South Oxfordshire District Council is reducing anti-social behaviour in Thame after residents reported concerns earlier this year.
Community Safety officers from the council have been working closely with Thames Valley Police, SOHA Housing and Thame Town Council after they received reports of people damaging property and intimidating residents around Pearce Way and Howland Road in the south east of the town.
They carried out an inspection of the area (known as an Environmental Visual Audit) where anti-social behaviour had been reported and found:
- Broken fencing, enabling unauthorised access to/from the estate
- Poor visibility in an alleyway due to overgrown hedges
- Lots of litter across the estate
- A build-up of larger rubbish items left in communal areas
- A children’s play area that needed some refurbishment work to encourage more families to use it
Officers, along with partners, have put in place a number of measures to immediately respond to the incidents found but also to prevent further problems occurring in the future:
- SOHA housing and TVP arranged a litter pick which took place in May and included residents from the local community
- Thame Town Council continue regular inspections and are working on improving the children’s play area
- The broken fencing has been fixed and work is underway to add new fencing and a gate to reduce access to high anti-social behaviour areas
- Plans are in place to cut back overgrown foliage to allow clearer access on the alley way and from around the streetlight and this is to become a regular exercise
As a result of this partnership, the work that has already been carried out has seen positive reports from residents saying that they feel safer and happier in their local area.
Cllr David Rouane, Leader of South Oxfordshire District Council said: “It’s good to see our partnership with Thames Valley Police, Thame Town Council and SOHA Housing making such a positive difference. We will now be looking at other areas of the district to see if there’s more we can do through the Environmental Visual Audits process and continue to work with our partners to make changes where needed.”
Cllr Kate Gregory, ward member for Thame, said: “Thame is a great place to live and I was sad to see that an area of the town had been the victim of anti-social behaviour, which has such a detrimental effect on those who live there.
“We want to do all we can to make sure that residents have pride in where they live and that they feel safe. Making these changes and setting up plans to prevent any future anti-social behaviour is really important.”
If the public want to report any incidents of anti-social behaviour they should contact Thames Valley Police on 101 (or 999 in an emergency) and their housing provider if they are a tenant.
