Police scrutiny group could hit the road to engage with Warwickshire public

Councillors have supported an idea to take the Warwickshire police and crime panel on tour with meetings in the county's five districts and boroughs rather than being rooted in Warwick's Shire Hall.

The suggestion was made at the panel's latest meeting and while future meetings will be held in person as soon as possible, there could be an opportunity for members of the public to have their say virtually.

The panel, which reviews and scrutinises the decisions and actions of the county's police and crime commissioner, is chaired by Cllr David Reilly, the North Warwickshire Borough Council's representative.

He told the meeting: "It strikes me as we need to think about how we hold meetings across the whole of the county as opposed to consistently holding them in Shire Hall.

"We are a public body and we do have a public engagement section in the meeting and it feels to me that if we want to look at an agenda which moves the panel meetings around the five districts in a circular fashion then it should be something we look at doing in the hope that we make ourselves publicly accessible.

"You can't get a train from North Warwickshire to Warwick or Stratford and you certainly can't get a bus so we are actually excluding ourselves from public engagement."

The idea was supported by Cllr Derek Poole, from Rugby Borough Council, who added: "We used to do it a couple of years ago, going from district to district to hold the meetings where the public had access."

Cllr Ian Davison, from Warwick District Council, said that while he would support the move, he thought there was still a place for new technology.

He explained: "I am pretty in favour of online stuff and in Warwick district we have actually had more public engagement online – people find it easier. Maybe we could think how we could include that."

And Stratford District Council's Cllr Chris Kettle added: "The marvellous thing about being online is that it is hugely saving in terms of time and resource. Every member of the public has the ability to join a meeting online at the touch of a button."

Cllr Reilly concluded that a combined approach could be looked at once lockdown restrictions allow.

He said: "It's a question about what we can do to generate interest when the police and crime panel circus arrives at a district. If nothing else, see if we can get some of the local members and chairs of the parishes involved in the discussions."

The next meeting is planned for June.