Residents on the estate have voted overwhelmingly in favour of becoming a Neighbourhood Watch.

The scheme has already been established and approved by the Community Safety Officer at Chiltern District Council, working with Thames Valley Police. Twelve residents have volunteered to act as deputies representing individual roads, and all have been confirmed after a police check.

The estate also voted in favour of roads becoming designated “No Doorstep Selling Zones”, in the interests of reducing crime and restricting unsolicited doorstep sales calls.

The survey was conducted in early summer 2012, following the Annual General Meeting, which discussed crime prevention in some detail.

Overall, 83% of households in Chalfont Heights voted for Neighbourhood Watch (NHW), and 82% were in favour of No Doorstep Selling Zones (NDSZ). 163 households took part – a “turnout” of more than 83%.

Roads voted as follows:
Chiltern Hill                               80% for both NHW and NDSZ (29 properties)
Winkers Close                          100% for both NHW and NDSZ (5 properties)
Upway                                          90% for both NHW and NDSZ (9 properties)
Winkers Lane                              77% for both NHW and NDSZ (10 properties)
Ellis Avenue                               100% for both NHW and NDSZ (19 properties)
Halfacre Hill                              100% for both NHW and NDSZ (5 properties)
Lewis Lane/St Peter’s Close    81% for NHW (17 properties) and 76% for NDSZ. 1 vote against NDSZ
Sandy Rise                                  86% for both NHW and NDSZ (24 properties)
Lincoln Road & Spur                82% for both NHW and NDSZ (23 properties). 1 vote against both NHW and NDSZ
Woodside Hill                            70% for NHW (21 properties) and 67% for NDSZ. 1 vote against NDSZ

The Neighbourhood Watch scheme co-ordinator is George Eykyn, who already serves on the Chalfont Heights Roads Committee. Volunteer deputies helping look after individual roads are: Karen Sleight (Chiltern Hill); John Williams (Upway, Winkers Close); Jo Hughes (Winkers Lane); Nigel McAlister (Ellis Avenue, Halfacre Hill); Steve Malins (Lewis Lane, St Peter’s Close); Jim Ballantyne (Sandy Rise); Gretta Cole and Masooma Gourd (Lincoln Road); Naren Patel, David Grieve and Sean McC (Woodside Hill).

Over the coming months a small number of street signs will be erected to show that the estate operates a Neighbourhood Watch scheme and that “No Doorstep Selling” applies. Police and Neighbourhood Watch messages will be relayed to residents who opted to receive them.

The Chairman of the Roads Committee, Steve Allright, said: “I welcome this move following our discussions on crime prevention at the AGM. Residents have made their support for these initiatives very clear, and we are grateful to the volunteers involved for making it happen. Neighbours watching out for each other absolutely fits with the character of this estate. Becoming a Neighbourhood Watch costs us nothing, and is clearly a sensible step.”