Braintree District

  Interested in being part of Neighbourhood Watch where you live in Braintree District ?

Then why not join Us!
Contact us at [email protected].

Braintree District has a very active Neighbourhood Watch, with frequent events and initiatives all aimed at reducing crime and the fear of crime throughout the district.
Braintree District NW distributes FREE Window stickers, wheelie bin stickers, No Cold  caller stickers , street signs, promotional pens, and Essex County Neighbourhood Watch Members guides and valid Essex NW badges , 24 hour timers and much more....

We are determined to reduce the opportunity of crime in Braintree District so if you would like to assist or just want information, please send an email to Clive Stewart, our Chairman on [email protected]. 

For the ECNWA meeting on Tuesday 9th February 2026

Well to say the past three months has been busy is an understatement……

So lets advise you of the following:

NEW Members Guide

The objective was to create a Braintree District NW Members Guide to be ready by January 2026.

Well… ahead of schedule the email version was available on Boxing Day ( December 2025) and then the print run was completed and delivered to me by mid January.

We had a print run of 1,000 , and at this time, more than five hundred are being distributed throughout Braintree District already as well as the email version so it has proven to be very popular.

The Members Guide explains what Neighbourhood Watch is all about and the responsibilities of being a NW Co-ordinator (very important it helps to advise the facts to those who would like to be a Co-ordinator).

Plus there are pages from our “partners” whom we work with to help reduce the opportunity of crime eg Essex Police ( an article from District Commander Martin Richards) , the Police Fire & Crime Commissioner’s Office

( still in business until 2028 ) , Crimestoppers, DCC Rachel Nolan, Essex Fire & Rescue Service, Essex Police Friends against Scams, Braintree District’s Community Safety Partnership ( who contributed 50% of the printing costs ) and also Braintree District Council advising how to report any Anti-Social Behaviour …

Also there are pages from Neighbourhood Watch Network who are responsible for all Neighbourhood Watch in England and Wales and to whom ECNWA and all its Districts are accountable to them for all their Neighbourhood Watch activities. This twenty four page Members Guide was long overdue and has proven to be a great way of introducing all aspects of Neighbourhood Watch to everyone in Braintree District .

Both Essex Police and Braintree District Council are delighted to be part of this Members Guide and we are pleased that it shows their support of Neighbourhood Watch …

The Braintree District NW weekly newsletter

The Braintree District NW Newsletter has been available every week for the past sixteen years.

It is a summary of the crime reports from Essex Police (and also Suffolk and Norfolk Police at times.. well those who commit crime do not have borders do they? ) .

Since the Essex Watch Liaison Officers were made redundant we have access to the crime “incidents” in our Districts . I call them “incidents” as we do not have all the details of the crimes that we used to have over the past thirty years eg no descriptions of motor vehicles stolen or specific areas where there were dwelling house burglaries.. But now we have a little more …

We do know what date and time when the crimes were committed and “where” as have a part postal code of the areas. So what is published in the weekly newsletter is the part postal code plus a “indication” of the areas covered by the part postal codes ( as the areas are advised by The Post office website ) .

Both Essex Police District’s NPT have copies of the weekly newsletters and they are pleased that the part postal codes are shown ( although there are times where the part postal codes cover overs ..wait for it..over 2,000 dwelling houses ) . The newsletter mentions the reasons for showing an “indication” where the crimes probably were committed.. We have not had one Co-ordinator unsubscribe from the newsletter or resign from Neighbourhood Watch due to the “lack of information” .

In addition to the crime incidents the newsletter also publishes some items that are in Braintree Police Dispatch newsletters and Facebook ..but only that which in our opinion is appropriate for Neighbourhood Watch..

We know from feedback that many NW members do not subscribe to the Dispatch newsletters or want Facebook.

Each week we have many compliments on the “new “ format and this has helped to increase membership of NW as we are keeping in touch every week with all Co-ordinators/members in the best way possible ..as they like to know what is going on around them not just on their doorstep . Lastly we always have details regarding Crimestoppers as Essex Police often refer to them in both Dispatch and Facebook…..

Six monthly Newsletter

The current issue is January to June 2026 and was printed in early January and copies were distributed to many Co-ordinators to deliver.. ( I was told by emails that they were all delivered by 31st January!).

We had an article from DCC Rachel Nolan (which was appreciated as many of us knew of DCC Nolan over the years) …This newsletter is also by email too so was on NW Facebooks and Whats App .

The newsletter continues to help raise the profile of NW throughout the Braintree District …

Safe Guarding Co-ordinators form.

It is noted that this matter is on the Agenda …

Over the past many months we have I explained to all members of the Steering group that it was not mandatory to sign the form but once completed and signed it helps to not only protect oneself but also indicates to the persons you may see face to face that they are meeting with some you can trust.

We have a few who have signed and those whom the Chairman has known for over twenty years are still considering the form as they do not too often meet people face to face these days .

