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Name: Phil Coope
Position: Geographic Inspector for Morecambe, Lancashire Constabulary

Phil Coope is the new Inspector for Morecambe police taking over from Inspector Jill Townley, who has moved to a new post at Police Headquarters, from the start of January 2006. Phil has responsibility for policing resources covering Morecambe Heysham and Carnforth and is looking forward to the challenges that the area presents and to involve residents and partner agencies by working together to tackle quality of life issues.

Insp Phil Coope said: “It is an exciting an interesting time to be involved in the policing of Morecambe and I am keen to build on the tremendous work that has been done by my predecessor across a whole range of issues that impact on the daily lives of residents, in particular I am looking forward to working with those involved in Poulton Neighbourhood Management and The West End Partnership”.

Inspector Coope has previously worked as a Sergeant in Morecambe and Lancaster and more recently as the Geographic Inspector in Fleetwood and Lancaster.

Phil said: “Perhaps the most significant thing I have learned through my experience as a Geographic Inspector is the importance of working in partnership with residents and other agencies to achieve real change for the better. I intend to use my experience and the resources at my disposal to identify and tackle the problems that concern people most as well as providing a quality response to the demands of emergency and non- emergency calls”.

Poulton Home Zone Wins National Award

Poulton Home Zone has been honoured as the ‘Urban Traffic Scheme of the Year 2005’ at the Highways Magazine Excellence Awards.

The award recognises the scheme’s innovative and visionary design and operation that has significantly enhanced road safety.

The Poulton Home Zone scheme was co-ordinated by Lancaster City Council’s Engineering Services department, / Lancashire Highways Partnership, and Poulton Neighbourhood Management and built by contractors Cumbrian Industrials Limited.

The contractors, Cumbrian Industrials Limited were presented with the award in a ceremony in London attended by James May from the BBC Top Gear television programme.

Mike Thompson, of Cumbrian Industrials Limited, said: “We are very proud to receive this award and we are proud of the work we have completed in Poulton.

“The Poulton area has received national recognition and this scheme has been identified as ‘Industry Best Practice’ within the construction world.”
“We are grateful for the contributions the residents have made to the success of this scheme and the recognition it has received. Praise must also be given to Lancaster City Council whose new approach to procurement and working enabled this scheme to be a great success. We would also like to thank Poulton Neighbourhood Management, Lancashire Highways Partnership and Capita Symonds for their assistance in achieving the award.”

The Home Zone has enhanced the area and improved traffic safety for residents. The concept of the Home Zone scheme was to ‘give the streets back to the residents’ by creating improved traffic safety and to allow children to play safely in the street.

By restoring the balance between traffic and people living in a street the Home Zone aimed to bring down vehicle speeds, reduce crime and bring communities together to make the streets safer, cleaner, more sociable and better places to live.

Care and consideration was taken to use sympathetic materials that have a traditional resonance in this part of Morecambe and wherever possible items were recycled from the original streetscape.

The judges commented that the Poulton Home Zone demonstrated good resident involvement and they were impressed with the attention to detail. They felt that the resulting street scene was well presented and the environment well considered.

The completed Home Zone has made a major contribution to the regeneration of the town and complements a number of other initiatives that are improving Morecambe.