It’s possible you’re already involved with a Neighbourhood Watch Group in your street. Or maybe you’ve signed up for MyCommunityAlerts from Humberside Police because you’re interested in knowing what is happening locally. Maybe you’ve spoken to your local Neighbourhood Policing Team or simply chatted with your next door neighbours about issues around your street and you want to do more.
There are plenty of things you can do next and plenty of support that is available which you might not know about. So here’s a long list of things that could help you and your neighbours.
(1) Get in touch. Firstly, the North East Lincolnshire Neighbourhood Watch Network (NELwatch) exists to support all Neighbourhood Watch Groups (NWG’s) across the borough. It is also able to support people and streets who are interested in setting up NWG’s or simply who want to improve their local community safety.
So your very first action should be to make sure that Glyn or Karl know about you, have your up to date contact details and know what you need or are interested in. Support tailored to you can then be progressed. Glyn Atkinson is the Neighbourhood Watch Network Coordinator for the area and Karl Elliott is Development Manager at VANEL and is supporting all of the local Neighbourhood Development initiatives. Contact details are here.
(2) Visit our website. Start visiting the NELwatch website. There are useful pages of information on there and regular news, information and resource updates on the blog that should be of interest. www.nelwatch.org.uk
(3) Follow us on Social Media. And if you’re into social media, we also have Twitter and Facebook accounts although they are new and not very busy at the moment. Twitter is here and Facebook here.
(4) Find out about your local Neighbourhood Policing Team (NPT). They are here to communicate with you and help you to progress or resolve local issues. Maybe you’ve already chatted to them. On our website we have information about each Ward and direct links to the NPT for that ward. The ward level information pages are here and, for example, here are the links to the policing teams for Sidney Sussex and Croft Baker.
(5) Be aware of important phone numbers. Write them down, keep them to hand and share them with your neighbours. As well as 999 and 101 and 111 there are other local numbers which are important. You can get food and welfare support and advice via the NELincs number 01472 313131 and other medical, bereavement, mental health and social care can be discussed via the Single Point of Contact Number (SPOC) 01472 256256. There are other important contact numbers on the NELincs website here.
(6) Hardship grants. If you become aware of people living near you who struggling financially; perhaps not paying bills, eating properly etc, then there are partners across North East Lincolnshire who have access to small, one-off Hardship Grants that can help people out. Refer them via VANEL via paula@vanel.org.uk or 01472 240707.
(7) Scams and doorstep fraud. We’re trying to ensure everyone is aware of the risks of scams and of rogue traders so if you have any concerns you are welcome to talk to us. We have a page of general information about Scams on our website here and we produce a weekly bulletin on our blog here.
(8) Young People. Youth activities are not running ‘as normal’ at the moment, but CYC The Hangout is a local youth group that you may not be aware of. Find out more about that group via www.cycthehangout.org.uk and especially check out their Facebook page for the latest updates.
Do you live in North Cleethorpes?
(9) Connect with Big Local. Visit the website for Big Local North Cleethorpes at www.biglocalnorthcleethorpes.org.uk
This list is just an introduction and currently a work in progress. We’ll add more ways to connect and get involved over the coming weeks.