Nottingham the 'most dangerous city in England'

LONDON - Nottingham is the most dangerous city in England and Wales with a crime rate four times greater than the safest towns such as Southend and Poole, according to a study released yesterday.

According to the public services think tank Reform, Nottingham had 115 crimes per 1000 people in 2005 compared to just 30 in Southend, Essex and 32 in Poole, Dorset.

Nottingham also had a far higher crime level than areas of similar size such as Wolverhampton (49 crimes per 1000 people) and Reading (43 per 1000).

Reform said its findings were based on a comparison of seven types of offences -- murder, robbery, rape, burglary, vehicle crime, gun crime and assault -- in urban areas with populations over 100,000.

The results drew criticism from a Nottingham anti-crime body which called the study "pseudo research and misleading reporting" and said crime was falling in virtually every category.

"Once again we see sloppy, error-riddled London-based research and reporting stereotyping our city," said Graham Allen, chair of One Nottingham -- a partnership which encompasses the police, the local council and probation services.

The Reform study called for local police to be made more accountable, saying "dramatic" differences in urban crime levels were often masked by official national figures, which have shown the overall number of offences falling in the last decade.

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

Nottingham has seen a spate of gun crime in recent years, blamed mainly on drugs, including the high-profile shooting of female police officer Rachael Bown in February and the fatal gunning down of Danielle Beccan, 14, in October 2004.

Reform argued putting pressure on local forces by highlighting their performances at city levels, rather than force-wide, and in categories easily understood by the public, would lead to improvements and help cut crime.

"The publication of better information is a key means to improve the performance of public services," said Andrew Haldenby, the Director of Reform.

"For services such as policing, where choice does not apply, it allows local communities to compare the performance of different police units and to demand better performance."

Last week a report by the Audit Commission said more should be done to tackle anti-social behaviour in local neighbourhoods as it had greater impact on how safe people felt than actual crime figures.

Reform's study said Nottingham had the highest rate of murder and vehicle crime.

Portsmouth had the highest number of rapes per 10,000 people, Leicester had the most assaults per 1000 population, and Stockport the highest burglary rate;

Manchester had the highest robbery rate and Bradford the most gun crimes per 10,000 people.

- REUTERS