The leader of Braintree District Council has written to the leader of Essex County Council regarding his plan for a private security firm to patrol Braintree town centre.
Dear Peter,
RE: Visit to Wethersfield asylum accommodation centre, 'Operation Vanguard'
I am writing to you following your visit to the Wethersfield asylum accommodation centre on 21 August and your intention to fund a private security firm to patrol Braintree.
I would like to make it clear from the outset that our position remains that we want Wethersfield to close at the earliest opportunity.
The UK's largest asylum accommodation centre has been imposed on our district in a very rural location with limited infrastructure, at the behest of central government, which bypassed our powers as the Local Planning Authority.
We have been firm in our objections since we first learned of the Home Office's plans for the former airfield in March 2023 and spent more than a year challenging them through the courts.
While the site remains in operation, we continue to take action to ensure our communities feel safe and welcome any further opportunities to support that objective.
We always welcome investment in our district and initiatives designed to promote a safer Braintree.
Braintree is a safe place to work, live and play, and we, alongside our partner agencies, take our responsibility for maintaining that safety incredibly seriously.
However, from the limited information available about Operation Vanguard, we have a number of concerns that we would like addressing urgently.
Divisive comments about Braintree and inaccurate statements
Before I detail those concerns, I would like to raise some outstanding issues.
Originally, representatives from both Braintree District Council and Essex County Council were due to visit on 16 June prior to the meeting being cancelled.
In my letter to you last month I stated our commitment to rescheduling a joint tour of the site. Unfortunately, no response was received.
I am also awaiting clarification regarding comments you made about Braintree town centre being a 'no-go zone' on Thursdays and my request for BDC officers and members to join a task and finish group that you have proposed for Wethersfield.
Now, following your visit to Wethersfield, I would also welcome an explanation as to why your deputy Cllr Russell Quirk has chosen to use social media to repeat claims about Braintree District Council that are not supported by the facts.
In April 2024, with full knowledge of your council, we used funds from a Home Office grant for a pilot discretionary activity scheme after identifying an acute need on site.
Simply put, there was nothing to do for the hundreds of men housed in a remote part of rural Essex and we realised immediately that this could add to the pressure on other local services and communities.
Despite our consistent opposition to the site and being halfway through legal proceedings to try to get the site closed down, we chose to intervene in the interests of all members of our community.
This urgent stopgap lasted a matter of months while we directed the Home Office to provide their own arrangements, which have now been in place for more than two years.
The grant that paid for this is primarily used for the provision of statutory services provided by Braintree District Council as well as Essex County Council; the grant continues to fund your council's statutory safeguarding obligations on site.
Any non-statutory spend must be ratified by the Home Office, as was the case in this instance.
Operation Vanguard
Since establishing and chairing the Wethersfield Multi Agency Forum (MAF) in Spring 2023 and more recently as co-chairs with Essex County Council, we have made every effort to ensure our organisations have worked in close collaboration.
I was therefore surprised to learn about a proposal with such significant implications for Braintree, Chelmsford and Colchester just before the start of the Bank Holiday weekend.
Having reviewed the publicity for the scheme, and your letter outlining your intentions, I have several questions about this proposal:
Evidence base
The evidence currently available does not appear to support the scale of the proposed response, as your own report states.
While there have been crimes committed by individuals residing at the site and whilst one crime is clearly one too many, there are numerous other crime categories in Braintree and across Essex that have experienced greater increases and are not attracting additional funding or dedicated resources.
Historically, Braintree has often experienced a disparity between the perception of crime and actual crime levels (for all crimes). In fact, Braintree town centre is experiencing less crime than three years ago.
The introduction of a private security company conducting additional patrols risks reinforcing that perception rather than responding to an evidenced problem.
Equally, if you do intend to push forward with this proposal, we would like to understand what indicators you will use to determine its success.
In the three years since the site became operational, we have supported several evidence-led initiatives that experts in their respective fields identified as having the greatest potential to promote a safer town centre. Here are a few:
Operation Guardian – Our Community Safety Team worked closely with the Office of the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner (PFCC) and Essex Police to tackle antisocial behaviour and serious violence through hotspot policing.
Operation Dial – Dedicated patrols, community engagement and outreach initiatives funded by the PFCC had a significant impact on reducing antisocial behaviour.
Operation Minerva – Braintree District Community Safety Partnership launched a women's safety campaign following a grant from the PFCC to tackle hotspots of violence against women and girls.
