Update on Prostitution along the Romford Road

Readers will recall that we submitted an FOI to Newham in respect of the mayor’s approach to prostitution and soliciting along parts of the Romford Road.

This is an issue that has caused concern to local residents in an area where, let’s say, there is  significant social conservatism. It is known that this has had a detrimental effect on girls and women who live in the area and who find that they are being propositioned.

Residents have told councillors and MPs that they want the problem dealt with. Quite what that means to Newham Council is unclear.

Back in 2021 the Recorder reported that Newham had urged the police to “step up efforts to help ‘vulnerable’ sex workers off the streets”.  Not, we note, protect female residents from unwelcome approaches.

“A council spokesperson said efforts to address sex work issues in Romford Road focus on women's safety and the targeting of those who exploit "these vulnerable people”."

This is a bit of sophistry. There has to be a ‘baddie’. The baddie is the pimp. Prostitutes are ‘vulnerable’ and this appears to be a title that absolves them of all agency. It is worth considering just how many pimps have been prosecuted over the last six years. Our suspicion is that the number is zero.

Newham had previously mixed attempts to divert women from prostitution with enforcement action. Readers might recall that former cabinet member, Carlene Lee-Phakoe, resigned because the mayor decided to ditch any enforcement in favour of a ‘public health approach’.

This may be a good move. It is sometimes wise to take a radically different approach to a problem, particularly one that is so persistent. However, if the council is going to make such a radical change it would be helpful, say, to have an alternative model ready and perhaps some evidence that the alternative model might work.

We got neither from Mayor Fiaz.

Instead, the residents along the Romford Road have been left in limbo by the council.

Lee-Phakoe had intended to introduce a Public Space Protection Order for a limited area of the Romford Road. This would enable the police to move on any women soliciting in the area. At the last moment, Fiaz vetoed this and moved Lee-Phakoe sideways.

She promised a new policy within 10 months. That hasn’t happened. During that time they would conduct a ‘needs assessment’. 

The following comes from the council’s website. 

“As part of the first phase of work and in order to determine the scale and nature of sex work across Newham, the Council will undertake a needs assessment in partnership with people with lived experience, residents and experts.” 

What we do not know is whether the needs assessment has been completed. Almost two years after the PSPO was blocked, we still have no idea about what Newham’s policy is and what approach they will be taking.

We discovered that a report had been prepared, but the conclusions did not accord with the  policy that the mayor wished to pursue. We learned the name of the officer who prepared the report and we asked to see a copy.

This is what we got back. 

Response 

1) A sex work related strategy is still being formulated and will be presented for appropriate consideration by the relevant Cabinet members in the coming weeks. At this stage there is no specific strategy that the Mayor is proposing to adopt as officer recommendations are still be developed and any adoption would be in line with the Council’s constitution. 

2) A sex work related Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) was proposed by the Community Safety Team as one suggestion to tackle the problems being experienced in this area. This was subject to public consultation between October 2022 and December 2022 (see link below). Having reviewed the consultation findings along with representations from other interested parties, it was felt a more holistic approach needed to be taken to deal with the antisocial behaviour being experienced but also to provide support to individuals involved who themselves may be vulnerable or exploited. Following officer and member discussions, this resulted in the commissioning of the above sex work strategy, adopting a more public health approach to the situation and involving a greater range of partners and commissioned services than a single enforcement approach would alone…

https://newhamco-create.co.uk/en/projects/newham-sex-work-pspo 

We learn that a new strategy will be proposed “within weeks”. We look forward to seeing it.

They repeat the mantra about a ‘public health approach’ but the response is ambiguous as to whether this will be accompanied by any enforcement actions. We suspect not.

What they did not provide was a copy of the report (by a named officer) that we had requested. It seems that these “officer recommendations” were not accepted because they were the wrong recommendations.

We, however, will continue to seek to obtain a copy.