Clive Stewart Castle Point District Co-ordinator writes: -In the early weeks of October 2021 I took up the reins as District Co-ordinator of Castle Point District Neighbourhood Watch. Since then, I created a weekly Castle Point District Neighbourhood Watch weekly newsletter yes, every week. Including Bank Holidays and also Christmas and New Year. I have been managing Castle Point District Neighbourhood Watch now for four years and since that time everyone who registers with the Castle Point scheme has received not only the weekly newsletter which is a summary of the weekly crime report but also the six monthly newsletters too…and also the  opportunity to receive FREE Neighbourhood Watch items not just window stickers, wheelie bin stickers and No Cold caller stickers but Members Guides ( both hard copy and online) , official members badges too ( as the old 3cm badges are not valid in Essex as they can be bought from any website whether or not you are a member of Neighbourhood Watch  )..The weekly newsletter is very welcome by so many of you and is published on   the Castle Point District Facebook Group ( administrator John Metcalfe) and is received by local Essex Police Team too …PC Ian Risden is supportive of Neighbourhood Watch and very keen to work more effectively with Neighbourhood Watch members  and will be advising me of the events that we can share a table with him soon.As regards finance we are receiving our normal annual £1,000 from The Police Fire & Crime Commissioner’s Office soon via Essex County NW Association.. These funds are held in the ECNWA account and are ringfenced to cover any expenditure..If anyone who is a member of Castle Point NW needs to know how the funds are spent please contact me and I shall send you the details ….Items are purchased entirely due to the demand by members of any items….Finally we do not have a committee ie Chairman, Secretary & Treasurer  as no one  wants to attend any meetings at all..but that is fine ..That is why I am Castle Point District NW Co-ordinator ..so I am keen to be available 24/7 for any enquiries to be part of Neighbourhood Watch where you live ..Call me on 0750 8057636 or email [email protected] So my role as Castle Point Neighbourhood Watch Co-ordinator is to keep you up to date with Neighbourhood Watch information and supply you with NW items too e.g. window stickers, wheelie bin stickers, No Cold caller stickers, members guides and valid NW members badges, and many other items too. All free.... Essex Chief Constable Mr. B. J Harrington has told me that he wants to see an increase in Neighbourhood Watch throughout Essex and also more street signs to be placed on appropriate posts as he believes that they do help to reduce crime, so maybe I can help you with that? Please contact me.Finally, I was advised by many who replied to my email in October 2021 that they remember having newsletters to distribute and they collected them from the Castle Point Borough Council Offices. Well, I brought them back, but they are now delivered to your door by Neighbourhood Watch .....So, thank you all again. Finally, if you know of anyone who is interested in being part of Castle Point District Neighbourhood Watch, please ask them to send me their full name and postal address to [email protected] Regards Clive Stewart Castle Point District Co-ordinator

Update 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 Castle Point 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,  almost one hundred have been distributed throughout Castle Point District already as well as the email version.

The Members Guide explains what Neighbourhood Watch is all about and the responsibilities of being a Neighbourhood Watch Co-ordinator this is very important as 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 such as Essex Police ( an article from District Commander Ganesh Rasaratnam) , 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 and Essex Police  on “Cuckooing”, Castle Point District’s Community Safety Partnership ( who contributed 50% of the printing costs ) …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 Castle Point District .  

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

The Castle Point District NW weekly newsletter

The  NW Newsletter has been available every week since October 2021..so by October I would have been the District Co-ordinator for five 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 direct 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 Castle Point  Police’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 states 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 Castle Point 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.. We had an article from DCC Rachel Nolan which was appreciated as DCC Nolan started the career with Essex Police in Canvey Island . 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 Castle Point District …

Safe Guarding Co-ordinators form.

It is noted that this matter is on the Agenda …

Over the past many months we have  explained the form to all Co-ordinators and members but no one has signed  yet well it is not mandatory..I did mention that  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.

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 five months there has been a big  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 they live????

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 Castle Point District  Scheme.

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

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…

It is important to note that the information is available to anyone on request to Essex Police whether or not they are members of any crime prevention organisation…ie Neighbourhood Watch

Finance

As mentioned in the last report all funds for Castle Point NW  are now held as ringfenced with Braintree District Neighbourhood Watch

Neighbourhood Watch Member of the Year

This award will still be appropriate when a specific person or persons have been identified .

