Harlow Council leader demands immediate action after “weak police response” to Nicholls Field “party”.

Harlow’s Labour Leader demands immediate action after weak police response to Nicholls Field “party”.

THE LEADER of Harlow Council has slammed Essex Police for their “weak response” to an unauthorised gathering of over a 100 people in a house in Harlow.

Councillor Mark Ingall said: “I have spoken many times about the Harlow residents’ superb response to the Covid pandemic. They have made huge personal sacrifices and many have put their lives on hold for five months. It was therefore hugely disappointing to learn of the illegal gathering of 100 people at a property in Nicholls Field, rented out for a night by Wotton Homes as a one-night Airb&b booking on Friday, and the failure of the police to attend and break the “party” up.

I have held talks this morning with a representative of Harlow Police and made clear my concerns. The police were called five times about this gathering and were told of the large numbers that were attending and that fights and drug taking had been witnessed, yet the incident was recorded as a “noise nuisance”. The police have apologised for this, describing it as an error and an isolated mistake. I have to say this is not my personal experience, too often recently police have been unable to respond to calls for assistance.

The police offered as a reason for their lack of action that there were other incidents in Harlow and across Essex that needed attending at the same time and that had been prioritised. This brings to the fore again the hugely damaging effect of the Conservative austerity cuts to police numbers across Essex that have still not been put right.

“I have urged the police to take swift action to review their call handling procedures and to undertake immediate training to ensure that Covid breaches, with their potential to spread a deadly disease, are attended as a matter of urgency. I have also urged them to call for assistance from outside the county when a lack of capacity is preventing them from being able to do their job, and to track via the rental company the organisers of the party and prosecute them.

“We have a duty to ourselves and the rest of the community to take steps to reduce the spread of this virus and I will continue to urge all appropriate agencies to address this duty as a priority”.

You can find the other stories relating the incident here.