Garth Hill College, Sandy Lane School, Parking and the old NAGs

I see that the replanting of green screening around Garth Hill College has been taking place. It was a great shame that the mature vegetation had to be cut back to provide for a safe route to the new entrance. The new college though, will be a great asset to the area.

At the Priestwood and Garth Neighbourhood Action Group Meetings (NAGs) we have discussed the dangers of parked cars all along Folders lane up to Bull lane.  Some parents seem to leave the safety of tier children up to others. I have had a car stop in front of me and a child leap out in the “wrong side”. Very nerve wracking.  It also very dangerous when parents park on the bend.

Hopefully the council can come up with a scheme to help make the area safer during the school and college opening and closing hours, once the new College entrance is operational.

The police say that there have been reports from Wick Hill College car park attendants that parents from Garth Hill School and Sandy Lane School keep trying to use the car park at the start and end of the school day. This car park is only for students and the bus from Bracknell & Wokingham College. Some of the car park attendants have been verbally abused by parents. If you are picking your child up from the above schools, you can use Braybrooke Park or Albert Road car parks. There are also reports about some parents stopping on the yellow zigzag lines outside Meadow Vale School. PCSOs have been outside the school as often as possible to stop this happening.
It is good to note, from the above police report, that overall crime was down by 31.2 per cent compared with the same three months in 2008.

Parking as always is a problem everywhere. Of the 291 Priestwood  and Garth residents who responded to the neighbourhood survey on five aspects of life in Bracknell Forest which most needed improvement, parking came in at 43% behind Police on the Streets at 50%, the level of speeding at 39%,  Litter at 39%, and Anti-social Behaviour at 36%.

On a more positive note; on the five aspects of life in Bracknell Forest people in Priestwood and Garth  liked best: Parks and Open Spaces (54%), Access to Nature (42%), Health Services (38%), Sports and Leisure Facilities (29%), Cultural Facilities (26%).

Picking Blackberrys and dim burgulars

The Bracknell News tell us that burglars in Bracknell are not as good as the ones coming in from other towns!

This was from Acting Chief Inspector Mark Harling of Bracknell police.

Apparently "Bracknell’s location and easy access from the M4 and A329 made it simple for criminals to drive in, break into '10 or 15' homes a week and then scarper."

Perhaps this is where ANPR will come in. Instead of passively catching motorists doing a bit above the speed limit, it provides information on suspect cars entering and leaving Bracknell. There are of course privacy fears over the government tracking our every movement.

West Yorkshire have set up a rapid reaction police squad to intercept criminals' vehicles, flagged-up by automatic number plate recognition cameras.

At the above meeting the police also talked of the introduction of BlackBerry solutions. Officers with mobile devices are able to reduce time in the station and increase time spent servicing their community. BlackBerry smartphones will also help to maintain already high levels of security within the force. For certain tasks officers have to carry paper records such as photographs of suspects and briefing notes which can be lost or misplaced, presenting a security risk. On BlackBerry smartphones this information can be accessed securely and, if lost, the BlackBerry smartphone can be wiped and disabled by a central administrator instantly.

Read more here - http://www.publictechnology.net

A good example of the BlackBerry use is in West Yorkshire where it is helping police officers to outwit wanted suspects who try to bluff their way out of being arrested when stopped on the streets.