Clive Stewart,

Castle Point District NW Co-ordinator

REPORT TO ECNWA FOR MEETING ON 12TH AUGUST 2025  

NEW WEEKLY CRIME REPORTS Yes we all agree the reports are not very useful for Neighbourhood Watch members if we are to be the “eyes and ears”  for Essex Police.  The basic minimum is not very helpful to encourage more members either..So in the weekly newsletter ( it is a Neighbourhood Watch newsletter which was created in October 2021 ),  in addition to the limited information on the crime reports, I am publishing crime information which I receive from Essex Police Castle Point Dispatch newsletters  and also what Essex Police publish on Castle Point Facebook Groups.As not all members of the  communities actually subscribe to Dispatch newsletters or use facebook and the details are very very useful…This helps a little to give to all those who receive the newsletter some information on local crime but also there are details of whom commit crimes and have been arrested and sentenced .In fact I have received many compliments on publishing such information… In addition , with Stuart Rawlins ( Crimestoppers Volunteer Chair Essex )  permission I have created a column which includes regular information on Crimestoppers provided by Stuart …Again this is interesting too for  more NW people …..I will say ..finally on this matter ..that I have had  a few comments about the lack of basic crime information on the new crime reports ( in response to my giving reasons for the crime reports in that format ) ..but not one resignation…The reason,  is that I am explaining ( every week)  what we are doing such as having regular meetings and communications with Essex Police in the hope that they ( Essex Police ) will be able to add more meaningful details on  to automated reports soon.Ss most of you know I did not send out the new crime reports in the new format …In fact I never have done so in Castle Point since  2021 as I summarise the information in a newsletter ..But I did explain why it has changed and prepared them for it a week earlier… 

ESSEX  POLICE AND WORKING WITH NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH: On Sunday 3rd August  Essex Police Officers teamed up with Neighbourhood Watch (and Volunteer Active Citizens)  for a successful community engagement event. Together they fitted thirty five cycle tags to bicycles belonging to Castle Point residents  who has preregistered for this free service. The cycle tags , generously donated by Castle Point  Borough Council help deter theft and assist in recovery of stolen bikes. It was fantastic  to see so many residents taking proactive steps to protect their property and engage with local safety initiatives . A BIG thank you to everyone who participated and helped make the day a success SIX MONTHLY NEWSLETTER JULY  to DECEMBER 2025:  The latest newsletter had been  emailed out to all on my Castle Point District NW  database when I requested who was willing to distribute them and how many copies they needed on top of their sending the email version to their members….For the second six monthly issue in 2025 the response was amazing with more people wanting hard copies to distribute than before .So those who requested  them had them delivered to their door ( no need  to go anywhere to collect them )  .GENERAL MEMBERSHIP This is increasing on a regular basis . Yes every week…. with emails sent to me directly due to the not only THE  excellent Castle Point Facebook Group (managed by John Metcalfe) but also  due to Co-ordinators and members advising everyone of Neighbourhood Watch However I still see those who register with NWN ( no problem with that ) and I make contact with them to introduce them what we offer on local Neighbourhood Watch…IF I do not hear from them ( after a reasonable time ) I do NOT delete them from NWN database..but move them out of the Castle Point scheme ( if they have “joined it” )   and leave them alone. They are notified by NWN  of this action by the way…..So if they were keen to remain in Castle Point scheme then they would reply to my Welcoming” email ..but I never hear from them again  FINANCE Yes we have received the £1,000 from The Police Fire & Crime Commissioner’s Office via ECNWA..and these funds are still ringfenced in ECNWA accounts until anyone one wants to create a Castle Point NW District with a Chairman, Secretary and more importantly Treasurer …The funds are safe to use to purchase any NW items ie wheelie bin stickers and No Cold Caller stickers and cover postages and printing of the six monthly newsletters and couriers to deliver them .

SUMMARY So, in general , a successful three months..apart from the fact of the crime reports ..Well they are still weekly!!I know from emails that many like to know, who live in Castle Point District,  there is someone they can  contact regarding Neighbourhood Watch….By the way one Co-ordinator advised me last week that a street sign was broken and needed a new one..Within a day the person was advised  it was available for her to collect from Castle Point Borough Council Offices reception area….All thanks to John Metcalfe who still has access to Castle Point NW stock of street signs  and organised it .  The person was very impressed..  

Clive Stewart Castle Point District NW Co-ordinator