A DEALING hotspot near the centre of Oxford was spruced up as part of a campaign to clampdown on drug offences in the city.

Oxford City Council’s parks and community response teams were joined by volunteers as they cleared foliage in an alleyway off Wytham Street, off Abingdon Road, which serves as main cycling route into the city centre.

The work, which saw foliage cut back and scrub vegetation cleared along the alleyway, aims to make the area safer, improving visibility for residents and police, and improving the appearance of the area.

The initiative was part of Stronghold, an on-going campaign to tackle drug crime in Oxford led by Thames Valley Police and and the city council.

Tom Hayes, the council’s executive board member for community safety, said: “Everything we do is to improve people’s lives and strengthen their communities.

“This is a known drugs hotspot and residents say they don’t feel safe. The work will make it harder for drug dealing and taking to take place, which will protect vulnerable people caught up in the drugs market and deliver security for our communities.

“Our aims are simple: stopping drug deals and wider criminal behaviour, reassuring people, and building up trust in this joint work, and using every tool that is available to the city council and the police to safeguard the very vulnerable against exploitation in their own city.”

The campaign has seen a series of high-visibility, targeted patrols aimed at disrupting offending, identifying and arresting offenders, and reassuring residents.

At key locations, a range of measures such as improving lights, installing CCTV and cutting back foliage are also being considered.

The work was led by a biodiversity and habitat expert from the council and saw the lower part of foliage trimmed without damaging the higher parts.

This work, known as raising the canopy, aimed to protect and preserve the biodiversity of the area.

It is not the first time that community work of this kind has been used to combat crime.

In December, Sgt Peter Neale and a group of helpers cleared a towpath along Castle Mill Stream.

Sgt Neale’s hope was that the group’s efforts will deter antisocial behaviour by the waterside near Upper Fisher Row and Rewley Road and empower the community in that area.

Speaking at the time, he said: “Clearing these areas opens them up to greater visibility to those walking past and people in overlooking premises and that acts as a deterrent for those who would undertake that kind of behaviour.”

Just last month police in Oxford said that drug-related crime was among their top priorities for the year – with a focus on protecting vulnerable people becoming embroiled in drug crime.