Hillingdon Council's Cabinet has endorsed a new Community Safety Strategy for 2026-2029, outlining four key priorities to enhance safety across the borough. The strategy, developed through a strategic needs assessment and public consultation, aims to create safer neighbourhoods, tackle violence against women and girls, reduce serious violence, and prevent harm through early intervention and safeguarding.
The strategy was presented to the Cabinet by Councillor Wayne Bridges, Cabinet Member for Community & Environment, who highlighted its importance in addressing residents' concerns about burglary, drug dealing, knife crime, and anti-social behaviour.
Key priorities within the strategy include:
- Safer Neighbourhoods: Focusing on reducing incidents of anti-social behaviour and acquisitive crime, improving community safety through CCTV and partnership alliances, and addressing environmental factors contributing to crime.
- Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG): This priority encompasses domestic abuse, sexual violence, stalking, harmful practices, and sexual exploitation. The strategy aims to empower communities, provide safe environments, ensure early identification of abuse, and offer accessible support for survivors. Concrete actions include working with education providers on healthy relationships training, creating and promoting 'Safe Spaces', ensuring parks remain safe, raising awareness of harmful practices, developing early intervention services, and providing accessible support for survivors. The strategy also aims to achieve DAHA accreditation and ensure an effective approach to Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA).
Bin Weapons Here receptacle - Serious Violence: Addressing complex drivers such as social media influence, county lines, and gangs, with a focus on engagement with young people, disrupting extremist activity, and robustly tackling perpetrators.
- Preventing Harm and Safeguarding Communities: Responding to emerging risks such as self-initiated terrorism, hate crime, modern slavery, and exploitation. This includes raising awareness, disrupting extremist activity, and providing tailored support for vulnerable individuals.
The strategy emphasizes a multi-agency approach, with partners including the Metropolitan Police, London Fire Brigade, and the Integrated Care Board collaborating to implement the plan. The Safer Hillingdon Partnership will oversee the strategy's implementation, with progress monitored through quarterly reporting.
The Leader of the Council, Councillor Ian Edwards, noted the contrast between recorded crime statistics and residents' lived experiences, stressing the importance of the strategy and continued joint efforts with the police to address anti-social behaviour and low-level crime.
The adoption of the draft Community Safety Strategy has no direct financial cost to the Council, with the delivery of Council elements managed within existing resources. The strategy itself does not detail a specific budget allocation for its implementation or distribution among the four priorities.
The Safer Hillingdon Partnership Community Safety Strategy 2026-2029 was recommended to Full Council for adoption by the Cabinet on 19 February 2026. The strategy is referred to Full Council for decision on 26 February 2026. The implementation requirements and proposed timeline for the Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMO) Additional Licensing Scheme indicate that enforcement provisions commence on 24 August 2026, with full compliance required by 23 August 2026.
The strategy will now be presented to Full Council for adoption. See the draft Community Safety Strategy here.
