Parish council hires community warden after KCC scheme cuts

Headcorn Parish Council feared the loss of a street-level presence would increase after losing their community warden. So, they've hired one.

Transcript

00:00 New boots on the ground, but the wearer, no stranger to Headcorn.

00:06 Till last week he was a Kent County Council Community Warden,

00:10 Stewart's employer now Headcorn Parish Council.

00:14 KCC is cutting back on their community warden service, saving them £1 million.

00:20 The County Council says a new model will be introduced with room to be scaled up.

00:26 There is a reduction in money coming in to councils and to agencies and everybody else.

00:33 So if an area wants to be more resilient and look after its own people, then I think it's a fantastic thing.

00:41 A parish council employing a community warden is thought to be the first in Kent.

00:46 And Headcorn Parish Council claim the cost to the taxpayer will be less than a first class stamp per year.

00:54 There's been an incident in the village. OK, I'll get our community ward liaison officer to go and have a look at it.

00:59 Thank you very much. Bye.

01:01 We felt that if that position was lost, a lot of people in the village,

01:05 the most vulnerable people in the village would very quickly know about it.

01:10 Their problems would increase. It would make it so that we were then responsible for these people.

01:14 But without all the links and knowledge that Stewart has, he was able to help them.

01:20 He'll be helping vulnerable people in the community. But Headcorn also has a shoplifting problem.

01:26 I hope it would encourage shopkeepers to come and talk to me if that is the case.

01:31 And then we can then pass those concerns on to Kent Police and Maystone Borough.

01:36 The parish council believes at least two shops have been lost on a high street due to ongoing theft in the past few years.

01:43 They say a community liaison officer can only go so far in encouraging owners to report crimes if the police aren't seen regularly.

01:51 The truth is there's nothing we can do about the police. We can't employ a policeman.

01:57 I know we have police. You can see them all the time driving through the village.

02:02 They're not stopping. Now, I know that we do have two resident police people and that's marvellous news.

02:11 But they need to be more visible.

02:13 Kent Police has promised to increase its presence in the future.

02:17 And that will be welcome news as communities see a reduction in wardens.

02:22 But it's thought other parishes might follow suit in hiring their own community liaison officer.

02:29 Gavor Morris in Headcorn.