Antisocial behavior – motorbikes/cars
Are you impacted by the sound of motorbikes and cars racing through the village or at Abberton reservoir? If so, we need to hear from you....
Published: 22 September 2025
Often in the evenings or weekends, the noise of racing vehicles can ruin a nice sunny evening when sitting out in the garden in peace and quiet can bring so much joy.
Despite there being a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) put in place by Colchester City Council covering Colchester and all surrounding villages, the police have limited resources to cover the whole of Essex. The police are ready and willing to act depending on what else is going on at the time. Of late, demonstrations have sucked police resource away from local issues.
The parish Council along with members of the speed watch group and Colchester City Council Leader Kevin Bentley recently met with Michelle Sparks, the new District Commander. In a very positive meeting, Michelle asked us for help in reporting all incidents of antisocial behavior – not just one person reporting for a group, but everyone reporting it individually. There are several options for doing this:
- Call 999, ask for the police, stating that you need to antisocial behavior in contravention of the PSPO in place. You will need to state the location that this is occurring. You don’t need to actually be there, just impacted by the noise. But equally, if you witness bad driving or are threatened by people driving badly (as has happened to some lone female drivers), this needs to be reported too. You will be given an incident number
- Call 101 and ask to report as above
- On the internet, report through Extra Eyes
- Report to the Parish Council by email via parish.clerk@layerdelahayeparishcouncil.gov.uk or in writing to Parish Clerk, Mill Pightle, Mill Lane, Layer de la Haye, CO2 0JZ
In each case – you need to ask for an incident number.
Please do let me know any incidents you log and the incident numbers, or write to me to tell me if you are affected so I can gather the evidence and strength of feeling to be able to initiate some action to curb this rising trend. You can use the details in the last bullet point above to contact me.