Debate over warden plan

HEATHFIELD residents have been urged to make their opinion count on the issue of bringing neighbourhood wardens into the parish.

HEATHFIELD residents have been urged to make their opinion count on the issue of bringing neighbourhood wardens into the parish.

A public meeting is to take place next month to discuss the possibility of introducing two community wardens to Heathfield and surrounding villages, and local councillors are hoping for a high turnout.

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Heathfield and Waldron Parish Council were approached by the county council with a proposal to pilot a scheme to appoint community wardens for the area.

Supervisors would be used to create a presence in the town in an attempt to deter crime and help residents feel safer, although these wardens would not have powers of arrest and would not replace police officers.

East Sussex County Council would provide 50,000 for the first year of the scheme and another 50,000 for the second year if the parish council, who would be the wardens' employers and managers, were unable to find alternative funding.

Parish chairman Tony Trick said the two wardens would be on a 37-hour contract and would operate in Heathfield and the surrounding villages. He added that they would work evenings and weekends if necessary. 'They would work as and when it suits our needs on a day to day basis,' he said.

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County councillor for Heathfield Rupert Simmons said that the initiative would be new to East Sussex although a warden scheme had been established already in Ashington, West Sussex.

'The impact of the warden scheme had been very successful in Ashington,' he said. 'There has been a major reduction in crime and reported crime.'

He added: 'Police are pretty well hamstrung in the respect that there is major pressure on their resources to go to urban areas such as Brighton or Hastings. There is very little left for rural areas.

'I pushed very hard for this to be in Heathfield and Waldron. It's an excellent council and the area has had experience of drug crime and, recently, vandalism.'

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However, he added that the fear of crime was almost as big a problem as crime itself, with elderly residents feeling threatened by the sight of groups of youths in the street.

'As lead cabinet member for education, I stand up for them (youngsters) as much as I can. They are perhaps exuberant but they are generally not commiting crimes. The presence of wardens could take some of that fear away.'

A leaflet drop will be made to households in the area ahead of the public meeting which takes place on Monday, September 9.

Cllr Niki Oakes said: 'I feel that this is too good an opportunity to miss but it must go out to the public for their opinion.'