Road closures in Caddington

Advance warning of some scheduled works as follows:

• Monday 12 January 2015 - Luton Road will be closed between the two junctions for Hyde Road for carriageway patching.
• Tuesday 13 January 2015 - Little Green Lane will be closed for carriageway patching and work on the gullies.

Slip End Mountain Rescue Team

I am looking forward to tomorrow night's meeting of the Slip End Mountain Rescue Team, where there will be an update on activities during 2014 and also a special report from the European liaison officer, currently visiting from Germany.

I suspect that there may also be a glass raised in memory of founder members and absent friends.

Studham Lower School

It was a pleasure on Friday to accept an invitation to the Christmas Music Concert at Studham Lower School.

The children were all impeccably behaved, sang beautifully and a number of short musical solos were played on a whole selection of different instruments.

The children and teachers are a credit to this popular little school, which was recently rated as "Outstanding" by OFSTED.

Local press

Some clippings from today's Luton On Sunday:

Luton On Sunday 07-Dec-14

It is difficult to know how to react to a rise in burglaries in town in the context of what happens in rural areas.  On one hand, it would seem to demonstrate that the uncomfortably high crime figures in the villages are not an isolated problem.  Against that, the usual concern that the large town will suck in resources at the expense of rural policing raises its head once again.

LoS 07-Dec-14

Add to this overall picture separate incidents involving stabbing and shooting in the last week alone, you begin to wonder if burglary is to be relegated to a non-investigated crime recorded for statistics only as the force is committed to dealing with violent crime and threats to life.

Locally, initiatives like Neighbourhood Watch are championed and can certainly be an effective tool but the underlying worry is that the under-funded Bedfordshire force is not viable in its current format; it seems that particular concern is not going away. 

Luton On Sunday 07-Dec-14

November crime figures

Summarized figures from Bedfordshire Police

The Slip End figures do not record the illegal encampent at Timberlands as a crime, it has been recorded seperately as an anti-social behaviour incident.

The domestic burglary figures continue to be a cause for concern, with 3 in Slip End, 3 more across Kensworth and Studham and another 6 in Caddington.

The following comment is quoted from the accompanying notes to the Caddington figures, but is relevant across the whole ward:

"These domestic burglaries all tended to be committed by gaining accesses via side and rear accesses, the main target of items stolen being jewellery/watches and cash.

Bedfordshire police are committed to seeing a reduction in this crime in the village and county wide. Patrols are being stepped up and covert operations set in place; especially as burglary activity tend to increase during the months leading up to and after Christmas. We are actively trying to inform/advise the community on home security/ preventative measures and also to contact the police should they see any suspicious persons or activity taking place. "