MAKE THE RIGHT CALL – HELP AND ADVICE

Last week West Mercia Police launched a series of help and advice pages and downloadable leaflets in the Contact us section on our websites.  Please click here Make The Right Call for Help and Advice on each of the topics listed below.

These are to support members of the public to ‘making the right call’ in the event of you wishing to contact us about a specific issue.

This in turn will reduce the number of calls going in to the West Mercia Police Communications Centre, meaning that the staff are available for emergency calls and to reduce the waiting time for anyone calling in on 101.

Here are the areas that we covered.

Neighbour disputes
We would all like to live in peace with our neighbours, but unfortunately that is sometimes not how things work out. Here’s what you can do if you are having problems. Unless a crime has been committed or someone is in immediate danger, the police are unlikely to intervene in neighbour disputes. However, we’ll put you in touch with the groups and organisations who can help

Noise
The prosecuting authority in England for noise nuisance is your local authority. The police within England and Wales have very limited powers to deal with noise nuisance.

Highways and road faults
Road related faults and highways enquiries.

Assault
When you or someone you care about are assaulted, it is a very traumatic event. There are different levels of violence and assault and these are categorised in law by the level of injury.

Road traffic collisions
When do I have to report an accident to the police.

Cyberbullying and online harassment
Cyberbullying and online harassment can be extremely distressing. It can be classed as a criminal offence but there is lots of help available to support you.

Missing person
Anyone whose whereabouts cannot be established will be considered as missing until located, and their well-being or otherwise confirmed.

Fly tipping
Fly tipping is the illegal dumping of waste. Often, this will involve dumping large items that are dumped instead of being legally disposed of at a household waste and recycling centre or commercial site.

Home burglary
Burglary can be a very upsetting for the victims. We understand that burglary in your home can feel like a personal crime and an invasion of your personal space.

Civil dispute
A civil dispute can be a disagreement over ownership of property, dissatisfaction with a product or service provided, disputes over debts or bills and many other things where there is a difference in opinion between two or more parties over what was agreed.

Dogs fouling and barking
Information on dog fouling, dog barking and dog incidents.

Parking
Parking issues are handled by a mixture of local authority and police powers, depending on the situation.

Please click here Make The Right Call for Help and Advice on each of the topics listed above.

Worcestershire County Council is continuing to encourage householders to be ‘good neighbours’ and help keep highways safe this winter.
With the experience of recent winters very much in mind and the possible approach of severe weather once again, the Council is keen for residents to help keep highways clear for all users by clearing snow and ice from public footways or pavements fronting their properties.
The Council recognises that popular concern over a ‘compensation culture’ and possible legal liability has discouraged a lot of householders from clearing snow and ice from footways in the past.
In fact, we believe that case-law does not justify significant cause for concern and shouldn’t put people off, provided they take reasonable care.
Any householder who takes reasonable care when clearing a footway and ensures that its condition does not create a greater hazard than before is highly unlikely therefore to be faced with a successful claim from pedestrians who may suffer injury or loss as a result of that clearance.
Reasonable care would include following the government advice on how to clear footways safely shown below, although we are happy for salt in grit bins to be used to clear pavements forming part of the highway.
Government advice from https://www.gov.uk/clear-snow-road-path-cycleway supported by the County Council:
You can clear snow and ice from pavements yourself. It’s unlikely that you’ll be sued or held responsible if someone is injured on a path or pavement if you’ve cleared it carefully.
When you clear snow and ice:
 do it early in the day – it’s easier to move fresh, loose snow
 don’t use water – it might refreeze and turn to black ice
 use salt if possible – it will melt the ice or snow and stop it from refreezing overnight (but don’t use the salt from salting bins as this is used to keep roads clear)
 you can use ash and sand if you don’t have enough salt – it will provide grip underfoot
 pay extra attention when clearing steps and steep pathways – using more salt may help

Worcestershire County Council have advised that part of Fiery Hill Road, between Beech Park Drive and Cherry Hill Drive, will be closed to through traffic from 3rd January to allow for “100mm footway reconstruction and damaged kerb replacement”.

If your bin is usually emptied on a Tuesday then, due to the Christmas holidays, your next GREY BIN collection will be THIS SATURDAY, 23rd December.  The collection has been brought forward.

BARNT GREEN TO BROMSGROVE ELECTRIFICATION –  ENERGISATION

As part of their ongoing programme to electrify key rail routes across the Central Region Network Rail inform us that a new section of the railway between Birmingham and Gloucester will shortly be electrified.

As of 27 December 2017 the overhead power lines suspended above the track from Barnt Green Junction to Bromsgrove Station will be energised. This will have no effect on rail users or nearby properties going about their legitimate business.

We are all advised to take extra care when in the vicinity of the energised equipment. The overhead line will be energised at 25,000 volts, alternating current at 50Hz frequency. It is extremely dangerous for any person to be in close proximity (9ft) of the equipment, including switch feeds and cables.

There is of course no danger to any persons provided they do not enter onto railway land (and are always more than nine feet from the overhead lines if their property is adjacent to the railway). This includes any tools, plant or materials that may be handled; and encroachment onto Network Rail land or air space could place them in serious danger.

We are also advised of the problems that could arise from the use of cranes, ladders, scaffolding, hose-pipes and the emission into the atmosphere of flammable gases and vapours.

For further information contact  . You can also contact their National Helpline on 03457 11 41 41.