Excellent community engagement from East Area police officers and local partners transforms over grown wooded area full of anti social behaviour.

A wooded area near a primary school in Ilford that was plagued with anti social behaviour, has been transformed thanks to local Safer Neighbourhood officers and community partners.

In September last year, Aldborough Safer Neighbourhoods Team began to receive a number of complaints from parents, local residents and staff at Fullwood Primary School regarding anti-social behaviour, drugs and homeless encampments in a small wooded area between Fullwood Primary School and Tesco, Barkingside.

A survey of the area found a large amount of discarded clothing, drug paraphernalia, discarded tents and litter. 

In response to these local concerns, a multi-agency meeting was called and held at the site. Representatives from Tesco,Redbridge Council and Redbridge Enforcement Officers joined forces with Aldborough and Barkingside Safer Neighbourhoods Teams. During the meeting, an action plan was set and stakeholders were invited to complete their assigned actions within a three month period.

Aldborough and Barkingside Safer Neighbourhoods Teams and Redbridge Enforcement Officers patrolled the area during peak times (school drop off and pick up times) and maintained contact with staff at Fullwood Primary School. Tesco management conducted a thorough clean of the area and removed overgrown foliage to increase visibility – which reduces the opportunity for anti-social behaviour and crime to occur, whilst Fullwood Primary School offered support through their care-taking team who monitored the situation and reported any new intelligence to help police to maintain a local intelligence picture. Meanwhile, local councillors liaised with partners and residents to allay their concerns and update them on our collective progress.

In December, Fullwood Primary School hosted a review meeting for all partners – which found that the area had been cleared and cleaned and that offences had ceased.  

A huge thanks to all parties involved in working together to solve this local issue. The area now has improved drastically since the works were commenced, which has improved the quality of life for local residents, customers at Tesco and parents and pupils at Fullwood Primary School. The cleaning and clearing of this area came at a considerable cost to Tesco, whose manager (Mr Pindoria) has been instrumental in reviving this area, which had become a dumping ground for fly tipping and homeless encampments. 

The Head Teacher, Mr Simon Ward said: “The work done to clear the area next to our school has made a huge difference.  Our children and their parents feel much safer on the way to and from school and the area looks so much better than it did before.  A piece of work like this is a great reminder of how important it is to come together as different members of a community, listen to each other and find solutions to a challenge.  The school is very grateful to our friends at Tesco, the lovely police officers who go out of their way to make our children feel safe and members of the council for coming together to make a real positive difference.”​

A Chief Inspector Mohamed Yasar Noori said: “I continue to be impressed with the way our Dedicated Ward Officers work to tackle issues. This is another fantastic example of Problem Oriented Policing and conducting root cause analysis. The collaboration led by our Neighbourhood Policing Teams established the right partners to design out the persistent anti-social-behaviour, vagrancy and littering. A full life cycle of their work here ensured an exit strategy and the schools caretakers and Tesco, now have a pathway to the working group should issues re-emerge. Moreover, three months on and their hard work has paid off, with a real improvement in the area. I do have to also thank our partners here, as we may have been the steer, but only collectively can we achieve such results”.

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