Agenda item

The Minutes of the meeting held on 4 January 2018 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Councillor Brookes referred to the provision of information to Parish Council’s which was discussed at the meeting on 4 January 2018 and asked whether there was any update on this.  The PCVC replied that he had discussed community engagement with the force.  A police officer would attend meetings of a Parish Council if there was a specific reason to do so although it would be expected that this would be the first agenda item for discussion and it was not anticipated that an officer would attend more than two meetings in a year.  Councillor Brookes replied that while Parish Council’s did not expect an officer in attendance at meetings, crime data for the Parish area would be useful.  Mr Dodwell requested that the PCVC circulate this information to Parish Clerks.

The PCVC referred to the incident at the Happy Wanderer which had been raised at the previous meeting and Councillor Hopgood being unaware that the PCVC had visited the victim.  The PCVC informed the Panel that across Durham and Darlington he had 176 elected Councillors to liaise with and would endeavour to keep local members informed wherever possible.  However, he apologised if sometimes there was an oversight with this liaison.

Councillor Hovvels informed the Panel that congratulations had been sent on behalf of the Panel to Gary Ridley on the award of his OBE.