Announcement Number (1): Please cast your vote for your favourite Poster in this competition, where the pupils form Primary 6 and 7 have been designing posters for the #tidycleangreen campaign, as well as learning about the community and environmental problems created by dropping litter and causing fly-tipping.  I will announce the winner next week and you will be able to see that design locally as it will be getting manufactured into signage and other anti-littering publicity materials.

To cast your vote follow this link: https://fb.watch/2e71dTiY3N/

Announcement Number (2): The results of the question of the month for November was:

So, there you have it, change is in the air and the potential to develop a local school streets scheme would be a positive move and also one which would attract local support.

What are School Streets is a reasonable question to ask?

A School Street is a road outside a school with a temporary restriction on motorised traffic at school drop-off and pick-up times. The restriction applies to school traffic and through traffic. The result is a safer, healthier, and pleasant environment for everyone.

School Street schemes offer a proactive solution for school communities to tackle air pollution, poor health, and road danger reduction. A School Street scheme will encourage a healthier lifestyle and active travel to school for families and lead to a better environment for everyone. I have had some discussions with Easter Carmuirs Parent Council Traffic Group about how this could operate, and I have also had the issue highlighted with me form other local schools. My intention is to support this idea and see if it is a feasible and workable solution to our local traffic problems around the schools.  

Announcement Number (3) Christmas is approaching with great haste and although it will be different this year there is still some festive cheer coming to the streets of Camelon and Tamfourhill next weekend the 12^th and 13^th December. The Camelon Winter Festival is still happening despite the current COVID-19 health problems. I would like to acknowledge the extremely hard work, resilience, and creativity of both our Winter Festival Committee and Camelon Arts who in such challenging times have still been able to bring these joyous activities to the community.   Firstly, we have Santa who will be touring the streets of Camelon in a horse drawn carriage with his elves on foot. They will be delivering pre-booked presents to local families, over the two days. This happening is designed to be viewed from indoors and presents will be placed in front gardens and on doorsteps by the elves who will be wearing their very own yield tide masks and gloves. Secondly a travelling video screen will be touring the streets of Camelon and Tamfourhill, featuring the big voice of local singer Dionne Hickey, festive messages, and three inspiring videos made with local creative residents, part of an ongoing Camelon Arts project: Camelon’s Got Talent. The screen will drive slowly round each area and be accompanied by stewards to make sure that everybody is kept safe and well.

I would like to remind everyone that strict physical distancing will be required and that all COVID regulations must be followed and that any unlawful gathering of crowds outdoors will necessitate the involvement of the Police, so please stay safe and enjoy the wonder of the Camelon Winter Festival.  

Social media, just how social is it? and how is it changing our lives and that of the communities? It is quite difficult to get a balanced view about the pros and cons, the benefits and the drawbacks, the uses, and abuses. It is an issue that is particularly relevant to community safety and I am hoping that I will be able to identify some of the main issues that affect young people through the recently launched youth survey. There is however so much misinformation out there and anybody can become confused and stressed by opinions and attitudes which we find difficult to evaluate or identify fact from fiction. The clear positives are the communications and the connectedness that the likes of Facebook and twitter can provide for us, social media for example is an important strand to the current work of the Our Place Camelon and Tamfourhill project. The different platforms are extremely effective at getting messages out to the community, highlighting local developments, and involving people directly with current issues. The downside to all this is the potential for bullying and intimidation, spreading nastiness and falsity and undermining positive community activities. Social media is democratic, that is everybody and anybody can contribute to the narrative, however this can open us all up to danger and risk. Have a look at his short film: https://youtu.be/c9KUAJqlsdk

You couldn’t imagine that a modern teenagers life could  get any more complicated , but in many respects their lives have become ever more reliant upon  instant gratification with the constant pressures for peer acceptance and once you add in social media, this must become an ongoing stressful experience. Unfortunately for some young people their anxiety levels must go through the roof, their Image, friends and being popular, all accentuated and raised to previously unknown levels through the intense immediacy of social media platforms.  Now I don’t wont to sound over dramatic or cause concern where it is not appropriate , social media is more often than not a good thing , hey rock n Roll had its critics back in the day and I still have my collection of hard core punk vinyl , however young people have always required support and guidance and social media can place an additional burden  on them , their family and the wider community.  The local community safety strategy will be required to have empathy and understanding of these issues, in young people’s terms and as they experience these issues in their language. Local community safety will need to encourage relevant inputs and activities which can reassure parents and family about the welfare of their children when using social media whilst  also  equipping our young people with the confidence and self esteem to make the right decisions in often difficult and contradictory circumstances. I hope that through the youth survey and various focus groups to listen to young people explaining their experiences and concerns about using social media, how might they develop appropriate support, resources and information that would be useful to them and their peers and potentially also their families. I have had recent discussions with Neighbourhood Watch about how they might  make their services and provisions more relevant to young people and how we could better equip young people to deal with the risks that they may face online. This could be a strand of the local community safety strategy where we develop a young people’s scheme which is about them looking out for each other, whether that is online or generally out and about in the community. The key is to empower young people to have responsibility for finding their own solutions to tackle the relevant issues, that way any safety strategy is more likely to be effective. I have indicated in the past the possibility of setting up a Young Community Safety Volunteers Project which would develop and deliver peer education inputs and social media would be one of the key themes that I would like to explore with such a Group.  

