcomings - there hadn't been any so far, or none that we could remember.
In fact we were able to tell him that the partnership between the Gloucestershire Police and the TCC was going well and that residents on the estate were starting to feel a little more secure, with a reduction in the "fear of crime".
The PIP has meant that there has been a marked increase in policing of the estate on foot - and in vehicles. And fortunately residents have noticed!
While most of the other PIPs in the county are places where local people can pick up information on the various aspects of the police service available, our scheme tends to be more "hands on". Residents actually leave notes for the police at our PIP and, we are told, that some very useful information has gathered from these notes!
What we were able to tell the Deputy Chief Constable was that we were always willing to tryout any ideas that the constabulary might have. The Police and the TCC had common aims - to serve the community, but in differing ways.
We told him that we saw the PIP as fitting unofficially into the "Safer Estates" scheme that has been set up by the Police and the Housing Department to directly address the "neighbours from hell" issues.
In all, a fruitful visit ... and a report on something that is going well. Who says that there is never any good news in this diary!
And on the subject of "neighbours from hell", one of our residents made it onto television news today. Irene Davis, a former chair of out tenants group (back when we were a Residents Association) was filmed by Central News for their item on National no Noise Day.
Irene became quite famous a year ago as she was the victim of a "noise pest" who lived in the flat above her!
This was the famous case where the Council took the noisy tenant to court for three breaches of a noise abatement order. The tenant failed to turn up at magistrates court to answer the summons, so the magistrates eventually went ahead with the case in his absence, found the case proven and convicted him on all three charges. He was fined £1,000 for the first offence, £2,000 for the second offence and £3,000 for the third - a total of £6,000, not to mention the £1,000-plus costs!
At the time, this was the highest fine ever for making noise in a domestic situation in England. So this made the newspapers and television.
The magistrates reduced the fine down to nothing a few months later - the costs and the conviction remained, and this resulted in more television and newspaper coverage.
The tenant continued to play his hi-fi at loud levels, so then Carlton Television cameras descended on Kingsholm Estate to film for the series "Neighbours From Hell".
Between the filming and the screening of the item, the Housing Department managed to get an eviction order. The day arrived for the eviction and the baliffs found that the flat had been "trashed" the night before.
The council duly allowed the television cameras into the flat to record the state it was left in!
Anyway, Irene was asked today if she could be interviewed for this news item. She agreed and duly appeared on the evening news!
Residents from the Clapham Court sheltered housing scheme went on a coach trip to Weston-super-Mare today. We have heard no alarming reports of any lost residents, so presumably the same number as got on the coach this morning got off the coach when it returned this evening.
Hazel Gray produced the minutes of last night's meeting this afternoon, as promised. They have been posted on the site - click here to go to the minutes
Just a quick reminder that we DO know about the problems with the guest book. The problem is being worked on, but we suspect that the snag is at TenZero, the company that provides the guestbook at no cost to us. Some of you are Emailing us instead - and thanks for the comments. We are told by TenZero that there is a massive problem and they are busy re-writing programmes (or should that be programs?).