On Tuesday 28th November, Neighbourhood staff from The Community Housing Group took part in a local PACT meeting with a difference, hosted by West Mercia Police. 

Tim Green, Neighbourhood Officer and Paul O’Sullivan, Neighbourhood Warden attended the Partners And Communities Together (PACT) meeting at Lickhill Community Centre in Stourport, which discusses concerns and issues of local residents. 

In a bid to reach a wider audience, the meeting was live streamed on the Stourport Neighbourhood Watch Facebook page – a first for West Mercia Police. 

Eighty local residents watched the meeting, via Facebook, from the comfort of their own home, posting issues and questions on the live feed, which were read out to and discussed by the Panel. Along with the forty residents who attended in person, the meeting was hailed as a great success, and the best supported PACT meeting this area of Worcestershire has ever known. 

Sergeant Alastair Catherwood, Wyre Forest Safer Neighbourhood Team, said: “I know that for years PACT meetings were a really successful way for communities and local partners to get things done. Public numbers dwindled though, to the extent that many meetings were stopped. We want to help reinvigorate PACT meetings and really hope that by live streaming, people will be inquisitive, login and join in”.