Nottingham tops crime survey

Nottingham has been named as the most crime-ridden place in England and Wales in a new survey.

According to a report by independent think tank, Reform, Nottingham has nearly four times as many crimes as Southend in Essex and Poole in Dorset, the towns at the bottom of the table.

Reform used the latest figures for a number of crimes including murder, rape, assault, gun crime, vehicle crime, burglary and robbery to come up with a crime level per 1,000 residents in each area.

Nottingham was calculated to have the most crimes overall, with 115.54 per person, followed by Leeds with 107.22, Stockport with 100.42 and Bradford with 100.4.

In comparison, Southend in Essex was bottom of the table with 30.91 crimes per person, followed by Poole with 32.71 and Colchester in Essex with 33.9.

Nottingham was also found to have the highest murder rate, with 5.21 crimes per person, followed by St Helens, Merseyside with 4.87. However, on gun crime, Nottingham - which had been nicknamed 'Assassination City' because of its high levels of gun crime - came fourth in the report with 7.61 crimes per 1,000 residents. Bradford came top of that list with 12.53 crimes per 1,000 residents, followed by Leeds with 12.45 and Northampton with 10.24.

In the overall table, London came 29th, while in the statistics for murder, the capital came 21st.

Report co-author Blair Gibbs said: "The government's key message that crime has been falling masks a huge variation between the safest and most dangerous urban areas.

"Better information and improved policing based on direct accountability to local communities is urgently needed to drive down crime and increase public safety."

However, the leader of Nottingham city council, Jon Collins, has called for the report to be withdrawn.

Mr Collins told the BBC: "How can we possibly be the most dangerous city in the country when, for example, there are 10 times as many murders in London, according to this report, than in Nottingham?"

(KMcA)