Community Safety overview

Crime in England and Wales 2024/25

The 2024/25 publication from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) showed that crime against individuals and households has generally decreased over the last 10 years with some notable exceptions, such as sexual assault. However, the latest reporting period shows increases in certain crime types. Since the CSEW only provides data at the national level, police recorded crime is used to understand trends at the local authority level.

In Lancashire-14, police recorded crime data showed there were 129,174 crimes (excluding fraud), representing a slight decrease of 232 offences (1%) compared to 2023/24 and violence against the person accounted for 42% of all recorded offences, consistent with the previous year. Theft-related crimes saw the most notable increases, with theft from the person rising by nearly 15%, residential burglary up by almost 8%, and bicycle theft increasing by close to 12%.  Drug offences also saw a rise of 23% from the previous year, however possession of weapons did show a small decrease.

In 2024/25, Blackpool recorded 155 offences per 1,000 population, the highest rate across the Lancashire-14 area. Nationally, Blackpool ranked fourth among Community Safety Partnerships for overall crime, with the highest rate of violence against the person and the second highest rate of sexual offences.

Despite its high crime rate, Blackpool and South Ribble both saw a reduction in offences of 3.7 per 1,000 population when compared with the previous year. Smaller decreases were also observed in Burnley, Blackburn with Darwen, Chorley, Ribble Valley, West Lancashire and Wyre. Conversely, Fylde, Hyndburn, Lancaster, Preston, and Pendle experienced slight increases in recorded crime. Pendle recorded the largest rise, with an increase of 2.5 offences per 1,000 population.  All figures include offences by both residents and non-residents.

 

 

Further information can be found in the dashboard below

 

Lancashire strategic assessment 2022-25

The 2022-2025 strategic assessment states: this assessment highlights some of the key issues and risks across Lancashire which affect the local communities. They require multi-agency engagement to improve safeguarding, reduce vulnerability, reduce crime and anti-social behaviour, and improve the well-being of our residents. 

When looking at crime in a different perspective – harm – and using the ONS Crime Severity Tool, these volume crimes account for 20% of harm across the county. Using the ONS Crime Severity Tool to look at the most harmful crime categories, gives a different picture to that mentioned above. The most harmful crime types include residential and commercial burglary, assaults, wounding, rape, robbery and sexual activity involving a child. These crimes account for 25% of the volume, but 68% of harm. Investigations into the most harmful crimes are also the most resource intensive, not just for the police, but for partners as well. The score for each partnership can be seen on page 7 of the community safety dashboard.

As part of the strategic process a Living in Lancashire survey was conducted, sending out 2,916 questionnaires to residents across Lancashire. There was a 68% (1,991) response rate with all community safety, crime and policing questions answered by respondents. Analysis of the results found the following highlights:

• 85% of respondents felt safe in their local area – with the age group of 60 yrs+ feeling most safe (88%).
• A lack of police presence (14%) was the most significant reason why respondents felt unsafe in their local area.
• More than three-quarters of respondents felt that issues with violence, sexual exploitation and organised crime were not a big problem.
• 38% of respondents felt that burglary, with half of respondents aged 25-44 years, was a problem.
• 53% felt drug dealing was a problem in their area, with respondents aged 25-59 years having most concern.
• Dangerous driving was seen as a big problem for 49% of respondents (increase from previous survey).
• Less than half of respondents felt that the police and other local public services are dealing with crime and ASB successfully – this has been reducing in recent surveys.
• Cleanliness of the streets (34%) and access to green areas (12%) were issues that had increased in dissatisfaction in local communities.