CONTEST Anti Terrorism

Introduction

CONTEST is the United Kingdom's strategy for countering terrorism. The strategy has been in place since 2003. The latest version of the strategy was released in September 2023. As the strategy states:

"The aim of CONTEST is to reduce the risk to the UK and its interests overseas from terrorism, so that people can go about their lives freely and with confidence."

This document outlines Spelthorne Borough Councils interpretation of CONTEST. It reflects the efforts the council is making in response to the threat of terrorism. Efforts are aligned with the four workstreams that CONTEST is organised into. Efforts are coordinated through the Protection Against Terrorist Attacks Delivery Group.

Efforts are aligned into four workstreams that CONTEST is constituted of:

• Prevent: Stop terrorist attacks and people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism
• Pursue: Stop terrorist attacks happening in this country or against overseas interests
• Protect: Strengthen our protection against terrorist attacks
• Prepare: Minimise the impact of an attack where it cannot be stopped and reduce the likelihood of further attacks.

Pursue

Pursue is the Police-led strand of CONTEST. Counter Terrorism Police work closely with MI5 and other agencies to develop intelligence, and work with the Crown Prosecution Service to put compelling evidence before the court, in order to ensure the detention and prosecution of people planning terrorist operations.

Spelthorne Borough Councils involvement in Pursue will take arise because of the two touch points between pursue and prevent. Pursue depends on Prevent to restrict the number of people engaging in terrorism related activities. Similarly Prevent depends on Pursue to facilitate the disruption and conviction of people engaged in radicalisation activities which are clearly illegal. Spelthorne Borough Councils active engagement ensures that the security and intelligence services are able to operate with maximum possible effectiveness in order to stop terrorist attacks

Prevent

The Prevent strategy aims to:

• challenge the ideology that supports terrorism and those who promote it
• protect vulnerable people from being drawn into terrorist-related activity
• support sectors and institutions where there are risks of radicalisation

The Prevent Strategy underwent a major update in December 2023 following an independent review. The updated strategy aimed to strengthen the Prevent strategy by providing clearer risk management advice, a renewed emphasis on reducing environments that enable radicalisation and a focus on the causes of terrorism.

At Spelthorne Borough Council we work with partner agencies to ensure that the borough does not become an area that fosters a culture that promotes any form of terrorism. This approach is outlined in the Spelthorne Safer Stronger Partnership Strategy.

Protect

Protect focuses on "strengthening our protection against a terrorist attack." The purpose of Protect is to reduce the vulnerability of people in the UK, infrastructure and our key services to terrorist threats by improving our security measures, physical protections and cyber resilience.

Spelthorne Council will work to raise the awareness of potential threats amongst local communities and businesses; encourage the designing-in of counter-terrorist protective security measures where appropriate to new building development; engage with the statutory duties outlined in the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, more commonly known as Martyn's Law. These actions will work to improve protective security in crowded places across the Borough of Spelthorne.

Prepare

Prepare aims to minimise the impact of a terrorist attack that cannot be prevented and reduce the likelihood of further attacks by ensuring the UK is ready to respond effectively. This includes work to bring a terrorist attack to an end and to increase resilience, so the Borough can recover after an attack.

Spelthorne Council publishes an Emergency Plan which details the ways in which the Borough would deal with any major incident, including a terrorist attack. Work in the Prepare strand will also involve: linking with Runnymede and Elmbridge Councils to devise a joint action plan; liaising closely with the Police and partners on risk and threat levels to ensure that resources are available accordingly and staff are trained; working with Police and other partners to ensure that crowded areas have specific evacuation plans, where appropriate; working closely with the local emergency services to ensure that the local response framework is clear and robust.