This meeting was held on Monday May 20th 2024, at St Thomas’s Community Lounge.

President Rhona Carson welcomed meeting attendees, introduced guests Community Police Officers Sergeant Mike Byrne and Constable Ash Sutherland, and thanked Cr Nureddin Abdurahman for coming after a long day of Long Term Plan hearings.

Cr Nureddin advised that the Workingman’s Bowling Club building is likely to be demolished, although he opposes this. It was noted that this was after being abandoned for a number of years.  There will be a Council report on this subject soon, and a WCC Social and Economic Committee meeting on 29^th May to discuss the report and vote on the way forward.

Cr Nureddin asked for views on the Long Term Plan suggestion of charging for parking in suburban centres – including Newtown.

Community Policing
Mike Byrne and Ash Sutherland talked about the role of the Community Policing Team. There are five officers covering most of South and East Wellington, and Ash is assigned to Newtown.

Ash introduced the topic of people being concerned about those sleeping and begging around Newtown. There was discussion of some specific examples of reactions from and concern about these people. Synthetic cannabis use is currently a significant issue in Newtown.  Mike suggested a YouTube video entitled Seattle is Dying.

The Community Policing team are not ‘reactive’.  Calls to 111 or other urgent calls are usually assigned to offer areas of police who deal with front-line, short-term actions. Community Policing takes a wider view of what is going on in the community, working on long-term solutions along with various agencies who can help.
Mike advised that there are two phone numbers to call police on:

• 111 for anything as it is happening.
• 105 for reporting after something has happened.
• Reports can also be lodged online https://www.police.govt.nz/use-105#online-report-options

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Electric Scooters
There was a recent meeting with Ralph Sheppard, Community Relationship Manager for Flamingo Scooters.  The main point is to report problems to the Council using their FixIt app, saying where and when  the scooter is causing a problem, and the brand.  Ralph is confident that Flamingo will get these notifications and take action. They can caution the hirers, and prevent them from hiring if they are persistent offenders. It was noted that Flamingo (the pink scooters) is one of two brands of scooters for hire, the other being Beam. There are also privately owned scooters.

Heritage Week this year will be marked by a number of talks and exhibitions in Newtown.