Recorded incidents of anti-social behaviour in Dorset have continued to fall - according to a county council report - although councillors were hard-pressed to find the evidence from the figures.

Several questioned the overall claim made in a report to the county safeguarding committee in Dorchester on Monday.

It read: “Recorded Antisocial Behaviour (ASB) is considerably lower than last year and has

shown a fairly stable overall trend in the past few years.”

Weymouth Cllr Kate Wheller said she had only found one measure, of several, which had declined, other councillors admitted that they were having trouble interpreting the anti-social behaviour statistics as well as some others.

There was also confusion over statistics for domestic abuse crimes which has increased from 6,038 incidents to 6,270, although domestic abuse incidents had increased, according to the same report before Monday's safeguarding committee. The committee was told that the difference was that an incident was defined as when an allegation was made and a 'crime' when it became a prosecutable offence.

Cllr BIll Pipe said he would like to see a better break down of the statistics which covered the whole county, not just rural Dorset.

Total crime in the county is also said to have increased year on year while anti social behaviour incidents are said to be 'considerably lower' than a year ago.

Road deaths and recorded serious injuries have increased over the year, to July 2018 – with 22 fatalities and 191 serious injuries compared to 13 fatalities and 202 serious injuries for the 12 months to July 2017. At the same time minor injuries from road accidents have continued to decline, a downward trend which has continued for a number of years.

Figures also show fewer potholes on the county's road and quicker repair rates – although several councillors said their voters would say the position was not what they were experiencing.

Cllr Toni Coombs said that in her area (Verwood) she received frequent complaints about what she described as surface delamination of estate roads: “time and time again people are being told that it's not bad enough, it's not dangerous, so nothing is done.

“It does nothing to help us. We get residents on our backs saying nothing is being done about our roads.”

Cllr Pipe said he could point out two large holes in Dorchester's High Street which he had spotted on the way to the meeting.