Issue - meetings
Community Safety Partnership
Meeting: 26/03/2026 - Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Item 117)
117 Community Safety Partnership 
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Purpose
To note the activities of the West Oxfordshire Community Safety Partnership during 2025/2026 and the latest insights around crime and the fear of crime in West Oxfordshire and the county as a whole.
Recommendation
That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee resolves to:
1. Note the report
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Councillor Geoff Saul, Executive Member for Housing and Social Care, introduced the report on the Community Safety Partnership (CSP) and made the following points:
- The CSP was a statutory requirement of the Council that had resulted from the Crime and Disorder Act 1988.
- The requirement placed responsibility on principle authorities to formulate and implement a strategy and plan that reduced crime and disorder (including antisocial behaviour), combated the misuse of drugs, reduced reoffending, and prevented involvement in and instances of serious violence.
- The CSP comprised the Council, Police, Fire and Rescue, health partners and probation services.
- A rolling plan had been running from 2024-27 and actions were refreshed annually to address priorities.
- Priorities in the rolling plan were: serious violence; drugs and alcohol; domestic abuse and violence against women and girls; rural acquisitive crime; antisocial behaviour; fraud; modern slavery; counter terrorism.
- Within the eight priorities particular attention was to be paid to domestic abuse and violence against women and girls as well as antisocial behaviour.
- The previous focus on rural acquisitive crime had helped to reduce this crime by approximately 20%. This was therefore considered to be less of a priority in the upcoming plan.
- The report presented a list of the activities that had been undertaken by the CSP.
- Councillor Saul highlighted the theatre-based violence against women and girls project which was in collaboration with the Council’s Youth Development Officer.
- Section 8.1 of the report showed the county wide projects that were being supported.
- The Police Funding Settlement had shown the Home Office grant was reduced by £9m. This would lead to a likely reduction of 40% to CSP funding which would mean a need to review the programme.
In the discussion that followed the following questions were raised and comments made:
- The recorded decline in most serious crime, other than hate crime, was not matched by the public perception. The Committee queried what the Council’s role was to address such an incorrect public perception. It was noted that the CSP was required to be vigilant and ensure that clear messaging was being disseminated. If well briefed with accurate information, councillors also had a role to play to communicate with their constituents. The Executive Member noted that there was a public dialogue with TVP, who had attended parish meetings. In general, the district was considered a safe place to live.
- Surges in vehicular crime had been noted in specific areas of the district which had contradicted the reported fall in rural acquisitive crime. The Committee queried if there was further granular detail to the figures provided for this crime as well as fly-tipping and machine theft. In the discussion it was suggested that public reporting of this crime was not always happening and this may impact figures presented from TVP. The importance of reporting crime to ensure action and recognition by the TVP was reiterated. Officers reminded the Committee that rural acquisitive crime had remained on the CSP priority list despite it being less of a focus to other ... view the full minutes text for item 117