Here are some online safety links:

https://young.scot/get-informed/national/four-tips-for-being-safe-on-social-media

https://tutorful.co.uk/guides/how-to-keep-kids-safe-online/social-media-safety

https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/advice-centre/young-people

Top tips for 11-19s

Protect your online reputation: use the services provided to manage your digital footprints and ‘think before you post.’ Content posted online can last forever and could be shared publicly by anyone.

Know where to find help: understand how to report to service providers and use blocking and deleting tools. If something happens that upsets you online, it’s never too late to tell someone.

Do not give in to pressure: if you lose your inhibitions you’ve lost control; once you’ve pressed send you can’t take it back.

Respect the law: use reliable services and know how to legally access the music, film and TV you want.

Acknowledge your sources: use trustworthy content and remember to give credit when using others’ work/ideas.

Please encourage all 10-18 year olds to complete the local community safety youth survey, it’s the first step in a wider consultation and listening exercise, it will put young people and their safety at the centre of the local community  strategy. There is a prize of 4 free cinema tickets for the lucky person who has submitted a completed survey.

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/JFHLXT8

I am highlighting in this weeks blog the creative work of the Primary 7 pupils from Carmuirs Primary School. They are taking part in a local litter pick and survey and their art work and anti litter statements will be getting used as permanent signage on the streets and buildings around their school. I therefore wanted to use this opportunity to showcase their work and acknowledge and thank them for making a huge contribution to keeping Camelon and Tamfourhill #tidycleangreen

The messages are straight forward and to the point : In Town Don’t Throw Down, Help the Environment and Keep the Earth well and safe. We should all be listening to these statements as they show the amount of concern our young people have for their community and looking after the natural world around them. They are setting an example and it is one that we all should make an effort to follow.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Please keep an eye out for these designs appearing throughout the community and lets all make an effort to keep the community #tidycleangreen

How we can reassure people about their very real fear of crime?

One of the biggest challenges I face as the Community Safety Engager will be reassuring people that for most of the time they are safe and to reduce their anxiety  about crime and who is considered to be responsible for causing crime within the local community. The community safety survey found that 64% of respondents felt that the fear of crime and the need for reassurance was a noticeable and fairly significant problem in the local areas.

Last week the Scottish Community Safety Network, launched a significant piece of research. ‘The Scottish Picture of Antisocial Behaviour (ASB)’ report, produced by Robyn Bailey, Social Researcher for the Scottish Government, who was commissioned to research into ASB in terms of how common it is, which types are most common, who is engaging in it and what is driving it. I know many people cannot be bothered with facts and figures; but it is in my view worth pondering over some of Robyn Baileys findings, as they are revealing and, in some respects, consistent with many local peoples experiences. However, when we look at the national picture this is suggesting that problems with ASB are actually falling.  

The research found that Levels of ASB have decreased over the past 10 years and the public have noticed this decline in their areas,   nevertheless, those living in the most deprived areas, in socially rented housing and in large urban areas, as well as younger people, are more likely to perceive ASB issues in their area. My recent Focus Groups have echoed these concerns and have expressed a high level of concern about the connection between poverty, lack of opportunities and the very local levels of ASB. It would therefore not be unreasonable to conclude that if we do not address poverty and inequality then the same local neighbourhoods will continue to suffer from disproportionately higher levels of ASB.

The next observation is that although youth crime rates in Scotland are falling, the percentage of people who view young people hanging around on the streets as ‘problematic’ has continued to grow (Neary et al 2013) This seems to be due to stereotyping of young people congregating in public, which leaves them in a difficult position: just being young and hanging about can make these youngsters seem to be unfairly criminalised and often treated like modern day folk devils.

