Neighbours claim yob culture has once again blighted their Oxford estate almost a month after a dispersal order was lifted.

At the beginning of February, police relinquished their power to move on groups of youngsters in Rose Hill amid cautious optimism antisocial behaviour was falling.

But, following last week's half-term school holiday, shoppers in The Oval said crime rates were only dropping because people did not report incidents for fear of reprisals.

Police admit they have not cracked the problem, but insist progress is being made.

A 72-year-old Rose Hill resident, who wished to remain anonymous, said: "If there is a big group of kids out here they just will not leave you alone.

"The police need to be more visible. The thing is, when they (a groups of teenagers) are all out there you never see a policeman. You see them drive past but they never stop.

"It does scare people. If you say you are going to the police they will chuck a brick through your window. They intimidate people so no one bothers to report it any more.

"They have stripped the bark off the trees in The Oval and destroyed a wall they sit on so many times."

A Rose Hill shopkeeper, who also wished to remain anonymous, said: "The police think the crime level is falling because no-one is reporting the crime any more.

"It is just that people are scared to do anything, or think the police won't do anything anyway. If you tell the kids to pick up some litter or whatever you will get threatened or lots of abuse."

As reported in the Oxford Mail, between April and December 2007 the majority of crime in Rose Hill was down on the same period in 2006, dropping 37 per cent from 427 to 267 recorded incidents. Violence against a person dropped 13 per cent from 78 to 68 incidents and criminal damage was down 41 per cent from 164 to 97.

Singh Turna, of the Costcutter store in The Oval, said last week's half-term holiday did not cause any particular problems. "This week has been OK," he said.

Police neighbourhood inspector Phil Standish said he was not aware of any specific incidents during half term.

He added: "Our resources have not changed since Christmas when our full level of PCSOs and neighbourhood specialist officers was installed - we now have six PCSOs for the area.

"The issue I have had is the fear of crime. Levels of crime have been significantly reduced but we need to make sure people understand that correlates with our patrols. We know we have not cracked it and there is some way to go, but theinfrastructure is in place now, with things like Asbos (antisocial behaviour orders) and the work of the council's crime and nuisance team. It is very much business as usual.

"Being pragmatic, there are still people there who are clearly going to attempt to affect the quality of life of the decent, law-abiding majority.

"But people are now much more willing to come forward and say that is unacceptable behaviour, and that is something we did not have before historically."