At the South Ward Neighbourhood Management team, we understand how important it is for local residents to live in an area where the streets are clean,the buildings are graffiti free and the parks are green and family-friendly. That’s why we’ve worked with NS Housing and North Somerset Council’s Streets and Open Spaces department to develop a new way of managing street care services on the four estates.
A Community Warden Scheme was launched in South Ward in early 2008. The team, comprising of two community wardens and two street cleaners are be on patrol every day and, as our photo shows, it is hard to miss them in their brightly coloured uniforms.
Each Warden has responsibility for 2 of the estates which they patrol at least twice a week, making sure that the streets are clean and tidy and keeping an eye on identified problem areas. The patrols on each estate have indicated that this direct approach of street patrol within the community is most effective. During these patrols any incident is recorded, reported and logged. The returns are included in the information reported back to the joint briefing sessions chaired by the Neighbourhood Management Team. Outstanding reports or unresolved issues are escalated at the Joint Tasking Briefings.
The street cleansers follow a programme of routine cleaning that takes into account North Somerset Council’s street cleaning schedule for South Ward. This rota ensures the 3 shopping areas are cleansed every day.
As well as additional street sweeping and litter picking, removal of fly-tipping and graffiti, the team also act as a link with other agencies including North Somerset Council, reporting specific problems such as abandoned cars, dog fouling and vandalism and monitoring resolutions of these issues.
One of the objectives of the Neighbourhood Management Team is to help make South Ward cleaner and greener; a place where people are proud to live, and where they enjoy a good quality of life. The Community Warden Scheme plays a key role in our work in this area.
Below is a round up of some of the work that the Wardens have been involved in.
- The launch of the recycling facilities for the maisonettes on the Bournville.
- Developing a protocol with Asda for the collection of supermarket trolleys that have been dumped across South Ward.
- Attending talks by traffic officers at Weston Police station with information on preventing road and traffic violations, especially concerning mini-moto's and other anti-social vehicles. The wardens support the Police in rolling out their programme to South Ward.
- Visited Red Watch at Weston fire station to give them a talk on the work they do. This was well received and feedback from the Fire Service showed that they were rarely called out to fires on the estates due to the few items of fly tipped waste. The wardens followed this up by doing a joint display to the public with the Arson Task Force promoting both services.
- Action months–the wardens rolled out their first dog fouling campaign on the Month of Action in June 2008 which proved to be very successful and in many areas there has been a decrease in fouling. A poster competition to tackle dog fouling was won by a local child from Bournville School and her poster has been produced and put up in the local communities. The dog fouling campaign has been rolled out across all of the estates and the wardens do early morning patrols to ensure residents are clearing up after their dogs.
- Attend the monthly Bournville Area Residents Association, the Coronation Residents Association/Coffee Morning, the Oldmixon Residents Association and Joint Tasking meetings along with other key agencies.
- A Tool Hire scheme was launched at the beginning of June 2008 allowing residents of South Ward to hire tools to maintain their gardens at just a £2 charge. This charge includes a North Somerset Council green waste sack and a calendar of collections.
Download a copy of the Tool Hire leaflet (pdf, 303KB) - Involved with the ENCAMS Big Tidy Up campaign.
- Supported Resource Futures with the Litter Project across schools in South Ward. They have facilitated litter picks with Bournville and Windwhistle and supported children at a poem workshop by the rhyne.
- Evening patrols were trialled 2 days a week during the summer months.
- Helped with bulb planting at a disused piece of ground next to the Rhyne on Loxton Road on the Coronation.
- Both Wardens have undertaken Appointed Person First Aid training.
- Shane has completed his MIDAS training (approved minibus driver)
- Completed their Enforcement Training to enable them to issue Fixed Penalty Notices for dog fouling, littering, fly posting etc.
- Attended the first fledgling meetings regarding the Friends of Jubilee Park and will be supporting on going events of this kind.
Following a successful initial two year programme funded by South Ward Neighbourhood Management Partnership and NS Housing, the Wardens have now been employed permanently by NS Housing. NS Housing have expanded their scheme by recruiting two additional wardens to cover the whole of North Somerset.