Dr Neil Hudson, MP for Epping Forest, recently met with the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex Roger Hirst, and Chief Executive of Essex County Fire and Rescue Service Rick Hylton in Parliament. The meeting focused on addressing key local issues and strengthening collaboration for the benefit of the Epping Forest community.
During the meeting, Dr Hudson raised pressing local issues, such as antisocial behaviour, fly tipping, harassment of riders and walkers in Epping Forest, high street crime, traffic and speeding concerns, safety of access in school roads, and flooding. Dr Hudson, Mr Hirst and Mr Hylton discussed strategies to tackle these key problems, emphasising the importance of prompt incident reporting by residents.
The financial challenges faced by Essex Police and Essex County Fire and Rescue Service were also highlighted. Dr Hudson and Mr Hirst expressed deep concern over the potential reduction of over 300 officers in Essex Police due to unfunded costs announced by the Labour Government. This reduction could significantly impact the force's ability to maintain its success in reducing crime levels across the county.
Mr Hylton also emphasised the critical situation faced by Essex County Fire and Rescue Service, noting that the removal of the Funding Guarantee Scheme (worth £1.2 million) and the Services Grant (worth £300,000) would hinder their capacity to reduce Accidental Dwelling Fires. Under previous funding arrangements, the Service had successfully reduced these incidents by 16% over the past five years.
Dr Neil Hudson, MP for Epping Forest, said:
“I want to pay tribute to the outstanding and lifesaving work Essex Police and Essex County Fire and Rescue Service do to keep our community in Epping Forest safe.
"We Conservatives recruited over 20,000 extra police officers nationally and gave the police an extra £922 million for policing this year, ensuring the police could protect the public and prosecute more criminals.
"I call on the Labour Government to ensure our emergency services remain properly funded to continue their vital work."
Roger Hirst, Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex, said:
“Working with Dr Hudson to better understand local concerns while also ensuring our county has a strong voice in Westminster is a real strength which helps us both deliver for the communities we serve.
"Working together we have built a service that is bigger and stronger than it has ever been before, a service which is successfully reducing crime and anti-social behaviour across Essex, building safe and secure communities and driving down gang crime and domestic abuse.”
