HMS Soberton.

The photos above were taken by me on Thursday afternoon. They show the currently empty and unused retail unit at 68 Pier Road - one of the units underneath Parkspring Court. The unit had been temporarily opened in order for Bexley Council to showcase some of the development ideas that they have for Erith. A couple of consultancy companies have been employed by the council to come up with ways to improve the local area for residents, and the event was to enable local people to give their opinions on the ways in which things could be enhanced to the benefit of all. Some things that I learned from the event; whilst the Erith Fun Day is not being run this year, the Erith Pier Festival is happening. The first Pier Festival last autumn was expected to attract around 400 - 500 visitors, but in the event, over four thousand people attended throughout the day. The huge success of this means that the festival will become an annual event. Full details of the Pier Festival for this year are yet to be released, but I have it on good authority that many of the attractions from last year will be making an appearance, along with some new surprises. More news as it happens. The showcase event also welcomed feedback and the thoughts of local residents on ways to improve Erith Riverside Gardens - which are absolutely not being considered for building on, in case anyone has any doubt on the matter. Suggestions to improve the gardens included better lighting at night, upgrading the currently scruffy flower beds that face the river, public toilets, and the return of Erith Fun Day to The Riverside Gardens next year, as many people felt that the use of the huge field behind Erith Leisure Centre was too large, sparse and impersonal, as well as being difficult for wheelchair and baby buggy access, and too far from public transport links. The Riverside Gardens were felt to be a much more suitable venue for the festival, even though this would mean closing Erith High Street to traffic for the day. Secondly suggestions were sought for the planned improvements to the area in front of Erith Pier, which may include more pedestrian friendly features, plant beds, some new trees and also a play area for small children. Some other good news was announced - Erith Kitchen will be returning later this year. This was a success last year, when a number of pop - up food stalls, seating and live music was held outside of Parkspring Court. The new event will feature an increased number of stalls, and a wider variety of live music. Suggestions were also solicited for the use of the large retail space that makes up 68 Pier Road - the actual venue for the consultation event - which you can see in the photos above - click on any one for a larger view, which has lain empty since it was constructed. One possible use suggested by the Council was to create a community kitchen / cafe space. I, along with several others objected to this, on the grounds that the council has already invested heavily in The Bookstore Cafe in the old Carnegie Library in Walnut Tree Road, and another cafe would merely replicate and dilute this. The first rule of business is "Never compete with yourself"; Bexley Council could do well to take this rule on board. If you did not get a chance to attend the consultation event, you can find out more, and also leave your own thoughts and feedback on the Greater Erith website here. 

Now for the third and concluding part of the essay into the woes of the local rail services by former rail worker and now landlord of The Kentish Belle micro pub in Bexleyheath, Nick Hair. Nick writes:- "What of the ‘sorry state of the railway’? Well, as if it isn’t enough that Crossrail is now finally expected to open in May 2021 (yes, that bad…), and therefore what is left to pick up the pieces on the railway lines that have had houses built on them ready for its arrival is a network in a shape as bad as South Eastern is with unreliable infrastructure, ageing trains, often unstaffed stations and the like. The methodology behind Crossrail was not only creating ‘new journey opportunities’ (political waffle for getting from A to B direct rather than via Z, or getting from X to Y in a quicker way and such) but also was supposed to take vast numbers of passengers from Dartford, Slade Green, Erith and Belvedere off of one train (a South Eastern train) and plant them onto a Crossrail one on flash new tracks with quick journey times such that people in Charlton and Greenwich got onto a train that was now not totally ram-packed but comfortably full as the total capacity was evenly spread. Not having this means that all the new flats and houses being built in Erith and Belvedere will spend about 2 years on existing trains and stretched infrastructure instead of getting off at Abbey Wood onto lovely new trains. Realistically, it’s a mess. This lack of foresight and lack of central planning has led to failures of electrification on the Great Western Main Line and ‘Oop North’ in the Bolton area; and has also contributed to other cock-ups such as the Lewes re-signalling deferral. We don’t have an accountable leadership: this must change. The new franchise is supposed to deliver ‘new trains’ to help in the mammoth shortfall in capacity. As we understand it, 36 of the 5-car ‘Cattle Truck’ Class 376 trains will go soon and be replaced by 30 5-car ‘Desiro’ trains from South Western (second hand). This might seem good if you happen to travel on one at a relatively quiet time when you’ve got a seat and can enjoy the air-conditioning; but as part of the bigger picture it means a total loss of six 5-car trains. That doesn’t sound like a lot on the grand scheme of things but if you’re on a train at Lewisham in the morning and it’s nose-to-armpit, you’ll surely wish more trains were available, right? And to know that your ‘new’ train was traded for a slightly older train and in a deal that meant you got less for your increasing fares… You deserve to be angry! Personally (and this is not the view of the Lewisham & Bexleyheath Community Rail Partnership), I am not a keen advocate of nationalisation. The reason is the very man that has the power over these decisions: Chris Grayling. Under a privatised railway he (or any Secretary of State) can ask for certain minimums to be met and the private company with staff who are TUPE’d with knowledge far greater than that of Government departments can work out a way to meet the challenges. Under a nationalised railway, people like Chris Grayling can literally demand things to the second or to the number of carriages without realistically understanding what the implications of their often-political decision-making is. An arms-length approach with a body such as the old Strategic Rail Authority (albeit led by people with genuine knowledge and trading off excessive cost against efficiency and passenger convenience) is the way forward; whereby the Government can set some bare minimums, allowing the new ‘regulator’ to ‘flesh them out’ in such a way that is sensible in conjunction with Network Rail as the people who own the tracks before finally ‘renting out’ the slots to private companies. In any event, my hope is that those of you who read this in full can at least question the status quo and challenge it. This franchise delay is a rare opportunity to force a whole new thinking in Government and we want Bexleyheath line passengers to drive that change".

Many thanks to the readers who got back to me last week following my request for information regarding the Royal Navy ship which was moored off the Erith Riverside Gardens on the River Thames for several years during the nineties. The ship was HMS Soberton, a Ton Class minesweeper which was home to the Woolwich Sea Cadets whilst moored in the River Thames off Erith between 1992 and 1997. Prior to this, HMS Soberton was on active duty between 1958 and 1992. Although the ship was designated as a minesweeper, it spent its entire career as a fishery protection vessel. The upper photo shows HMS Soberton under weigh off the coast of Holland, and the lower photo shows the ship in the Pool of London during her last visit prior to being paid off. HMS Soberton was at the time the longest serving active ship in the Royal Navy, having been in commission for 35 years. The lower photo shows the first and last captains of the ship; to the left is Admiral Sir Jock Slater KCB LVO, and to the right is Lieutenant Commander Justin Wood RN. After the ship was taken off the active navy list, she served as the home to Woolwich Sea Cadets until 1997. In 1998 she was taken to the Bakkerzonen ship breakers in Bruges, where she was then scrapped. You can read more about the history of HMS Soberton by clicking here. 

I don't normally comment on stories that have made the national news, as they are usually of limited interest to a website that concentrates on local news and issues; this week I am making an exception, as the issue involved eventually will affect many local people. You may have seen the controversy over the giant Chinese electronics company Huawei, and the allegations that their 5G mobile telephony infrastructure equipment will allow the Chinese secret service / government to hack into Western data networks and the like. The truth is somewhat at variance with this, and I will attempt to explain why and how, and to identify much of the hype and downright misinformation that surrounds the new technology. Before that, it is important to explain exactly what 5G is, as thus far this has been far from apparent. 5G networks are digital cellular networks, in which the service area covered by providers is divided into a mosaic of small geographical areas called cells. Analogue signals representing sounds and images are digitised in the phone, converted by an analogue to digital converter and transmitted as a stream of bits. All the 5G wireless devices in a cell communicate by radio waves with a local antenna array and low power automated transceiver (transmitter and receiver) in the cell, over frequency channels assigned by the transceiver from a common pool of frequencies, which are reused in geographically separated cells. The local antennas are connected with the telephone network and the Internet by a high bandwidth optical fibre or wireless backhaul connection. Like existing mobile phones, when a user crosses from one cell to another, their mobile device is automatically "handed off" seamlessly to the antenna in the new cell. Millimetre waves have shorter range than microwaves, therefore the cells are limited to smaller size; The waves also have trouble passing through building walls, requiring multiple antennas to cover a cell. Millimetre wave antennas are smaller than the large antennas used in