NEEDLE FINDS RISE BY 841

Hundreds of drug users' needles have been found on the streets of
Oxford estates.

Last summer, figures showed 10 drugs needles were removed from
Blackbird Leys, while two were found in Rose Hill and Iffley, and
none in Littlemore.

But between October and December 113 syringes - or sharps - were
picked up from the same streets, an 841 per cent rise. Advertisement
continued...

Oxford City Council said the increase was because street wardens now
have to record the finds in their street scene reports.

A council spokesman said: "The sharps data has increased in the last
quarter because the street wardens data is now being collected for
the same report.

"This is due to the start of the Neighbourhood Environment Action
teams (Neats) whose aim it to keep Oxford clean and improve the
environment in the city.

"They are to cover the whole city and have initially targeted
cleansing including graffiti and fly-posting, highway issues, litter
including dog fouling and refuse collection issues."

Every drug user's syringe was cleared by the council within half an
hour of being found.

The average time taken to remove drug needles in Blackbird Leys is 26
minutes, while it takes about 18 minutes in Rose Hill and 22 minutes
in Littlemore.

Between October and December there were 60 syringes removed from
Blackbird Leys, 39 from Littlemore and 14 from Rose Hill and Iffley.
Out of the 113 syringes found, 89 were removed by street wardens.

The nearest needle exchange has been at Lloyds Pharmacy on Blackbird
Leys Road, Blackbird Leys for the past five years.

Leys' city councillor Lee Cole said: "If they have changed the way
they are collecting the figures we will need to see what happens over
the next quarter.

"But it obviously alarming because any child could go an pick them up
and could get diseases or infections.

"It is alarming that there were so many found in Blackbird Leys and
maybe it is time to look at getting safe and secure places for the
needles to be deposited."

The Drug help drop-in centre, Community Action Development (Cad), in
Barns Road, which was run by Blackbird Leys volunteers, was shut down
in May 2005 after funding from the city council ended.