Crime on Witham’s industrial estates has dropped by more than half in five years.

The 350 companies forming part of the Business Improvement District (BID) - which covers Eastways, Crittall Road, Rosewood Business Park, Colemans Bridge and Freebournes Road - will vote for or against continuing the scheme for another five years this month.

It has cut crime due to ten automatic number plate recognition cameras (ANPR),  47 CCTV cameras and an estate manager.

Braintree district commander Chief Inspector Richard Melton said: “There is a thinning blue line out there and endeavours like this give the police a chance to see a huge amount of CCTV.

“The level of crime is dramatically less than it used to be in 2007 and 2008 and we’ve had a year on year decrease since 2009."

For the full story, see this week's Braintree and Witham Times.