previous cellular networks, only a few inches (several cm) long. Another technique used for increasing the data rate is massive MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output). Each cell will have multiple antennas communicating with the wireless device, received by multiple antennas in the device, thus multiple bitstreams of data will be transmitted simultaneously, in parallel. In a technique called beam forming the base station computer will continuously calculate the best route for radio waves to reach each wireless device, and will organise multiple antennas to work together as phased arrays to create beams of millimetre waves to reach the device. The new 5G wireless devices also have 4G LTE capability, as the new networks use 4G for initially establishing the connection with the cell, as well as in locations where 5G access is not available. 5G can support up to a million devices per square kilometre, while 4G supports only 4000 devices per square kilometre. The first issue that has been generating headlines in the press of late is that "China is using the technology to spy on Western nations". No, it is not. 5G is upcoming technology, and China – because it is resurgent – is making a big push for it. Its engineers are world-class and its companies can produce equivalent or better quality products than Western gear at lower prices. One country in particular hates this – the United States. In conjunction with the Trump Administration's knee-jerk protectionist anti-Beijing sentiment, the US government (with the joyful encouragement of the US telecom industry) is insisting that Chinese 5G products are a security threat and no one should buy them or use them. Just this week the conclusion by the UK's National Security Council (NSC) that Huawei did not represent a major security risk – and that its telecoms equipment can be used in all but Britain's core networks – has led to severe political fallout. The press have also been saying that there is a "Race to 5G". There is no race to 5G. It is instead a clever marketing slogan dreamed up by American telecoms companies who surprised themselves at how effective it was. Every person in the US Congress that has ever spoken about 5G has mentioned this fabled "race" and often used it to explain why something has to be rushed through, or normal practices have to be skirted. I admit it sounds exciting – like the Space Race but with mobile phones. But it is untrue: how can there be a race when any country or company will, soon enough, be able to buy the equipment needed at any time and install it wherever and whenever they want? There are only 5 companies in the world offering 5G radio hardware and 5G systems for carriers: Huawei, ZTE, Nokia, Samsung, and Ericsson. It is an open market and 5G is an evolving standard. The mobile communications environment is continually improving, but whilst mobile device companies compete with each other when it comes to end user devices, the infrastructure that the devices use has to be built to a common standard, so that each proprietary device will "play nicely" with others from alternative suppliers. It is all about global and national standardisation. Journalists and industry pundits have been saying recently that "5G is ready to go now". It's not. In fact, even the most advanced 5G installations – in South Korea – have been accused of over-hyping themselves. US telecom giant Verizon's 5G launch in Chicago this month? No one could find it. The fact is that the 5G standard is not even finished. A first part of it is there and companies are wildly rushing toward it but there still isn't a single functional public 5G network anywhere in the world right now. The telecom companies are excited about getting even a single handset working at present. One thing that also annoys me is the way in which 5G is being slated as the answer to so many fast data problems. It absolutely, definitively is not. Despite constant claims that 5G is the internet of the future – including by people who should know better, such as commissioners on America's comms watchdog, the FCC – the fact is 5G, while wonderful, is not in any way a replacement for wired connections. 5G signals cannot magically travel vast distances. In fact, they can only go relatively short distances and struggle to penetrate into buildings and through walls – which is why one big battle is about how to install tens of millions of new micro-base-stations to make sure people can get a reliable signal. The 5G network will rely 100 per cent on fast, wired connections for backhaul. Without those lines (hopefully fibre), it is basically useless because the one big plus to 5G is speed. Also, you are unlikely to get 5G unless you are in a big city. Even then, there will be dead spots when you go around a corner or close to a railway bridge. Some UK mobile phone companies are already promoting handsets which they claim are "5G ready" - take this with a major pinch of salt; the network to support 5G handsets is quite a long way from becoming a reality, anything that indicates otherwise is essentially snake oil. