Three years after the creation of the UK’s first boroughwide no-prostitution zone, Redbridge Council wants residents’ support to keep cracking down.
However, while sex workers have “disappeared” from the once-notorious Ilford Lane, outreach groups fear they are just being displaced to more dangerous areas or into pop-up brothels.
Sophia Burley, founder of Christian street outreach group Women on the Frontline Ministries, said the PSPO had been “unhelpful” to their work to build trust with women who need support.
She said: “We lost all contact with them because they just disappeared. We have no idea where they have gone, we believe they may have moved to neighbouring boroughs or into pop-up brothels.