Page 18 - Issue 84 Online

constituent Member of Parliament A number of questions were raised by
Steve Barclay. Having heard of the the audience and he and his colleagues
issues he requested that, as the local said they will respond to them all.
Fenland District Councillor, I set up an Also, and most importantly, the Chief
urgent open meeting so that the police Constable gave his assurance that
could hear firsthand the worries and Manea and surrounding area will, for
concerns from our community. a number of weeks and months, see
a much higher profile of policing to try
This I did with the great help of Manea and stop anything like this happening
British Legion for 4:00pm on the again in the future.
Monday, some 48 hours after the event.
Following the meeting Cllr Bonos and
In attendance was Steve Barclay myself have taken part in one of the
MP, Nick Dean Cambridgeshire Chief many tours of the local area by the
Constable, Darryl Preston Cambs Police police with Sergeant Chris Arnold.
& Crimes Commissioner, Cllr Ben Bonos These are being carried out in the area
and members of Manea Parish Council by Cambs Police to try and rebuild
in addition to a number of Fenland confidence in the local community.
District councillors.
Although this incident has received
Amazingly, and most importantly, over national publicity, both via the press
300 people from the local community and social media, I do feel we need to
attended, which showed the be mindful that Manea is not "the Wild
importance of this matter to everyone. West" just a rural Fenland village and a
It was a great cross section of local great place to live for all. Hopefully we
villagers, farmers and business owners will not see similar events again in or
all of whom wished to show their around our lovely village.
concern and, in some cases, also vent
their anger regarding the lack of police Cllr Charlie Marks
response on the day.
The Chief Constable begam by
immediately apologising to the
audience and admitting that the
police response was not only
lacking but also inexcusable.
However, he did also say that
decisions of manpower are at
times made on local/national
intelligence, which they had
not received regarding what
had unfolded on the previous
Saturday.

Police Vehicles

PAGE 18 www.maneamatters.com