DAYLIGHT dogging is making walking beauty spots around a medieval church no-go areas, residents told a council meeting last night.

Footpaths around Holy Trinity Church, in Bradwell, have become a hive of anti-social behaviour that has left residents no longer able to enjoy the countryside around them.

Speaking in a Bradwell Parish Council meeting on Monday, one resident said she feared what her children might see while another recently had elderly visitors in their 70s who had been propositioned by one individual who had invited them to participate.

It is believed that much of the behaviour that had been concentrated on a layby on the A120 has now moved to areas around the church in Bradwell.

One mother, who lives in Sheepcotes Lane, told the meeting: “It is horrible. You feel you can’t go for a walk with your children for fear of what you might see.

“My children are quite eco-conscious, they like going litter picking. But you can’t go litter picking if you might be picking up a condom.

“It is really intimidating, if you are a lone female going out for a run and your with children.

“I have pulled over to take a picture and then have someone followed me to the point where I don’t feel like I can turn into my own drive. And then have driven around Silver End for a little bit before driving back to my house. That is how bad it is.”

You can’t walk children down the footpath because you don’t know what you are going to encounter along there

The resident, who did not give her name, added there is regular traffic between two laybys – one in Sheepcotes lane and another in Cuthedge Lane – that people cruise between looking for hook-ups.

She said: “I know people who have witnessed people with their trousers down. Thankfully I haven’t, but I don’t feel like I can even run along my own footpath for fear of what you might see.”

Dogging – having  sex in public while being watched – is not illegal but can be if another person sees the act and it causes "outrage".

The offence is one of public indecency, or public nuisance but having sex in a public place is not against the law.

PC James Draper, a community safety enforcement officer who covers the Braintree district, said: “What we need to do is determine is what the behaviour is, what is illegal and what is the best course of action moving forward.

“The police is a very short term solution to any problem.

“We can go there and say we arrest ten people you’ll have people down there the next day and the next day.

“We are not able to arrest our way out of it, even if you can determine an arrest to arrest people for.

“What we need to do is long term find a solution. What can we do about that bit of concrete, to make that area less attractive to park? Could we block it off so there is nowhere to park? Could we look at reducing the coverage of the footpath and cut down some of the bushes so its more open and there are fewer places to hide?”

Clark of the council Christine Marshall said: “We don’t want that behaviour close to the village and on the footpath.

“You can’t walk children down the footpath because you don’t know what you are going to encounter along there.”

Another resident said in the meeting: “In the last months three people in their 70s were waiting to visit me and were propositioned by someone – this is happening in broad daylight.

Another resident said during the meeting: “During the day, where the turning is by the church, it is probably five or six cars deep. We have three large dogs but my wife won’t walk the dogs past there because of what happens.”