THURROCK Council’s leading member for public protection, Cllr Angie Gaywood, has spoken out following the receipt of a petition at Wednesday (26 September) evening’s full meeting of the council
She said: “The issues around Brentwood Road and Peartree Lane at Bulphan are, without doubt, distressing for local people. I accept that and the council as a whole accepts it and is acting upon it.
“I have met with local people and the police at this site to discuss the concerns raised and I attended the Bulphan Community Forum. As a result the council is now examining all the options available to it, working closely with residents, landowners and the police to get a proper response.
“For example, the council, working with the landowner, has agreed overgrown hedgerows on both sides of Brentwood Road will be cut back to try and ease this problem.
“Evidence is already being gathered to assess the full scale of the problem and police are implementing their response in-line with their national guidance
“But we have also asked residents to let us have any evidence they have, including dates and times of incidents, so our action will be more effectively supported.
“The police have been very supportive and I am grateful to the landowners for their co-operation.”
She added: “However, people must understand that the council cannot simply act without real proof of wrongdoing. I know it is frustrating – as a comparatively new member myself I fully
understand that frustration – but the council absolutely must follow the correct legal procedures – we must stick to the law.
“If we don’t do that we lay ourselves and our council tax-paying public open to action which could cost us all hundreds of thousands of pounds as well as undoing any good we may achieve.”
She said: “We have asked local people to fill in evidence diaries, dated and timed so they can support any action we take. Just a few of these have been returned to us completed and we need more although the petition will help.
“We are working closely with our colleagues in the police, these are allegations of criminal activities after all, and they are rightly the lead authority.
“So while it may seem nothing is happening that is totally wrong. Plenty is happening to collect and collate the evidence we and the police require to put a stop to this behaviour.
“Knee-jerk reactions rarely provide long-term solutions, so I call on the people of Bulphan to have a little more patience and to help provide the evidence we and the police need, then we will be able to act and put a stop to this once and for all.”
