Bike thefts and arson have "hugely decreased" at a crime-hit Nottinghamshire estate, authorities have said. Residents on the Oak Tree Lane Estate, Mansfield previously told Nottinghamshire Live that it was sometimes a "nightmare" living there, with past incidents including firefighters being attacked with golf balls.
Due to the number of incidents, the area was designated as a priority neighbourhood by Mansfield District Council, with £33,000 of funding recently being announced for the estate. This was used for plans which include the installation of a CCTV camera on the edge of Oak Tree's heathland, an area previously affected by arson attacks.
Recent crime figures show a significant reduction in crime, with two motorbike thefts happening between last October and March this year, compared to 10 between April and September 2022. Thefts of bicycles dropped from 17 to six in the same periods.
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Meanwhile, arsons fell from 23 to just one, however councillor Angie Jackson joint portfolio holder for community safety, health and wellbeing, said this could be aided by the fact arson is less frequent over winter.
"We will be watching the figures over the summer carefully when we hope that the new CCTV camera in the worst affected area should act as an effective deterrent," she said.
"However, at least some of this success can be attributed to the increased presence of the fire service, education work carried out in schools and the apprehension of offenders. We also recognise that when you are dealing with relatively small figures for the numbers of crimes, the percentage reduction is a large figure which can seem quite dramatic.
"That said, these results still represent a big improvement in crime reduction on Oak Tree and we are really encouraged by the success of this campaign. We hope it has improved the quality of life for residents there and is making the estate a better and safer place to live."
Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Commissioner Caroline Henry said: “I created the Safer4All fund to allow greater flexibility and resource for partners to work together to tackle crime and antisocial behaviour with targeted projects that can have a real impact on people’s quality of life.
“The way it has been delivered in the Oak Tree area shows it has had an impact and made it a safer place. Increased visibility from police, firefighters and the council’s Community Safety team, combined with crime prevention measures and education for young people has driven down incidents.
“This action shows that we are standing shoulder-to-shoulder with residents and are tackling issues that were causing concern. I would urge residents to keep reporting any crime and antisocial behaviour they experience so that partners can continue to understand the issues and put resources in place to deal with them.”
