Improving our lot

Quality of life is a recurring subject in this column, whether it is health and safety issues, or anti-social behaviour in its many forms. Last week I dealt specifically with neighbourhood disturbances such as noise from barking dogs, rowdy parties in the early hours and the use of construction or DIY equipment on Sundays and public holidays.

I commented that it should not need the police to enforce regulations, which refer to neighbourhood disturbances, and that people should regulate themselves.

Now as you and I know, we are an unruly lot and it is going to take some doing to make people aware of what we can do to ensure a better quality of life within our communities.

Looking for solutions, I came across a Website: www.defra.gov.uk/environment/noise/mapping/index.htm, which deals with precisely these problems in the UK.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) in the UK not only gives information on traffic noise (hence the mapping in the site address), but a whole other list of issues related to noise - neighbourhood noise, neighbourhood noise strategy, ambient noise and among other things research and the Noise Act, which included: "The Noise Act 1996, as amended by the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003, enables local authorities to take advantage of the powers to issue Fixed Penalty Notices for night-noise."

The UK Environment Minister, Larry Whitty, is quoted as saying: "Noise is a universal problem which has affected most of us at some time in our lives. It can have a serious impact on our quality of life, which is why tackling noise is a priority for the government."

The DEFRA Website also has information on barking dogs including guidance to dog owners and what you can do if you are bothered by noise.

So how about it, Mr Pullicino (Environment) and Dr Borg (Home Affairs)? Can our government Website include information on noise legislation and how the public can deal with noise problems?

Also, following my articles expressing concern at our quality of life and health and safety issues, John Hunter the chairman of the Nailsea Local Action Team in North Somerset, England, wrote to me saying he shared my concern since "my son, daughter-in-law and grand-daughters are Malta residents and exposed from time to time to safety and quality of life issues, which I consider unacceptable at home (that is not to say they don't ever occur in England)".

He was kind enough to send me some important pointers, which the local authorities concerned might like to take on board. Besides Health and Safety, Mr Hunter also raised another related issue in which, as the director of Victim Support Malta (VSM), I have a vested interest.

The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 in the UK has provided a framework for radical new people-empowerment and multi-agency responsibility in the fight against crime, particularly anti-social behaviour.

"Out of this Act, Local Action Teams (LATs) were formed. The authors of the Act considered that local people are best placed to understand and deal with local problems - and they are."

"We're fortunate in England in that communities now have the capability, if they choose, to engage directly in improving wider community safety and quality of life."

Now although noise is a serious problem and people who have to suffer constant noise from neighbours are being victimised, crime victims have a more serious problem.

I am sure that we can organise something similar to the UK model here, and by preventing crime the community will benefit.

VSM has already signed a referral protocol with the police whereby victims' details, if they consent, are passed on to VSM (presently only with the CID). But this is reactive rather than pro-active.

We shall be better off if more community links are established to help prevent crime, rather than dealing with the aftermath.

In my experience, quite a number of victims are reluctant to seek help. This happens partly because they are traumatised, therefore unfocused and vulnerable and partly because since victim support is relatively new to Malta, people are unaware or unsure of how the NGO can help them.

VSM works with a paid co-ordinator, Romina Baldwin, a psychology graduate, and 33 volunteers.

The volunteers are the people who, together with the co-ordinator's help, are in constant contact with the victims. The selected volunteers are both male and female, come from all walks of life and from different age groups and are trained to better meet the needs of the individual victims.

But VSM wants to widen its network of referrals to the judiciary (forming part of restorative justice), the Chamber of Advocates, hospitals, local councils, and church parish centres, in fact anywhere where communities gather, or go to for assistance. This is on VSM's agenda for this year.

This kind of liaison should contribute to engendering a community incentive geared towards improving anti-social and criminal behaviour in our neighbourhoods.

It would be a good idea to take up, if not the LATs idea as operated in the UK, a similar concept geared to our needs.

In the county of North Somerset in southwest England, LATs operate within the Community Safety Partnership, the lead agency of which is the police. The 32 LATs have access to all agencies within the District Council.

Mr Hunter advertised in his town for volunteers with a desire to change old cultures and practices. "We got immediate support from the county LAT co-ordinator, the most senior local police officer and the town council management, which gave us enough funds for administration costs."

He also listed some of their initiatives and successes, which included: tackling underage drinking and alcohol abuse and reducing pavement parking - applying police warning notices to vehicles in a campaign to reclaim pavements for pedestrians and improve access for disabled people in wheelchairs.

What he suggested as ingredients to success are a number of action-focused members who don't tire easily, partnerships with local organisations, observation and recognition of risk and a great deal of patience.

"Change doesn't usually come easily or quickly. Starting with just one issue of major local concern and achieving success encouraged and motivated members for the next. We went into streets and homes so that residents could tell us how they felt about local safety issues, especially disabled people."

LATs also contribute to developments in local and district policing policy, with regular information exchange meetings with police and town council to identify new concerns.

Mr Hunter also said that local politics sometimes act as a barrier and getting finance for change will always be an issue, "but we persevere".

Sounds familiar! Anyone wanting to know more about VSM can log on to www.victimsupport malta.org or call 2122-8333.

Lightening the load

One important thing to remember when dealing with problems in life is that one should always look to lighten the mental load with entertainment.

Since I am always knocking television programmes, because of their endless repeats and diminishing quality, I have to give credit where it is due.

One of the most entertaining and cultural programmes being aired right now must be So You Think You Can Dance on Living TV. I have never seen so much concentrated talent in the space of an hour ever before. The competitors, all of them young, come from every possible area of dance from Street (hip-hop and funk) to contemporary ballet.

The challenge is that they have to pick a genre of dance from a hat and then perform as a duet (the dancers are paired up beforehand).

So for example, hip-hop dancers would have to perform a tango or a contemporary piece.

Professionals, some of whom also sit on a rotating panel of judges, create the choreography for them. Besides the judges, American TV viewers also get the chance to judge whom they rate as the best dancers. After they (about six couples) all perform, three couples with the lowest votes have to battle it out by performing a solo dance and then the two competitors who have impressed the least will have to leave.

The latest phase in the competition, as it heats up towards the final, is that the pairs are split up and the individual dancers have to pick out of the hat a partner as well as the genre of dance they have to perform.

During the last programme I watched, last Sunday, the standard was so high that it was heartbreaking to see incredibly talented dancers, like the Russian hunk, Dimitri, being eliminated. I would have loved to see him paired up with Heidi.

Americans have been the pioneers of promoting 'new' dance forms since at least the Twenties, when Black Americans were creating dance to jazz music and later hip-hop, and Martha Graham founded the oldest and most celebrated modern dance company in the world in 1926.

Then there was Merce Cunningham, who was a soloist with the Martha Graham Company from 1939 to 1945, and the highly innovative Alvin Nikolai and later Trisha Brown to mention a few more celebrated American creators of exciting dance performances and disciplines.

When it comes to dance, prosit America and Living TV for its promotion.

phansen@timesofmalta.com