THE Forest Centre and the surrounding area was the focus of intense partnership work to help reduce crime and improve the environment last week.
Crime Reduction and Environment week (CREW) was supported by numerous agencies including the police, East Hampshire District Council, Hampshire Fire and Rescue, Probation, Trading Standards, Youth Services, DRUM housing and the DVLA, who all heped each other.
"We have had a great response from all the agencies involved and some excellent work has taken place over the week," said Sergeant Karen Fisher from the Community Safety Unit.
"Members of the community have also got really involved, including the post office and local stores, which is what has made this so successful."
All the agencies involved reported success. The traffic police stopped 65 vehicles, and made one arrest. They found two vehicles with defects, issued two fixed penalty notices and breathalised 12 people. The police also gave 15 people verbal warningsfor minor offences. One arrest was made for a public order offence, five people were stopped and searched, and a further 13 were asked to account for their actions. In addition, the DVLA reported 16 vehicles for not displaying a current tax disk.
Trading Standards served fixed penalty notices to three local stores because they were found selling alcohol to minors. The agency warned shops that they would send an underage "mole" to buy alcohol without ID.
Education Welfare stopped and dealt with three youngsters during a truancy sweep and the Youth Service held a SNAP (Say No and Phone Event) at the community centre on Saturday night.
During the week 20 offenders cleared two areas of land as part of their community punishment orders. The first was alongside the community centre's fence, the second to the rear of Lidl's and the library. Both areas had become overgrown and used for 'fly tipping'.
These areas had become a magnet for young people who had built 'dens' and hideaways there. These have now been cleared and opened up which will make them less intimidating for members of the public to pass through and will, it is hoped, deter antisocial behaviour from taking place.
Four skips were required to remove the rubbish that had accumulated as well as the undergrowth that had been cleared, and it is planned that this project will continue with supervised offenders returning on a regular basis to maintain the area.
"It's about people who are doing community punishment orders actually coming back and giving something to the community," said Kate Fryatt, who is part of North Hampshire's community punishment unit. "They are all roughly from this area and making a tremendous difference.
"It's excellent to see all the different agencies involved in the community safety partnership and the police doing pro-active work, getting involved in community projects. Personally, I like the work we do in probation and the fact the schools have been involved. I think it has all come together to make a great difference for the community in Bordon."
Mill Chase Community School was heavily involved in the CREW. Thirteen pupils supervised by members of staff spent the week working on an overgrown and disused piece of land near the community centre.
The land was covered in cans, broken glass and general debris and has now been cleared. Through support from the Bordon Charity and local garden centres, the pupils planted plants and shrubs and put up bird boxes.
"At Mill Chase we've had a long tradition of students working in the community and this is just one high-profile example of that. It is something that we will continue to do and hopefully build more into the curriculum too," said Mill Chase headteacher, Steve Mulcahy.
Town mayor, Faith Thomas believed the youngsters had excelled. "They've done a tremendous job and worked extremely hard," she said. "This was just scrubland when they started and I hope it will set an example to lots of other people in the area. People have already come forward to donate plants, but if anyone wants to donate anymore they can contact the council."
The school is now planning a gardening club on Wednesday afternoons where groups will continue to tend the new garden.
"Local community support is essential for this project to grow. We hope that this garden will be enjoyed by the community for years to come," said Neil Pittaway, the key stage three co-ordinator for Mill Chase School.
Dog wardens spent the week looking out for irresponsible owners who let their pets mess on footpaths. Patricia Hughes, the EHDC environmental services manager said that her team of wardens were out from morning until night around Bordon looking for offending owners.
They did not issue any notices because they could not catch anyone out. Mrs Hughes felt that the problem was not quite as bad as they first thought but she said that it only takes a few careless owners to bring everyone else down.
EHDC also teamed up with various agencies to clean up the open spaces around the town centre. A rubbish truck was provided for people in Drum Association Housing to remove unwanted heavy goods free of charge.
"We managed to reclaim a few areas that had become overgrown but now we have cleared these spaces we need to make sure we keep the rubbish down. We also need to look out for fly-tippers," explained Brian Turner, street care manager.
Bordon will now be under closer surveillance to catch dumpers, and increasing powers are being given to local councils to clamp down on the offenders.
A spokesman for the Forest Centre Association told The Herald that the CREW initiative was very successful.
"The Police, who gave up their rest days, Drum, EHDC and all the other agencies involved made a positive difference. The Mill Chase Garden in particular is a permanent reminder of what can be achieved. There is now the opportunity to build on this experience in a positive way."
Community safety officer Sandra Tuddenham, was taken aback by the success of the event and she hopes that other community groups will get involved in maintaining its progress.
"When we launched the Community Safety Plan on April 1, we listed the CREW event as one of our priorities and it's fantastic to see that we have met our target so early into the plan. However, we will be encouraging the community of Bordon to continue working with us to ensure that all the hard work is not wasted".
Sergeant Fisher added: "Lessons learnedfrom the Bordon community over this week will be built on. This is not a quick fix and we will be looking for residents to work with us over the coming months to find multi-agency sustainable solutions to the problems we have seen in this area.
"We will of course be building on the success of this scheme by moving it to other areas of Central Hampshire.
"I'd also like to thank all agencies for taking part and putting in so much effort during the week."