Top award for police tackling reservoir issues
OFFICERS HAD TO DEAL WITH ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOUR AND BAD PARKING AT TOURIST SITE
DEALING with a nightmare barrage of bad parking and antisocial behaviour at a tourist attraction in South Derbyshire has helped a Swadlincote police team scoop a top award. The Swadlincote police safer neighbourhood team has been named the police team of the year at Derbyshire police’s Celebrating Achievements Awards.
Swadlincote police’s Inspector Mike Sisman said it was a fantastic achievement for the team, adding he believes that its work around Foremark Reservoir, near Repton, helped scoop the award. During the summers there have been a raft of issues as people flocked to the popular tourist spot. They included people parking badly on roads around the venue.
He told the Burton Mail: “It is a fantastic achievement for the SNT team and all the staff. I want to reiterate that SNT can only work on what we get from our partners, the council and members of the public, for example. We cannot do our jobs without the public helping us and ask us questions.”
For several years there have been dozens reports of antisocial behaviour at the site near Repton. The first issues centred around cars parking on the grass verge of the narrow road outside the site during hot weather. The overflow car park was full and due to the popularity of the site, families were arriving in their droves.
This road has a speed limit of 60mph and has solid white lines in the centre – meaning crossing the white line is usually an offence and parking is also illegal. As a result the police were forced to close the surrounding roads at one point and issue tickets to problem parkers.
There have also been countless problems with visitors trying to swim in the reservoir which, police warned, is a health hazard due to its blue-green algae “broth”. There are also strong and dangerous under currents.
Severn Trent, which previously ran the site before it was handed to the National Trust, was eventually forced to erect fencing blocking of the sandy beach along the reservoir shores to keep people out of the water.
Foremark is a hugely popular tourist spot, visited by thousands of people each year, who enjoy sitting and walking along around the picturesque water, which has large grass areas people can use for picnics.
Swadlincote police SNT received its award from Derbyshire Police and Crime Commissioner Angelique Foster and Chief Constable Rachel Swann. Swadlincote police safer neighbour
Sergeant Tarj Nizzer said: “On behalf of everyone at South Derbyshire I want to thank the PCC and Chief Constable for acknowledging the hard work done by South Derbyshire SNT and our partner agencies.
“The team have also had endless support throughout the year by [such agencies as] CID, traffic, scenes of crimes officers, and the rural crime team, support staff, volunteers and officers who have left SNT to progress their careers.”