The Leader of Braintree District Council, Cllr Tom Cunningham, has responded to Essex County Council's claims that Operation Vanguard has been vindicated.
Dear Peter,
RE: Outstanding Wethersfield Asylum Centre issues
Thank you for your response outlining your views on Operation Vanguard, on which we will have to agree to disagree.
However, there are still outstanding issues from my previous correspondence that I would like addressing:
Operation Vanguard – evidence base
It is our strong belief that reports and consultation are critical to establishing the evidence base on which policy is determined. You have stated you would not "hide behind statistics".
Given that this policy also appears to have been implemented without prior consultation with local authorities, Essex Police or the Home Office, can I ask once again: what is the evidence base for Operation Vanguard?
Divisive comments about Braintree and inaccurate statements
It is disappointing that, having now asked you twice to address your comment that Braintree is a 'no-go zone' on Thursdays, I have twice received no response.
I will now ask for the second time for an explanation why your deputy, Cllr Russell Quirk, made claims about Braintree District Council's use of the Home Office grant on the Wethersfield site that are not supported by the facts.
Task and Finish Working Group on Wethersfield
I welcomed this initiative, announced on 3 July, which would look at reducing transport journeys from the site, and requested that Braintree District Council be represented at both member and officer level.
I have not heard any more from you on this. In the meantime, we have participated in the Home Office's transport service review that is looking at ways to reduce travel demand into Chelmsford, Colchester and Braintree.
Community safety
I wholeheartedly agree with you that the safety and wellbeing of Essex residents comes first, but I feel it is through collaboration that the best results are achieved and interventions that are based on sound evidence.
A number of multi-agency initiatives delivering community safety were listed in my previous correspondence, and no doubt you will be aware of numerous other examples of existing partnership work between our councils.
We take safety and wellbeing matters incredibly seriously and view our cooperation in this area as fundamental. I hope we can resume a collaborative approach in this area in the future.
We will continue to work towards the calm resolution of the RAF Wethersfield issue, the closure of the site and we will keep our communities together.
In the meantime, I would appreciate a response to the issues still outstanding that I have outlined above.
Yours sincerely,
Cllr Tom Cunningham
Leader of Braintree District Council
We initially wrote to Cllr Harris following Essex County Council's annoucement of Operation Vanguard. You can read that correspondence here, which prompted a reply from Essex County Council.