Sandyford and Goldenhill

Halloween

Halloween is approaching soon at the end of the month. A few safety tips :-

Don’t open the door if you don’t want trick or treaters.

If you witness Anti Social Behaviour report on our website, via Live Chat or call 101.

Dial 999 in an emergency or if a crime is in progress.

For more information and advice follow our social media channels or visit our website.

WWW.STAFFORDSHIRE.POLICE.UK

Campaign Launched to Guide Social Media Use & Combat Violent Content

Staffordshire Police are launching a campaign to help people use social media safely in the wake of widespread disinformation, misinformation and violent content online.

Officers, staff and specialist teams across the UK are working hard to identify people who are fascinated by violence following the tragic events in Southport last year where three young girls were killed.

We are increasingly living our lives online and the internet helps us to stay in touch with friends, shop, play games and keep up to date with the latest news – but it can also be a place to read false information and view content that can fuel acts of extreme violence and terror.

That’s why we’re launching our campaign to help give people the right tools to stay safe online, challenge disinformation and spot the signs that someone might be fascinated with violence.

On social media, everyone has a voice. It can be a good thing for generating discussion, seeing different viewpoints and having a diverse outlook on certain topics, but it can also be a place filled with false information designed to make people think or feel a certain way. This information, particularly paired with uncensored content depicting extreme violence, has the potential to influence people’s way of thinking and their motives exponentially – which poses big risks to everyone.

Earlier this month the police secured a prison term against a man in Staffordshire who was found printing 3D guns and ammunition in his home. The court heard how he had spent lots of time alone on social media and had become fascinated by the Nazis and Adolf Hitler.

Police are determined to raise awareness on the issue and ensure they can do everything possible to equip people with the tools needed to spot this type of disinformation or misinformation online, and to help everyone spot if someone could be influenced by harmful content.

Keep yourself, your family and your friends safe online by taking a look at tips to spot misinformation and how to protect children from seeing harmful content: Let’s guide, not guard our online spaces | Staffordshire Police

Volunteers Invited to Scrutinise Police Custody

Could you volunteer to check on the wellbeing of people held in Police custody?

Independent Custody Visitors (ICVs) are volunteers appointed by the Staffordshire Commissioner’s Office to check on the wellbeing of people held in Police custody, making regular, unannounced visits to the two custody suites in Stoke-on-Trent and Stafford throughout the year.

We’re looking for volunteers to carry out custody visits to Staffordshire Police’s Northern Area Custody Facility to check on the conditions in which a detainee is kept, their health and wellbeing and their legal rights and entitlements. Once the visit is completed, volunteers will raise any concerns with the Custody Officer to ensure custody rules are being observed.

Volunteers conduct approximately 6-8 visits a year and attend additional quarterly review meetings. They follow a code of conduct and are given full training.

For more information about the Independent Custody Visitor role and how to apply, visit: Independent Custody Visitors – Staffordshire Commissioner

Speedwatch Volunteer Training Tomorrow, Sandyford Fire Station

Residents who are concerned about a possible 400 houses being built along Hollywall Lane and up to 1,000 proposed for nearby Packmoor, as well as further new homes earmarked for Harriseahead should consider joining the speedwatch group.

At present the speedwatch team on their last session witnessed 1,148 vehicles passing through the High Street in a one hour period. It is estimated that if all the developments are passed, then Sandyford at its A50/A527 junction could have an additional 2,500 vehicles passing through.

When attending the Local Plan drop-in session at Goldenhill Community Centre, it was advised to submit these figures if/when the Hollywall Lane application goes ahead. The traffic figures could stop the development, but if it goes ahead then the infrastructure could be made to facilitate any such land building.

If residents want to have their presence felt to try and make sure Sandyford gets the best out of any deal that may go ahead, then please attend tomorrows police speedwatch training session at 10.00 a.m. Saturday 18th October, Sandyford Fire Station.

Please Note! You can volunteer as little as one hour a month or even one hour every two months when attending a roadside speedwatch session with other volunteers, so please come along to tomorrows event, its free to attend, and usually lasts a couple of hours.

Community Speedwatch Volunteers Urgently Wanted

Community Speedwatch Volunteers are urgently wanted in the Sandyford & Goldenhill area. There are lots of complaints about the possibility of an additional 400 properties being built on Sandyford’s Hollywall Lane, along with a petition already started by local residents.

Sandyford & Goldenhill Residents Association is aware that traffic chaos is a main objection to why these properties should NOT be built, especially when it is further proposed that 800 plus houses could be built in nearby Packmoor as well as those ear marked for Harriseahead.

With Sandyford and Packmoor combined you are looking at a possible addition of 2,400 vehicles emerging into Sandyford itself.

The reason for wanting volunteers to join the speedwatch team, which is supported by the police is to officially evidence the amount of vehicles in our area now, and at times can exceed 1,000 vehicles in a one hour time slot.

The residents association has been advised that any traffic evidence gained would support reasons not to build properties as is suggested or if planning permission is agreed, then a better road infrastructure would be needed. So a petition might be one way to stop future house building, but rock solid evidence to prove the road network can’t cope with any more vehicles must certainly warrant you as local residents to join the speedwatch group for as much or little time as you can spare and help in a positive way.

TO JOIN THE SPEEDWATCH TEAM PLEASE CONTACT TOM SIMPSON ON ANY OF THE SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS

Local Plan Feedback Forms, (Proposals for up to 400 Sandyford Homes)

Local Plan Feedback Forms are at Sandyford’s One Stop Shop, Goldenhill Community Centre & Goldenhill Medical Centre, which include proposals to build up to 400 homes at Sandyford’s Hollywall Lane.