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or alternatively Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Now for the weekly safety and security updates from Bexley Borough Neighbourhood Watch Association; firstly a report from Barnehurst ward:- "Yet another good week for Barnehurst with no burglaries to report. This week there has been one incident of vehicle crime. Between 09.30pm on Wednesday 17/04/2019 to midday on Thursday 18/04/2019 in Eversley Cross number plates were stolen from a Ford KA. The team have provided the victim with anti-theft number plate screws to prevent this from happening again. We have continued to visit residents of Beverley Road with the aim to get full coverage of smart water. We have just a handful of residents to catch up with now. The team have been carrying out patrols in and around Hampton House, Erith Road and other roads in the vicinity. These patrols led to two males being stopped and searched for drugs, one of which was found in possession of cannabis, this investigation is ongoing. The team will continue to patrol these areas following ongoing concerns from local residents. Our next community contact session is on Thursday May 09th at 11.00am. Please pop in and meet the team". Belvedere ward:- "The team have been given information in relation to a group of males that attend the woodland area at the entrance of The View in order to have a barbecue and several alcoholic beverages. The group then leave behind a lot of litter/ bottles and food packaging; due to this we have contacted Bexley Council to request that measures are put in place/ considered as this is a concern of residents due to a possible fire hazard. It is apparent that drug use has been taking place at the location also, and the team are making efforts to patrol this area on a regular basis. This was an issue last summer and appears to be starting again now that the weather has improved. There have been three recent garage burglaries in differing areas of the ward. Between Monday 15th and Tuesday 16th April in a block of garages in Osborne Road power tools were stolen from a garage after the padlock had been cut – garage door was closed when suspects left the area. Between Friday 5th and Friday 19th April at a garage block adjacent to Heathdene Drive a black Yamaha motorcycle was stolen from a garage – two padlocks were cut and the garage door was closed by suspect(s) when the left the area. Between Monday 22nd and Tuesday 23rd April at a block of garages to the rear of Camden Court (on Woolwich Road) another Yamaha motorcycle was stolen from a garage where padlocks had been cut. On this occasion, suspect(s) pushed the victim's car out of the garage in order to remove the bike. If anyone can offer information in relation to any of these incidents, please contact the team". Bexleyheath ward:- "Below is our update with some of the things that we have been up to. There has been one report of a burglary along Belvedere Road Bexleyheath on the 18/04/2019 – The rear gate was lifted off its hinges and the rear door of the property was forced open to gain entry, items taken and suspects were seen running away. A vehicle was reported stolen overnight on the 21/04/2019 along Brindley Close Bexleyheath Also between 21/04/2019 and 23/04/2019 – A theft from motor vehicle was reported. Copper was stolen from tube racks on the vehicle. A theft of purse was reported on the 17/04/2019 which had happened in New Look along the Broadway The team are aware of motor bikes riding around Bursted Woods. Traffic Officers have been out on bikes to help tackle the issue and if you do have any further information, we would be most grateful if it was passed on to us. A burnt out bike was found and removed. The council have cleaned up and painted the cinema car park to make the area clean from graffiti, car parks are patrolled by the team daily. The team regularly patrol the Broadway to help reduce any anti-social behaviour issues that may arise. If you do wish to pass on information to Police then please contact Crime Stoppers on 0800 555111 Please do not hesitate to contact us via Twitter, Facebook, email and the ward phone. If you are after crime prevention advice, please look at the Met Police website which has lots of information that you may find useful. Remember in an emergency please dial 999 and 101 for non-urgent reporting". Crayford ward:- "Unfortunately, we have had a burglary on Crayford ward in the last week. It occurred on Thursday 18th April between 11.00-14.20 at the top end of Halcot Avenue by Gravel Hill. A safe containing British and foreign currency, passports, jewellery and sentimental items was stolen, Entry was via a smashed rear door and the burglars left via the front door. They sprayed kitchen cabinets and the bedroom with cleaning liquids. Another week where several theft from motor vehicles have occurred. Victims have often been quite adamant that their vehicles have been locked, please try the handles of your vehicle as you leave it, just to be sure. Also, consider keeping your vehicle keys in a car key signal blocker case (otherwise described as a RFID or Faraday bag) as a means of prevention. Between 19.00 on Tuesday 16th April and 13.00 on Wednesday 17th April a work bag containing personal documents was taken from a Lexus 450 whilst parked in Shearwood Crescent, the vehicle was believed to be locked and there were no signs of forced entry. Between 23.00 on Sunday 21st April and 05.00 on Monday 22nd April a Chevrolet was entered whilst parked in Stephen Road, sunglasses and DVD players were taken. Both sets of keys were in the house and the victim is sure