Issue - meetings

This report presents the Community Safety Annual Report 2025-26.

Recommendation:

That members of the committee consider and comment on the Community Safety Annual Report.

The Head of Strategy and Partnerships presented the Community Safety Annual Report for 2025-26.  This summarised the work of the Community Safety Partnership (CSP) over the preceding year and formed part of the Council’s statutory duty to scrutinise crime and disorder activity in the area under the CSP.  The report also set out the community safety strategic priorities for 2026-27.

Members heard that the report highlighted the strong partnership working across the district and focused on the key priorities of the CSP over the year, which were: Burglary, Theft of and Theft From a Motor Vehicle, Robbery, Anti-Social Behaviour, Domestic Abuse and Violence Against Women and Girls and Hate Crime and Prevent.

The report showed positive progress in a number of areas and proactive work to address a number of challenges which had arisen over the year.  Highlights included the Safer Streets project (which would continue to be delivered this year), the Crucial Crew project (which had been delivered to over 600 primary school children at Watford Football Club), the Community Safety Conference, and installation of 9 new CCTV cameras amongst many other initiatives.

The priorities for 2026-27 were reported as Burglary, Retail Crime, Anti-social Behaviour, Domestic Abuse and Violence against Women and Girls, and Hate Crime and Prevent.  Additionally, the Community Safety Team would be working closely with other partners across the county over the coming year on the establishment of the new unitary authority, ensuring that the Community Safety Partnership responsibilities were fully embedded under the new arrangements.

A Committee Member commented that the new CCTV installation in Abbots Langley had played an important role in supporting investigations (including a fly-tipping incident) and reducing offences in the area.  The effective use of ASB powers, strengthened partnership working, and the importance of the White Ribbon accreditation were also cited as areas of success.

In response to questions from a Committee Member, the Head of Strategy and Partnerships reported that trends were regularly monitored and reviewed through the Community Safety Co-ordinating Group, which met quarterly and included a regular item to look at intelligence and data.  Officers were also looking at using the Council’s GIS (Geographical Information System) mapping tool to overlay data provided by the Police and from other sources such as CCTV cameras onto maps of the district. 

A Committee Member commented that there was a lack of statistical data in the report, and the police had not been invited to attend the meeting.  Therefore, it was difficult to be able to challenge the police in terms of what was happening in the district.  Additionally, the committee had only one opportunity in the year to scrutinise police activity.  The Committee Member expressed concerns about youth restrictions in South Oxhey and continued increases in crime (particularly violence and sexual assault) on Station Road in Kings Langley between January and May compared with the same period in the previous year. 

The Head of Strategy and Partnerships clarified that the report was a general annual overview of the work of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 50