The Plymstock Dunstone area, and indeed the rest of Plymstock, has a great network of footpaths, lanes and quieter routes linking different parts of the area. However, most people are more familiar with the pavements and pathways we see alongside streets and roads and too often through a car window. With the recent good weather, there have been plenty of opportunities to get out for a good walk.

I have been keen to promote opportunities for people to join a walking group if walking has not been their thing. So, I recently met up with the Plymouth Walking Network Group to learn more about the organised groups they partner with to lead walks around the city for all ages and abilities of people. The chat was good, the scenery, bird song and gentle exercise was fantastic.

One You Plymouth Get Active – One You Plymouth and Plymotion, Plymotion | PLYMOUTH.GOV.UK co-ordinate various well-being walks across Plymouth and the surrounding area, as part of their partnership with organisations such as Ramblers, and with the help of dedicated walk leaders. Walks are for all levels of ability that last for a period of 10 to 60 minutes. With trained and experienced walk leaders, no one will be left behind and there are regular opportunities for breaks when needed.

One group meets at The Eldertree at the top of Plymstock Broadway Carpark at 10:30 on Thursday mornings, and another meets at Wembury on Wednesdays at 10:30, meeting at the car park at the end of Barton Close, Wembury, PL9 0HP. All walks are gentle and flat, and a great way to chat with familiar or new friends, plus often end with an option for tea/coffee and cake!

For a while, several city GP practices have been recommending patients join a led walking group as an alternative or an addition to prescribed medication; ask your GP practice for details.

So, whether you take a short local walk to the shop, post box or to a friend, a walk for up to 60 minutes or a longer one, every walk will help towards good physical and mental health. Go on, step out and step up!

As warmer days are finally here, many of us will have our pet dogs happily playing in our gardens.  As a postal worker and as a councillor, I have personally experienced an attack by a dog.

The house did not have any sign or information to warn me of possible danger when I posted the mail through the letter box and ended up with bites to my fingers – this was not a pleasant experience!

My colleagues across the country face the same problem each and every day. Just last year, over 2000 postal workers suffered injuries, some of them career ending. Did you know that Plymouth is the third  last year.

I am using this opportunity to advise those who need to, to simply put a notice on your doors or garden gates letting postal workers know you have a dog at your property. A number of postal staff live in Plymstock Dunstone, and they will be pleased to hear and read about this issue being addressed in our local paper. I hope you as a reader and pet owner would make a little effort to ensure warning signs are up at your property as it will make a big difference for those who deliver mail or are just visiting.

I am getting increasing reports of speeding throughout Plymstock, which is becoming more prevalent with the lighter evenings.

I am in the throes of helping to set up a Plymstock Community Speed Watch Team and so far, there are seven volunteers including myself. We are all aware of the hotspots for speeding in Plymstock and it would be good to have a Plymstock wide team covering both Dunstone and Radford Wards.

Community Speed Watch is a national initiative where proactive members of the community are trained by the police to record details of speeding vehicles using handheld speed detection equipment. Volunteers are highly visible to passing drivers to encourage motorists to be more speed aware when driving through our residential areas.

You may ask what can be achieved by volunteers recording excessive speeding? It is not just a tick box exercise. Registered keepers of vehicles recorded exceeding the speed limit are contacted by letter explaining the risks and consequences of speeding. There are additional consequences for repeated offenders which may lead to more focused enforcement and criminal prosecutions.

The aims of Speed Watch are:

• reduce death and injury on the roads
• improve the quality of life for local communities
• reduce the speed of vehicles to the speed limit
• increase public awareness of inappropriate speed

Louise Marsack has volunteered to be the co-ordinator for Plymstock Community Speed Watch and has experienced firsthand the devastation of losing her much loved two-year-old cat to an inconsiderate speeding driver. Volunteers will receive training and will be supported by the police.

We know residents are impacted by the behaviour of speeding drivers and noisy motorcycles. If you would like to join Louise in helping to make Plymstock safer for all road users and residents, please contact me and I will pass on your details.

Like Councillor Lawson, I’m also getting increased reports of speeding. That’s why I welcome her efforts to setup a Plymstock Community Speed Watch Team.

I want to echo her call for residents to volunteer to sign up to Speed Watch to help tackle this continuing issue in Plymstock.

Plymstock Radford has some additional issues related to vehicular Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) which I’ve written about previously of drivers not just speeding and racing but also being noisy very late into the night. This is a particular issue in Jennycliff and Mount Batten car park areas. I’ve had countless residents contact me expressing their frustration with these inconsiderate drivers. They keep them awake late at night with their revving engines, deafening exhausts, and loud music.

I know these residents have continued to report it to the Police through 101 and 999, where appropriate. As mentioned previously, if you have any video footage of these incidents, particularly where it identifies the vehicle and driver/rider from CCTV or a Ring doorbell please send it to me and I will pass it onto the local police team. But remember, please don’t put yourself at risk or confront these problem drivers.

Unfortunately, as the weather improves things seem to be getting worse. But I continue to explore options to try and provide the Police and council officers with the tools they need to tackle this issue.

You might have seen there is an ongoing consultation to implement new Public Space Protection Orders (PSPOs) in some of the city’s car parks which if introduced would ban playing loud music, consuming alcohol or loitering in groups. I would like to see PSPOs introduced to cover Jennycliff and Mount Batten car parks also.

I will be meeting with the Cabinet Member for Community Safety and senior council officers to explore the options to tackle ASB in these car parks.

Also, when I was first elected, I called for the speed limit at Jennycliff to be reduced from the National Speed Limit (60mph) to 30mph. This requires a Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) and a consultation which takes time and has costs attached. I want to finance this through Plymouth City Council’s Living Streets Fund.

This is a small pot of funding councillors can use to improve the infrastructure in their ward each financial year. But it requires the unanimous support of all three councillors to be accessed.

I’ve requested an urgent meeting with my fellow ward councillors, Kathy Watkin and Rebecca Smith MP and hope to convince them to agree to my proposal.

I will update you again soon.