News in detail 2006 - Police Authority Areas

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Current situation

Since the founding of the Kent Constabulary in 1857, Hartley and Ash have been policed from North Kent - either Dartford or Gravesend.  In the long term the North Kent division want to move to Ebbsfleet, which is about 5 miles from Hartley, but the future of the stations at Dartford, Swanley, Meopham and Gravesend is unclear.  On a local scale Hartley is covered by the PCs and Community Support Officers in Longfield and New Ash Green.  Hartley also has a Community Warden with much more limited powers.

The Proposals

The Kent Police authority want to reduce the current 9 divisions to 6, and to avoid having police divisions crossing borough boundaries if possible, which they say a future government bill may make more difficult.  This creates a problem for the very large Sevenoaks District, where the southern half is policed from Tonbridge, while Hartley and the northern half looks to Gravesend.

There has been no public consultation at all, but the Police Authority has written this letter to all district councillors and parish councils:

I am writing to invite you to a meeting to discuss where the northern part of Sevenoaks District Council should fit within Kent Police's area structure.  The Force is reducing its Area structure from 9 to 6 areas over the next 18 months to reduce administrative overheads, strengthen the management of each area and meet a government requirement for police areas to be coterminous with district council boundaries. Put simply we are seeking how best to tackle what has been called 'policing stretch' - the requirement for a modern police force to be able to deal with localised neighbourhood concerns, low level crime, anti-social behaviour and quality of life issues, on the one hand, whilst simultaneously having the capability to address the significant risks associated with major, serious and organised crime and counter-terrorism.

The boundary changes are due to take effect from the 1st April 2006. There is a final decision to be taken over the future North Kent - West Kent Area boundary, where there have been ad hoc discussions with a numbers of stakeholders but we have not been able to arrive at a final conclusion. Whilst Sevenoaks town and the larger part of the Sevenoaks District are currently policed by the West Kent Area , Swanley and a number of parishes in the northern part of the District are policed by the North Kent area. These are Ash, Crockenhill, Eynsford, Farningham, Fawkham, Hartley, Horton Kirby and South Darenth, and West Kingsdown.

There appears to be a general consensus that the two most recent Area Commanders, Jerry Price and Martin Hewitt, invested considerable time and effort to ensure that any difficulties regarding boundaries in this area were minimised. However, we do need to review if this is the best structural solution and to take note of the recently published Police and Justice bill. This will require police area boundaries to be coterminous with district council boundaries unless the Home Secretary agrees otherwise. He will only consider such a request if there has been public consultation on the proposals.

Two key themes from consultation so far are:

  • The primary concern is to ensure the best policing and community safety outcomes for the communities in Sevenoaks District.
  • Effective personal and professional relationships are every bit as important as structures and boundaries for improved partnership working

The options for the northern part of Sevenoaks District on which we would like your views are:

  • Sevenoaks District as a whole to be policed by an enlarged West Kent Area along with Tonbridge and Malling and Tunbridge Wells Boroughs;
  • The present arrangement to continue with the northern part of Sevenoaks

District policed by the North Kent Area and the other part by the West Kent Area - a non-coterminous structure which would, after the Police and Justice Bill is enacted have to be submitted to the Secretary of State for approval;. Thirdly the Force have looked at the option of Sevenoaks District as a whole being policed by an enlarged North Kent Area along with Dartford and Gravesham Boroughs.

Sevenoaks Council have decided to support the West Kent option for Hartley, which means that we will be at the extreme north of an area which extends down to Tunbridge Wells.  In return they have said they will open Swanley police station a bit longer than at present, and will allow Tonbridge officers to take people into custody in Gravesend.

Note that the police authority want to implement this very soon, so if you have any views you will need to write as soon as possible.