The Stanway housing estate criminals target after dark

Terrified residents on the estate in Stanway are having their homes and cars targeted by criminals who can operate under the cover of darkness thanks to defective street lights.

Many homeowners have resorted to installing their own security cameras to protect themselves from criminals on the estate on the west side of Colchester – and have even appealed to the Home Secretary Priti Patel for help, such has been the frequency and seriousness of the crimes.

Residents say the incidents, which include robberies, thefts, anti-social behaviour, and assaults, are down to the lack of adequate street lighting in the area – a problem which has not been resolved since the estates were first built.

Not only can criminals escape the scene unidentified, but many use torches to blind security cameras and avoid detection.

The crimes, which have been reported by residents and confirmed by Essex police, are frequent and stretch back years.

In 2020, there were attempted thefts of cars in March, before vehicles were egged in August.

Last year, a man in his 20s was attacked by a gang of five men armed with hammers and knives, before being robbed of his wallet, £50, and a gold chain.

And as recently as two weeks ago, footage showed people walking along Moorhen Drift in the early hours of the morning attempting to get into various vehicles along the street.

One resident said they have spent over a £1,000 on cameras in an attempt to deter criminals.

They said: “Part of the reason I think we are being targeted is because it is so dark where we live, and the crimes are really quite scary – we just don’t know what else to do.”

Residents say the lack of streetlighting makes the estate a prime location for criminals to steal cars

The resident added they are constantly on edge when in the house alone.

“I’m often here by myself and I get really nervous – other people feel the same.

“There’s obviously something here that people want – cars that they want and they keep coming back – I’m always looking over my shoulder.

“I don’t sleep well and I’m always awake at night.”

Although they praised the police, the resident explained going to Essex County Council, as well as housing developers Cala, Persimmon, and Flagship, had achieved nothing.

“We pass it on to the council and the council passes it onto the housing developers and the housing developers pass it on to the master developer – it just goes round in circles.

“There’s an excuse for the bad lighting every single time – the council and housing developers just don’t care and it’s been like this for six years.”

Another resident, whose house was surrounded by broken streetlamps, also attributed the crimes to poor lighting and said he had given up chasing the council to try and fix it.

He said: “All round the estate, it’s dark – if you’re going to nick a car, you’ll nick it in an unlit area.

“I’ve rung the council, I’ve rung the housing developers, and I just give up – I just don’t have the time to be chasing the council around to do something they should’ve done.

“It’s like banging your head against a brick wall.”

Other residents on the estate are raising young children and have to drive to visit friends on the estate because they are afraid to walk in the dark.

One said: “My wife is very concerned about being out – it affects us because we have friends on the other side of the estate and we should be able to walk across, but we can’t.

Another added: “If my husband is away then I would be up most of the night – I put a mattress in my children’s room and sleep there.”

Area to get new ‘problem solving’ officer

Essex Police has confirmed Stanway will be getting its own “problem solving” officer to focus on issues within the community.

A spokesman for Essex Police said: “Stanway has its own PCSO who is dedicated to the area and every month he either hosts or attends public engagement events in Stanway, including Coffee with a Cop, Cops outside a Shop and community group visits.

“He also takes part in joint patrols with local councillors, parish councillors and Colchester Council staff as well as carrying out school visits.

“The PCSO also spends the majority of his working days patrolling Stanway and engaging with residents. This allows him to establish what issues are being experienced and feed them back to our community policing team for action.

“Stanway will also soon have its own problem-solving officer from our community policing team, who will focus on the issues raised by the community.

“Regular patrols take place in Stanway and we respond to any emerging crime trends as and when they occur.”

Developer admits slow response was ‘not ideal’

Housing developers and Essex County Council have responded to criticism of the poor streetlighting on the Lakelands housing estate, after a Gazette investigation.

Constructed in multiple stages since the late 1990s, Lakelands has been developed by numerous builders – namely Cala, Flagship, and Persimmon Homes.

The master developers of the estate, O&H Land, is responsible for bringing road surfaces and street lighting on Plover Road, Martin Hunt Drive, and Church Lane to an operational level before Essex County Council takes over their maintenance – known as “adopting” the roads.

Housing developers Cala, Flagship, and Persimmon take the same responsibilities for the smaller roads before Essex County Council goes on to adopt them, too.

But residents have complained the number of organisations involved has meant it is impossible to pin down who is responsible for which roads on the estate.

O&H Land’s technical manager, Jeff Manners, said the problem may be residents are unaware it is O&H who are responsible for street lighting on the estate’s main roads.

Mr Manners added the firm had been told by Essex County Council it would be better to replace the lights rather than fix them.

Residents say they are afraid to walk across the estate at night because so few of the streetlights work

He said: “Some of the equipment is quite old and that technology is very hard to replace.

“It surprises me – there were repairs done in 2020 everything seemed to be working then.

“It’s disappointing. We worked last October and the advice was there is no easy fix and we should just replace them rather than try to fix them. It’s not ideal I agree.

“We are not as forward facing as housebuilders, so information [on roads and street lights] has not been getting back to us.

“We would like to have progressed things quicker and it’s a shame we weren’t aware of these defects sooner.”

Essex County Council says the majority of street lamps it is responsible for are functioning.

A spokesman said: “Of the 94 streetlights in the Lakelands housing estate area in Stanway, our central processing centre shows that five streetlights are currently not working.

“Our engineers will visit these streetlights as soon as possible to assess them and if possible repair them on the spot.”

A spokesperson for Persimmon Homes confirmed the street lighting under the company’s management will be checked and bulbs replaced if required.

The head of landlord compliance at Flagship Homes, Matt Smith, said they had only been informed of one defective streetlamp out of the 41 they are responsible for.

He said: “We’re sorry to hear about the issues with street lighting.

“Out of the 41 lights that we have responsibility for in the Lakelands area, we’ve only been made aware of an issue with one at Osprey Close.

“The repair to the lamp has been scheduled, and we’ll carry out the work as soon as the weather improves.

“We apologise for any inconvenience.”

Councillor Kevin Bentley, who represents Marks Tey and Layer for the Conservatives, was unimpressed with the housing developers, and criticised their flat-footed response.

He said: “As the county councillor, I’m very frustrated – not just for this development but for all new infrastructure not being completed on time.

“When a new development of this scale is built, developers must bring highways up to an adoptable standard – but we have no legal jurisdiction to make them do it [more quickly].

Kevin Bentley said the situation was "just not good enough"

“We need to set a timeframe to complete the infrastructure in good time, because the people on this estate are paying council tax and not getting a full service.

“I strongly feel that roads and streetlights need to be completed by developers by the time the last house is sold.

“I have sympathy with residents, because developers need to shape up and get it done – it’s just not good enough.”

Cala homes has been approached for comment.