As always, the challenge is in responding to these circumstances in ways that are effective, and which bring about change for the better. The research finds that in reality ASB is more often caused by people in their thirties and not teenagers, and the most common ASB is unwanted and intrusive noise. The best course of action that is suggested will require the community and agencies to try and correct these false historic perceptions. The recommendation is that we need to adopt community-led approaches to tackling ASB. My role therefore as community safety engager should be key and central to facilitating, engaging, and supporting the community to develop responses and opportunities which will have the best chance of success. Firstly, we need to understand the causes of ASB and then we will have a far better chance of successfully reducing that negative behaviour. The solutions might be practical, for example excessive noise might be remedied through improving wall insulation and having more effective sound proofing in the housing stock. Another pertinent example might be about developing new local facilities or social services that are appropriate to peoples needs and interests. In areas of low income and with high incidence of poverty and deprivation then access to local sports and leisure facilities may need to improve and the barrier of cost be removed.  Unresolved mental health issues and ongoing substance dependency need to be tacked at their route causes as opposed to tackling their symptoms and the social and criminal consequences of these addictions and negative behaviours.

Finally, we need to address the perceptions of ASB and who engages in it and acknowledge that this is often influenced by stereotypes and reinforced through the media and the creation of moral panics. The responses to the local community safety priorities will require us to get behind the stereotyped labels, better understand the causes of people’s behaviours and attitudes and then as a community work together to facilitate successful sustainable solutions. One of the strap lines of Neighbourhood Watch Scotland is “We all need to look out for each other” and in that statement lies the core of an effective community safety strategy.

Visit the research findings of The Picture of Anti-Social Behaviour in Scotland herehttps://www.safercommunitiesscotland.org/new-research-the-scottish-picture-of-anti-social-behaviour/

I will be taking the opportunity in this week’s Community Safety Blog to highlight and encourage the younger members of the local community to complete the recently launched Youth Survey.  The survey is targeted at 11- 18 years olds who live, work, go to school, attend local clubs or activities, or are connected with Camelon and Tamfourhill in any way. Please complete the survey at: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/SMLBBQ8 and if you are just a tad slightly older like me then please signpost your family and friends who do meet the criteria to the above link. (I can provide paper copies if required, so please let me know and I will get them out to you). There is a prize of 4 cinema tickets for the lucky person whose completed survey wins the prize draw.

This survey will contribute to the wider community safety strategy and the consultation will be supported by focus groups, my intention is to also carry out some action focus groups with existing local youth groups like The Conservation Volunteers, Tamfourhill Community Hub and Community Learning and Development, the secondary schools and P7 classes and  I will   also be looking to engage with unattached young people who  are maybe hanging about our streets or who gather at various locations.  

I know there is already much valuable youth work going on in the communities, but resources are tight at the moment and young people have had their own challenges to deal with over this long COVID crises. It is essential to our local strategy that young people’s concerns and needs are integral to our community planning and development. I have existing plans to engage with and involve young people with the development of a new MUGA at Easter Carmuirs Park and I hope to also build upon the Outdoor learning and Conservation work already being supported by TCV. I am aware of the valuable and massively popular youth activities supported by TTRO at the Tamfourhill Community Hub and that is another youth work opportunity I would like to further support and develop. I would also acknowledge the need to provide activities and learning opportunities for the younger age groups and the plan will be to look at ways of further supporting the provisions currently being provided by the Woodcraft Folk and the Junior Youth Club at the Tamfourhill Community Hub. My initial work in this respect has to be to engage with  the local young people, listen to their issues and concerns and support them to develop new local opportunities. This survey will be an important part of that process so please encourage our young people to complete it.

I know that community safety is something that concerns the younger people in the community, and they have to consider their safety Online, often deal with bullying when they are out and about, peer pressure can be extreme and risk taking a worrying concern to youngsters and parents alike. I would ask you to consider this very sobering fact: 16- 24-year olds are the most likely to be victims of violent crime and crimes against their property, they make up  5.8% of all crimes recorded in Scotland. This is the biggest proportion for all the age groups in Scotland. The recorded figures therefore strongly suggest that as a person gets older, they are statistically less likely to become a victim of violent or property crime. The good new however is that crimes like fire raising and vandalism are currently at their lowest since 1976. (victim support Scotland 2018/19)

My aim is that this youth survey and other consultation work  will facilitate new  opportunities for young people to make positive contributions to their local community ,and that they can be supported to take responsibility for developing their own projects, activities and  community facilities.

Young people are not the problem they are a big part of the solution.

.

---

 [JH1]

Tidy, Clean & Green