Sussex Police and Brighton & Hove City Council are sending around 1000 letters to homes and businesses near the Brighton Conference Centre that will be affected by Operation Otter, this year's security and policing arrangements for the Labour Party annual conference.

The event is due to be staged at the Brighton Centre and surrounding hotels from 27th September to 1st October 2009. As in previous years, during the conference, police will be sealing off the area around the Brighton Centre, Hilton Metropole and Grand Hotel and Russell Road NCP car park to form a secure ‘Island Site’.

Police officers will visit adjacent households and companies to confirm the identities of people living and working in the area during the dates of the conference.

Council leader Mary Mears said, “The annual conference of the party in government brings about 20,000 people and £10m to the host city. This is money local businesses desperately need to help fight the recession. So while there is inevitably some disruption it is still worth the effort for the benefits it brings to the local economy.”

Supt Grenville Wilson, planning coordinator for the policing of Operation Otter said, "The purpose of the newsletter is to keep the local community informed as to how the conference arrangements are going to affect their day to day activities. Hosting the government during a time of international tension inevitably involves heightened security measures. However, we are keen to stress that there is no specific threat to the conference. Sussex Police is committed to working with partners and communities to tackle these issues together. We would urge anyone who has information that may be useful to the police in countering terrorism to call the Anti-Terrorism Hotline on 0800 789 321. Always call 999 in an emergency".