Plans have been approved for a new police station in Dovercourt.

This will see the old station commander’s house at the Essex County Fire and Rescue Service site in Fronks Road demolished and a new 21st century police station built, which is only 1.5 miles from our current police station in Harwich.

Chief Inspector Ella Latham, District Commander for Tendring, said:

“The new police station at Dovercourt will create a modern, fit for purpose emergency services facility for our teams in Harwich.
“The most important thing for our communities to know is that our policing presence in Harwich and Dovercourt won’t change. We’ll still be here maintaining our strong, visible and accessible presence.
“You’ll see our Local Policing Team and Community Policing Team and our Police Community Support Officers continuing to keep your communities safe, protecting people from harm and working with our partners to prevent and detect crime.
“You can come and chat to our friendly officers at our events taking place in Tendring about your concerns and for advice. Once the new police station is built, we hope that it will create engagement opportunities, in collaboration with our partners, for our communities to benefit from.”

As part of our new police station, we, Essex Police, will be working alongside Essex County Fire and Rescue Service to provide a better and more economical service to our communities.  

Our partnership working will help us maintain and improve our service delivery and increase public confidence by working more closely together. 

We have already seen significant reductions in burglary, theft and anti-social behaviour (ASB) in our communities. Crime in Harwich is down by 14% in the last 12 months to August 2023 compared to the 12 months to August 2022, and ASB in Harwich has seen a reduction of 34% for the same time period, thanks to the work from our officers and staff. 

Karl Edwards, Director of Corporate Services at Essex County Fire and Rescue Service said:

“Collaborative working with our partners helps support our ambition to provide a better and more economical service for our communities, and the latest project at our Dovercourt site is a prime example of this.
“Working with Essex Police to provide a joined up approach to sharing space and delivering services to our frontlines is an exciting prospect that brings with it many opportunities, including facilities for our public and employees that are fit for purpose now and in the future.
“I want to reassure our communities there will be minimal impact in the main fire station building during this next period of work; we will continue to respond from Dovercourt Fire Station as usual.”

Alongside the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, we are committed to investing in key police stations to ensure they are efficient and fit for the needs of modern policing both now and in the future. 

The existing Harwich Police Station is old, inefficient, and out of date. It requires a significant investment to maintain, as well as to bring it up to a standard fit for the purpose of modern policing. We’ll be looking to sell the building once we have re-located our teams and resources into the new police station in Dovercourt. 

Roger Hirst, Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex, said:

“These new facilities will help the police and fire and rescue service work together to create safe and secure communities where all can prosper. This is an efficient and effective plan to deliver best possible future services.
“I am delighted that we are able to make this investment, which is a commitment to the local area and community and shows we are determined to keep them safe. Thank you to Tendring District Council for their support through the planning process.”

In addition to the accessibility and visibility of our officers, we have worked hard to make ourselves more available to the public. We continue to: 

• Operate a number of police stations across the county which are open to the public; 
• Have a digital 101 service on our website for people to report crime as well as a Live Chat function 
• Routinely hold and attend meetings with our public in addition to engaging with them when we are out and about – check out the Your Area page on the Essex Police website to attend events and speak with our officers in Tendring.