In the Mayor absence, this month meeting was chaired by the Depu Mayor Paul tson. Police Report This month's Police report was given by PC Brian Teagle. He bought with him a list of the crimes committed in the last two months and here's a brief summ of the more notable ones. Most unusually for Olney, there was one incident of racially aggravated Actual Bodily Harm and another ofarson. The latter was of a car that had been dumped in the lay-by on Weston Road and, around 2 days later, set on re late in the evening. The car had been legally scrapped by its previous owner so, presumably, someone had 'rescued' it from a scrap yard then dumped it. As there was no obvious financial gain to be made, the reason behind the events remained a mystery. There was a burgl ofsome petty cash from one ofthe units on the Industrial Estate. This was a repeat incident, having happened only a month be re. The Police have organised an Industrial Watch meeting for next month, working to reduce this type of crime. Finally in the 'crime rundown', someone in Olney had attracted the attention of the Police for cultivating plants of a type outside the wide range available from any of the local garden centres. Richard Medd asked ifthe new Community Support O icers (CSOs) were making a di erence. PC Teagle confirmed that they had and that the opinion in the town is that they are doing a very good job. This was echoed by Paul Watson, noting that they are providing a good deal of weekend cover. PC Teagle explained that the CSOs are devoted to Olney for the entire time they're on duty, which is actually in 1 0 hour shi s. Finally, Paul noted that he would expect recorded crime to increase somewhat in the light of the improved policing - due to the increased public expectation that the Police will follow up on reports om the public. Standing Orders Currently, Standing Order 35 requires that, wherever possible, three quotations will be obtained r any order for goods or services costing between £1,000 and £25,000. It was proposed that the lower limit be doubled to £2,000 on the basis that businesses were becoming aware that the Council's requests for quotes in a certain price range (i.e. between £1,000 and £2,000) were unlikely to lead to firm orders. This was accepted. Following on from last month's Council meeting, Standing Order 30 was debated. This Order allows members of the public to speak at the start of meetings, although Councillors cannot formally reply to any questions. The Council decided to allow a maximum of 3 minutes' speaking time per person with a 15 minute total limit for all speakers. The Order was agreed with the proviso that separate rules, yet to be decided, would be applied to planning meetings. So, if you have an issue you'd like to tell the Council about, why not attend one of the meetings and do it? Mercury Report For The Town Meeting D.M. YORK UPHOLSTERY COURSES e most popular upholstery classes in the coun • SMALL CLASSES • ALL TOOLS PROVIDED • HIGHLY EXPERIENCED TUTOR • NUMEROUS VENUES INCLUDING: TELEPHONE TODAY ON NEWPORT PAGNELL BRAFIELD-ON-THE-GREEN SHARNBROOK IRCHESTER • Evenings 5.45-7.45 or 8-1 0 • Saturdays l 0-4pm • Sundays l 0-4pm • Wednesdays l 0-4pm E-mail: dmyork@vodafone.net PAGE 24 O OX 04 • Se icing I Repai all makes and models • Air Conditioning Se icing • MO s Unde aken • res & Exhausts r cars & motorbikes 01234 • 24hr B akdown Recove • or lliams aile serviced and supplied FREE COLLECTION AND DELIVERY 60 75 FOR BOOKINGS OR DETAILS Call: 07799 472595