A boost of £1m from a government scheme will be put into crime prevention across the Thames Valley region.

The successful bid from the Safer Streets Fund will mean extra spending for initiatives in Oxfordshire, Berkshire, and Buckinghamshire.

Safer Streets launched in 2020, allowed Police and Crime Commissioners to submit three proposals for their area to the Home Office to receive the funding.

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It is generally being used to tackle neighbourhood and rural crime, violence against women and girls, and anti-social behaviour.

Police and crime commissioner for Thames Valley, Matthew Barber said: “I am pleased that we have received further funding from the Safer Streets Fund and that we were successful in securing the maximum amount available in this round.

“Anti-social behaviour, neighbourhood crime and violence against women and girls can have a significant impact on the extent to which residents feel safe in their communities and these initiatives have the potential to make a real difference.

“The success of these three bids means that Safer Streets funding has reached every local policing area in Thames Valley since the fund opened in 2020.

Oxford Mail: Police and crime commissioner Matthew Barber Police and crime commissioner Matthew Barber (Image: Natalie Jezzard)"I look forward to seeing the impact of these latest interventions in tackling these important issues.”

Oxford, Slough and High Wycombe will receive £500,000 worth of funding to support a range of initiatives to tackle violence against women and girls.

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This will include additional Project Vigilant deployments by Thames Valley Police to identify predatory behaviour in the night-time economy (NTE), bystander training for people working and volunteering in the NTE and the creation of a school-based programme.

The funding will also be used to increase, or set up where missing, the reach of public guardians such as street angels to support vulnerable people on nights out in those areas.

West Oxfordshire, South Oxfordshire and the Vale of the White Horse will receive £201,000 and aim to deliver interventions on neighbourhood and rural acquisitive crime. 

This will include deploying effective signage and property marking products for agricultural equipment, tools and quad bikes and the recruitment of a rural crime advisor who will work to promote rural crime prevention and engage with communities and the National Farmers Union.  

In West Berkshire, £299,000 will be spent on interventions to tackle anti-social behaviour on The Nightingales Estate in Newbury.

This will include new CCTV cameras, neighbourhood guardians to offer a uniformed presence on the estate, outreach youth work, community clean p days as well as funding to support the provision of diversionary activity for young people.

This latest round of funding will work with local authorities and wider partners to deliver interventions up to March 31, 2025.