The feedback forms must be completed and returned to Goldenhill Medical Centre at the latest by 10.00 a.m. on Monday 20^th October.

Residents who do not have access to the internet have made a request to have feedback forms where they can respond in writing, which is what the residents association and councillor have arranged, so please take advantage of this opportunity.

Port Vale Say Sandyford & Goldenhill Residents Association is the Best

A community group has been praised by a football club boss for its fighting spirit. Port Vale FC co-owner Carol Shanahan and chief executive Matt Hancock paid a visit to Sandyford and Goldenhill Residents’ Association’s latest meeting where they spoke about the club’s community work.

The club is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year. And Carol is one of the notable Stoke-on-Trent figures to be featured in the 100 Years 100 Faces artwork unveiled on Marsh Street, Hanley, to mark the city’s centenary.

She has described Sandyford and Goldenhill Residents’ Association (SAGE) as the “biggest and best residents’ association in Stoke-on-Trent”.

She added: “You fight for what you want and fight for what you need. We came six years ago when (husband Kevin Shanahan) and I bought Port Vale. It was a bonkers thing to do but do I regret? Not in the slightest – I love it.

“We have been promoted and relegated, but what I am really proud of is the work our team has done in the community. We delivered 175,000 meals during lockdown and we phoned people and stood in gardens to have a cup of tea and chat.

“Yes, the football is important and we have got to get that right, but what we have also got to get right is the community work. One of the reasons Stoke-on-Trent is such an amazing city is the social connections you have grown over the years.”

The club’s community actions include setting up Golden Valiants sessions for over 55s to meet up and socialise. The group proved so successful in bringing people together they began visiting one another at home, the meeting heard.

Matt said: “There are so many of you, your family and friends, whose lives have been centred around the football club. Since 2019 we have almost doubled the attendance. A big drive is the impact we make on people’s lives, not just on Saturdays but Monday to Sunday when we are delivering stuff out in the community. We have parent and toddler groups and the community lounge, offering advice and support.”

He added that the club couldn’t take their eyes off football however, and it remained a priority. “We have a huge women and girls’ team now, which goes from strength to strength”, he said.

“We also have disabled teams and walking football teams. So many people proudly wear the Port Vale crest.”

Police Report That Crime is Falling

Crime has fallen by 10 per cent and at least 90 people have been arrested as part of our #problemsolvingpolicing patrols across Staffordshire.

Officers have been carrying out extra shifts across 19 different locations as part of our strategy to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour affecting local people and businesses.

Since 6 May this year, we’ve put our resources and effort into making sure we tackle the main concerns of local communities, including anti-social behaviour, serious violence and knife crime. Using extensive local crime data in a problem-solving approach, we’ve carefully designed patrol plans for officers to carry out increased visibility and engagement in the areas most affected by crime in Staffordshire.

Here’s the results just under five months later for the areas we’ve targeted:

A ten per cent decrease in overall crime

Knife crime reduction of 26 per cent

A four per cent reduction in serious violence

More than 90 arrests made by officers on targeted patrols

At least 160 stop searches carried out3,900 different engagements recorded with local people

2,700 separate retail engagements recorded

1,400 recorded engagements with licences premises

47 drug seizures

65 vehicle seizures

(Data from 1 May 2025 to 29 September 2025 when compared to the same period last year)

Sandyford’s Proposed 400 New Homes, (is it a Done Deal) NO!

At yesterday’s drop-in session at Goldenhill Community Centre 09.10.25, which was organised by Councillor Kanneganti and Sandyford & Goldenhill Residents Association that outlined how Stoke-on-Trent will grow and develop between 2020 and 2040 sustainably. It set out the scale and location of future development and providing long-term policies to support housing, employment, green spaces, and essential services for residents and businesses.

Concerns residents have in regards to the proposed building of up to 400 houses on Sandyford’s Hollywall Lane, and numerous comments of it being a done deal, which it is not. Even if the development is passed by council planning, then there are things that can be done before it happens as in the main concern of highway traffic.

Sandyford and Goldenhill Residents Association operate a speedwatch group which is run through Staffordshire Police, and the main topic picked up at the drop-in session was to build evidence of the amount of traffic using Sandyford’s highways. This is where we need you as local residents to join the speedwatch team because we have been advised to build up as much evidence as we can, which will be a central point to if the development goes ahead, and how the infrastructure will facilitate this or not.

So if anyone would like to be positive and support your residents speedwatch group, then please make contact through our social media pages.

Disappointing Meeting Turn Out for Proposed Housing in Sandyford

The city council held a drop-in session yesterday 09.10.25 at Goldenhill Community Centre between 4.00 p.m. & 7.00 p.m. to discuss the local plan, which involves land where up to 400 new homes are proposed for Sandyford’s Hollywall Lane.

Unfortunately, after many disgruntled residents opposing the development on our social media pages, and repeatedly reminded of the event that only 33 residents attended, which when officers from the City Council Planning Department were present they were surprised at the low turnout, along with Sandyford & Goldenhill Residents Association and Councillor Kanneganti.

Residents will say they never received a leaflet drop to remind those not on social media, but the council nor the developer are required to do this, although the Sentinel reported the meeting, the council put posters up in the area, and you have a dedicated residents group and councillor who take to social media to remind as many residents as they could to attend the meeting.

It is a pity the turnout was low because some interesting facts were given about the plan, and how to give constructive comments regards the local plan moving forward.