the vehicle was locked. Between 18.00 on Wednesday 17th April and 5.55 on Thursday 18th April the side door on a silver Vivaro parked on a driveway in Ridge Way was discovered to be open, stolen from within were power tools, impact driver and drill, large hammer drill and router. At 13.40 on Wednesday 17th April there was a theft from motor vehicle in Crayford Way. The victim was returning to her work premises when a white Audi collided with the rear bumper of her vehicle, partial number plate FL18. The victim got out of her vehicle to exchange details but didn't realise that a passenger had got out of the Audi and taken her bag containing her mobile phone, cash and vehicle key from the passenger seat of her vehicle. The white Audi then drove off. Number plates were stolen from a locked underground car park at Tanners Close between Tuesday 16th and Thursday 18th April, number plate NS02 LLS should be on a black Skoda Fabia VRS. Very nearby at Marshalls Court, Perry Street, number plates were stolen on Monday 15th April, F1 SDJ should be on a Grey Mini Cooper. A catalytic convertor was stolen from a Honda Jazz whilst parked in Sainsburys car park on Friday 19th April between 13.30 and 21.30. On Friday 19th April at 14.15 a Disabled Badge was stolen from a blue Ford whilst parked in the underground car park at Ufton Court, Tanners Close. The car alarm went off, the driver's door was damaged and the glass was smashed. A fence panel was broken in the rear garden of Crayford Way backing on to the pathway by the river Cray between 16.20-16.25 on Thursday 18th April. There was a deliberate fire to a fence and shed in the rear garden of a property in Maiden Lane on Sunday 21st April at 21.55, London Fire Brigade attended to extinguish the fire. On Wednesday 17th April at 11.45 an iPhone XR (a yellow handset in a maroon/red case with a white love heart on) was stolen from behind the counter of a business in Crayford Road. This was a distraction incident, the suspect is described as 40-45 years old, tall, dark hair and beard and a foreign accent. We will be visiting homes in Old Road on Saturday 4th May to deliver Met Trace during the afternoon, if you live in Old Road, don't worry if you are not at home, we will leave contact details and arrange to come back to you at another mutually agreeable time. Our next community contact session after that will be held at Vintage Lindy Lou's on Wednesday 8th May between 10.00-11.00. Please come along if there is anything you would like to speak with us about". Erith ward:- "Most of us were off for Easter so this update will be shorter than normal. When you get home, put your keys away from open windows, away from your front door, try not to leave them on show and remember #ThinkPrevention if you own it, someone else wants it! Crimes of note for the week - Making off Monday 15/04/2019 Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc, James Watt Way; Burg Res Tuesday 09/04/2019 St Francis Road - Unknown suspect gaining entry into the victims property and stealing the listed items; Theft of Motor Vehicle Friday 19/04/2019 11:00:00 James Watt Way; Burglary Residential Thursday 18/04/2019, Rutland Gate - Damage to door no items taken; Theft of Motor Vehicle Friday 19/04/2019 Sandcliff Road". Northumberland Heath ward:- "On Thursday evening April 18th, officers from the team arrested an adult male for questioning regarding a number of residential burglaries. One suspected attempted burglary this week in Shinglewell Road. A male was in the garden of the property in the early hours of Monday 15th April. The male was wearing a black hooded top and jeans He ran off after being disturbed by the occupants of the property. An attempted burglary took place in Ightham Road on Wednesday April 17th at approximately 4am. Luckily, the residents had a chain on the door which prevented the suspect from entering. The victim was concerned as a family member had his vehicle recently broken in to and tools were stolen. Unfortunately, we have had a spate of motor vehicle crimes reported to us. A windscreen of a vehicle was smashed behind the shops in Londonderry Parade overnight between Easter Sunday 10pm and Bank Holiday Monday at 11.30pm.Two reports of criminal damage to two separate vehicles parked in Swanton Road. The first incident took place overnight on Bank holiday Monday, a white Peugeot was damaged by a brick which smashed the windscreen and rear window. The second incident in Swanton Road occurred at 12.25pm on Tuesday April 23rd. The incident was almost the same as the first, the front and rear windows were smashed, the wiper blades were also broken. One report of criminal damage to a silver van in Hengist Road between Tuesday April 23rd at 6pm and Wednesday April 24th at 06.30am. One theft of a white Ford Transit van from outside the victim's home address in Bedonwell Road, once again this took place overnight on Tuesday April 23rd at 4pm to Wednesday 24th April at 06.45am. On Thursday April 18th we held our quarterly Ward Panel Meeting at St. Paul's Church in Mill Road. We had a slightly lower attendance than usual, this was probably due to the start of the long Easter Break. The panel have decided to focus our ward promises on Walsingham Walk/Streamway due to reports of drug using/ dealing, anti-social behaviour/drugs in the Northumberland Heat Recreation Ground and Becton Place".

