Throughout 2019 and 2020 the CSE group discussed high street shops in the town, which was described as a “hot spot” for abuse where “a few children were mentioned being exploited”.
Between 2019 and 2024, regular intelligence reports were sent by Trading Standards to the safeguarding group. They highlighted CSE concerns related to “pop-up shops”, according to the council worker.
However, in December 2024, police stated that they had “a lack of intelligence and information around CSE and they may not know what is going on”, according to the worker.
In the same month, an intelligence report says: “Trading Standards mentioned that 11-year-olds were taken in one pop-up shop to an unknown location via vehicle to collect cigarettes and vapes.” The shop was then closed by Trading Standards.
The log also states that in September 2025, Trading Standards asked West Midlands Police to “carry out foreign conviction checks, to see whether the suspects they were investigating had any… sexual offences against children”.