Safer Streets Braintree – PFCC funding for Braintree, designed to improve people's perception of safety, is currently being delivered. The programme aims to reduce antisocial behaviour, neighbourhood crime, and violence against women and girls. The project includes a new Street Warden for Braintree District Council, new town centre CCTV, educational workshops in schools, detached youth work, a community safety day, and the expansion of Neighbourhood Watch coverage.
Operation Henderson – The Community Safety Partnership has supported Essex's child exploitation awareness campaign by working with partners to raise awareness of child criminal and sexual exploitation among residents, businesses, and professionals in Braintree.
Operation Make Safe – The Community Safety Partnership has also supported a multi-agency safeguarding initiative aimed at increasing awareness of child exploitation within the business community.
Town Centre PSPO – Recently updated following public consultation, the PSPO now includes additional powers to address antisocial drinking and prevent people from sleeping in public places within the town centre in a manner that has a detrimental impact on the quality of life of others.
Braintree Behave or Be Banned (BOBB) Pubwatch group – This partnership between Essex Police, pubs and other licensed premises in Braintree helps make the nighttime economy a safer place. We have put funding towards a communications system to enable members to send information on incidents and potential trouble.
As the above demonstrates, alongside the day-to-day work undertaken by our Street Scene and Community Safety teams, we are continually working to promote a safer town centre for everyone.
Working with Essex Police
I have been informed by the District Commander that Essex Police do not wish officers to undertake joint patrols with the successful security provider.
The concern is that this could inadvertently provide legitimacy and validation to the initiative.
The Police position will remain business as usual through their visible patrols (jointly with Braintree District Council), engagement activity, and support for local communities.
We will likewise continue to work through established partnership arrangements alongside all statutory Community Safety partners.
Impartiality
It is a cornerstone of our democracy that the police uphold the law without fear of favour.
Throughout the site's duration, we have worked closely with Essex Police to support them in this task as we, with other partners, work to promote community cohesion in a sensitive situation that has been imposed on the county.
To then introduce a private security firm on the streets of Essex with the specific task of protecting one section of society risks undermining these efforts.
Your own Equalities Comprehensive Impact Assessment report on this proposal highlights the risk to racial discrimination.
Please confirm whether those undertaking reassurance patrols would be equally prepared to identify and report the behaviour of some of the so-called "auditors", who document and engage with migrants to produce online content.
The Police have advised us in Braintree that the conduct of certain individuals within this group has become increasingly concerning in recent weeks, to the extent that enforcement options are now being considered.
Across the county, there have been crimes against service users based at Wethersfield by members of the public, but you fail to mention this.
Any initiative must be collaboratively planned, demonstrably balanced and focused on behaviour, regardless of who is responsible.
Tasking contractors with no more powers than members of the public to patrol the streets targeting a particular demographic simply serves to stoke division and heighten concerns, rather than allay them.
Co-operation
I note it is proposed to fund a £150,000 three-month pilot in Braintree, Chelmsford and Colchester through the Community Innovation and Improvement Fund.
Before anything further is done, we would expect genuine consultation with the relevant agencies to avoid creating unnecessary alarm across the communities we serve.
Elected representatives in Colchester and Chelmsford have also publicly questioned the need for this measure.
Here in Braintree, since the inception of the site we have worked closely with the dedicated officers for Wethersfield and our local district neighbourhood policing team to constantly monitor the situation.
We also continue to robustly challenge the Home Office and hold it to account for the operation of the site and its impact on our communities.
Following the appalling sexual assaults by an asylum seeker in Epping in July last year, there was a significant increase in tensions across the country towards asylum seekers. Braintree was not spared from this and both the town and the site started to attract protests.
While perceptions of crime and safety were not reflected in reported crime levels, we chose to act and we allocated funds from the Home Office to finance high visibility reassurance patrols by Essex Police and our Street Scene operatives.
These patrols have helped to increase community cohesion and have had the added impact of generally boosting policing resources across the town centre.
That's not to say Braintree town centre, like anywhere else, doesn't have its problems and we are continuing to bounce back from the pandemic.
Retailers have told me directly that they are concerned about that the impact of the perception of the town, and we as the District Council are working with them to reassure and look at initiatives to further increase footfall and boost trade.
These are the issues that I thought we would be able to work together on, following our meeting earlier in the summer.
Sadly, that has proven not to be the case.
It is therefore deeply unhelpful to residents, businesses and community organisations when public statements risk undermining confidence in Braintree without clear evidential support.
If you are serious about supporting our community, I would ask that you work collaboratively with us rather than adopt a confrontational approach.
Yours sincerely,
Cllr Tom Cunningham
Leader of Braintree District Council