Slade Green and Northend ward:- "On Thursday evening April 18th, officers from the team arrested an adult male for questioning regarding a number of residential burglaries. One suspected attempted burglary this week in Shinglewell Road. A male was in the garden of the property in the early hours of Monday 15th April. The male was wearing a black hooded top and jeans He ran off after being disturbed by the occupants of the property. An attempted burglary took place in Ightham Road on Wednesday April 17th at approximately 4am. Luckily, the residents had a chain on the door which prevented the suspect from entering. The victim was concerned as a family member had his vehicle recently broken in to and tools were stolen. Unfortunately, we have had a spate of motor vehicle crimes reported to us. A windscreen of a vehicle was smashed behind the shops in Londonderry Parade overnight between Easter Sunday 10pm and Bank Holiday Monday at 11.30pm.Two reports of criminal damage to two separate vehicles parked in Swanton Road. The first incident took place overnight on Bank holiday Monday, a white Peugeot was damaged by a brick which smashed the windscreen and rear window. The second incident in Swanton Road occurred at 12.25pm on Tuesday April 23rd. The incident was almost the same as the first, the front and rear windows were smashed, the wiper blades were also broken. One report of criminal damage to a silver van in Hengist Road between Tuesday April 23rd at 6pm and Wednesday April 24th at 06.30am. One theft of a white Ford Transit van from outside the victim's home address in Bedonwell Road, once again this took place overnight on Tuesday April 23rd at 4pm to Wednesday 24th April at 06.45am. On Thursday April 18th we held our quarterly Ward Panel Meeting at St. Paul's Church in Mill Road. We had a slightly lower attendance than usual, this was probably due to the start of the long Easter Break. The panel have decided to focus our ward promises on Walsingham Walk / Streamway due to reports of drug using/ dealing, anti-social behaviour/drugs in the Northumberland Heat Recreation Ground and Becton Place". Thamesmead East ward:- "Motor vehicle crimes - Between the hours 10:00pm of Monday 22/04/19 and 08:20 of Tuesday 23/04/19 the front and rear number plates were stolen from a vehicle parked in Fairway Drive. Another vehicle also parked in Fairway Drive also had the front and rear number plates stolen ,along with an item of jewellery which was in the boot of the vehicle .T his happened between the hours of 08:00pm of Monday 22/04/19 and 12:30pm of Tuesday 23/04/19. Damage to property - On Saturday 20/04/19 a stone was thrown through a window of a property in Overton Road. Good news - On Friday 19/04/19, the team were involved in a joint operation with our colleagues Thamesmead Moorings SNT, Enforcement Officers and the Environmental team from the Royal Borough of Greenwich, resulting in 18 vehicles being removed and 40 parking tickets issued for illegal parking. Whilst on patrol in Wolvercote Road PC Pruden administered first aid to a head injury to a missing person. The male was taken to hospital as a precaution. Abandoned vehicles can be reported on the Bexley Borough Council website and on the Fix My Street app. The Thamesmead East team now have a mobile phone and can be contacted on 020 8721 2049. Do leave a name, contact number and we will contact you when next on duty". West Heath ward:- "Burglary - Between Monday 15th April at 1700 hours and Tuesday 16th April at 0710 a garage in Osborne Road was broken into. The padlock was damaged and power tools stolen; Theft of motor vehicle - On the 18th April – 0700 hours in Colyton Road a vehicle was stolen from the driveway; Between 0200 – 0500 hours on the 19th April a vehicle was stolen from outside the address in Brampton Road. Theft from motor vehicle - On Friday 19th April between 0200 – 0500 hours a vehicle in Lessnes Avenue was broken into and a spare vehicle key was taken. The team continue to patrol the hot spot areas on the ward in full uniform and plain clothes. We have stopped and searched several people for cannabis, these have resulted in a negative search".

The end video this week is directly related to a local crime. It is some CCTV footage of a blatant theft of a cast iron drain cover by a couple of local criminals. The video was shot in Brook Street, Upper Belvedere; if anyone has any information about the criminal act, then please let me know and I will pass the information onto the local Police. You can contact me in confidence by Emailing me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.