AS PORTFOLIO holder for safer communities I am writing in response to an article and editorial (Oxford Mail, April 7) about the launch of Oxford City Council’s new Community Response Team.

I would like to take this opportunity to allay any fears your readers may have after reading your article that the reduction in the number of community wardens will result in a reduction in the levels of service they have rightly come to expect.

I am not going to make excuses about difficult financial times as that, and the subsequent impact on public services, is known to all.

However, we have taken the bold step to extend the role and coverage of our community warden team so more people benefit, not fewer.

To support this we have invested in technology and changed our working practices that provide a more efficient and effective way of working.

Your article also raised concerns that the team will lose its existing local knowledge of some of Oxford’s communities.

The introduction of new streamlined administrative procedures will simplify paperwork and provide the wardens with much more time to deliver high-visibility reassurance patrols.

With over 80 per cent of their week spent patrolling and engaging with local residents, wardens can offer positive actions to the community’s concerns much quicker than before.

The team have spent the past six months creating and constantly updating area profiles which support the detailed local knowledge they have accumulated to date and will continue to expand as the service develops further.

Oxford’s residents can be reassured that the deep-rooted links the community wardens have developed over the past years will not be lost.

No longer being restricted to a specific patrol area means the Community Response Team are gathering much more community intelligence and can respond to an issue as and when it arises.

Having this new service structure will enable the community wardens to carry on building on their already very successful community engagement and as the title suggests, continue to respond to all our communities’ needs.

SAJJAD MALIK, executive member for safer communities, Oxford City Council