Analysis of over one million insurance claims by the website moneysupermarket.com has this week determined the twenty biggest burglary hotspots in Britain. And, whilst there may be some familiar names in the list, the research also threw up some surprising statistics. According to the survey, Britain’s burglary capital is the affluent, bohemian Manchester area of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, and the other districts surrounding the M21 postcode.
Chorlton has become a sought after area in recent years thanks to its affordable house prices and ‘village-like’ community. However, the research found that one in eleven households in the M21 postcode made a claim for burglary in 2009.
The Liberal Democrat councillor for Chorlton, Paul Ankers, said: “We did have a spike in burglaries 12 months ago. A lot of that was down to a small number of career burglars and working with the police we’ve achieved some arrests.”
Ten of the top twenty burglary hotspots were in London with Blackheath, Hammersmith and Finsbury Park just behind Chorlton in the list,
However, other high property crime areas were affluent suburbs; not what you might expect to see in such a list. The upmarket areas of Roundhay in Leeds and Gerrards Cross in Buckinghamshire came ahead of traditional crime hotspots such as Brixton, south London.
The analysis was produced by the comparison website in order to encourage households to make sure that they had sufficient buildings and contents insurance. However, property crime figures have been on a downward trend in Britain for over ten years. According to the British Crime Survey, burglary and theft has more than halved since its peak in 1993.
As Chorlton neighbourhood police sergeant Stewart Chitty said, ““I will accept that burglary is an ongoing issue across Manchester and every burglary that takes place is a burglary too many, but all crime is coming down year on year.”
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