As many of my constituents will be aware, the election for Gloucestershire’s Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) will be taking place on the 2nd May. Gloucestershire’s current Conservative PCC, Chris Nelson, is seeking a second term in the role along with his Deputy Nick Evans, who is also a local Forest of Dean District Councillor.
Since being elected in 2021, Chris has delivered on all of his manifesto commitments, perhaps one of the most important being the recruitment of 400 extra police officers, Police Community Support Officers and police staff to ensure Gloucestershire Constabulary has the people it needs to focus on the issues that matter to you. He has also worked hard to increase the visibility of the local police force in the north of the constituency by opening a new police station in Newent, working with the Fire and Rescue Service to keep the costs to the taxpayer down. Moving forward, Chris hopes to replicate this approach and reopen station front desks, including at Lydney, so that the police are more accessible to residents.
In the last 2 years, the responsiveness of the police force has also significantly improved with 999 waiting times having been cut in half to an average of seven seconds and 101 waiting times being reduced to two minutes, rather than the previous 30 minutes.
Moreover, under Chris’ leadership, the Forest of Dean has seen a 57% reduction in levels of anti-social behaviour. A key reason for this has been the expansion of the ‘Solace’ team to the Forest of Dean, which is a multi-agency partnership between Gloucestershire Constabulary, the Forest of Dean District Council, the NHS, alcohol and drug support services, the Fire and Rescue Service, housing associations and voluntary organisations to identify repeat offenders and work with communities to find solutions that reduce anti-social behaviour and the devastating impact it can have. If re-elected, Chris plans to expand his focus on anti-social behaviour to include targeting issues like burglary, shoplifting, vehicle crime and drug dealing.
Other examples of Chris’ local successes include several successful raids against drug dealers in the area, thanks to Operation Scorpion, which has been championed by all 5 Conservative PCCs in the South-West. He has also cut rural crime by 29% across Gloucestershire by doubling the size of the rural crime team, making sure that these crimes are targeted with specialist officers.
Chris’ main opponent in this election is the Liberal Democrat Candidate, who previously served as the PCC for Gloucestershire, as an independent, from 2012 - 2021. His poor performance led to Gloucestershire Constabulary falling into special measures in 2021, and thanks to Chris’ hard work this was reversed last September. There’s still more to do, but Chris has already made such significant progress and he has my full support for his re-election this May.
This column was first published in The Forester newspaper.