In a recent Steering Group meeting a new member (who is a Co-ordinator) signed the form without any hesitation. We have Belle who is our Administrator and we keep in touch as often as possible ….

Neighbourhood Watch Network database

For those who are MSA’s …we have access to the database relevant to our Districts…

We can say that in the last three months there has been a reduction in anyone registering new schemes with NWN compared to previous twelve months.

Also we now see only two/three people register as individuals with NWN as “members” each month .

It could be that we are getting better at promoting ourselves regarding being part of NW where you live????

Well …we make contact with those who register and 95% of the time we never hear from them again…

We are unable to delete them from NWN ( quite rightly too) so we attach them to Braintree District Scheme.

And as they are advised by NWN so we hope one day they will contact us.

But those who register with NWN and live in an area managed by a local Co-ordinator we send their details to the local Co-ordinator who follows up the person and even visits them which proves how good the

Co-ordinators are and also proves successful too as the person then joins that local scheme..

Essex Police crime reports

We have already mentioned how we use the “information” for the weekly newsletters..and this has been “approved” by local NPT…BUT now (and this is not a complaint of Essex Police HQ. the information of the crime reports is available to everyone who wants to see it ..well that’s fine..no problem with that at all..

The only thing is that there are “consequences “ of people using them for the wrong reasons..

One example ...There is a group of four people who have formed a Neighbourhood Watch scheme on NWN..and live in Braintree District and I have tried to contact them on many occasions (as I have been advised by someone locally) that they say they are NW and will be buying a street sign ..But their scheme is not approved by our District Co-ordinator as they refuse to (a) be in touch or (b) ..more importantly refuse or comment to sign the Safe Guarding Co-ordinators form sent to them . They locally publicise “ the fact” that they have information from “Essex Police” which “validates” their scheme..

However we have the authority to delete the scheme from NWN, which we have done ( and we have never had any feedback since then ..it was some months ago ) so their scheme is not valid in any way..

We have left the four people on the Braintree District NW scheme ..waiting to hear from them….

Braintree District NW Steering Group

We held a recent meeting at which PC James Draper attended and that was really appreciated and we had 98% attendance. Our AGM is now 27th May and will be looking for a Guest speaker..

As regards Neighbourhood Watch Member of the Year awards we in Braintree do want to recognise anyone for their dedication and hard work over the years and will do so again in the AGM.

If ECNWA want to recognise their achievements too then we would like to know please… ..

Finally a sad note two NW Co-ordinators have passed away Judy Hill ( who received the Award as NW Member of the Year in 2025 and at ECNWA AGM too) and Nigel Oldacre who was awarded an MBE for NW many years ago and he was Chairman of Braintree NW from many years .

Clive Stewart, Chairman and Simon Attwood Deputy Chairman ,Braintree District NW

UPDATE AS AT MAY 2025

On the 30th April we held our Annual General Meeting which was very well supported and re-elected for another year were:- Clive Stewart Chairman & Treasurer, Simon Attwood Deputy Chairman and Louise Smith Secretary . All the Steering Group  current members were willing to remain for another year including our new Membership Secretary John Hedges and we were delighted to welcome Richard Hill , Moia Thorogood and Ian Johnson to the Group.   We only meet every three/four months but I keep in touch with everyone regularly..

Our AGM guest speaker was Essex Police Commander Sarah Wright who was brilliant….

Clive Stewart’s Chairman’s report mentioned that we still see members of the community registering with Neighbourhood Watch Network (NWN) which is fine and I see their details as I have access to the NWN database  . However when John Hedges contacts them sadly on many occasions we never hear from them at all….It makes us wonder what people think  Neighbourhood Watch is all about..NWN covers England and Wales with excellent information but never local NW information..( It is called “Neighbourhood Watch” for a purpose…) 

Neighbourhood Watch Members of the year 2025 .Awards were presented to Judy Hill, Ian Johnson and Mike Smith all of whom have been involved with Neighbourhood Watch in Braintree District for over twenty years!!!!  

Neighbourhood Watch activities in recent months..We attended a few Braintree District Council events with Judy Hill and Richard Hill managing two and Simon Attwood attending two of which one was at a Parish Council..and I  gave a talk to over 60’s at Bures ..Where we have a very pro-active Neighbourhood Watch Co-ordinator…

Weekly and six monthly newsletters..The weekly newsletter it is a summary of the Braintree Essex Police crime report that we receive from Terry Fowles Essex Watch Liaison Officer ..This is very welcome by all who receive it and is in its 16th year every single week by email …We have a six monthly newsletter which the print run has increased due to so many wanting to deliver copies to their members locally and also neighbours too..and there is an email version too this is also in its 16th year . 

Finances..n the past year we had extra funding available from Braintree District Council for Safer Streets Campaign in Halstead which helped to increase membership and we will have £500 to match for Safer Streets campaign in Braintree for 2025/26 ..Our main funding is from Essex County NW Association of £1,000 a year which is the funds from The Police Fire & Crime Commissioner’s Office for Neighbourhood Watch in Essex..