Wisbech has a significant issue with crime and anti-social behaviour, says Fenland Council leader Chris Boden.
“More needs to be done to tackle anti-social behaviour and crime in Wisbech where it is significantly worse than the three Fenland towns combined,” he said.
Cllr Boden was responding to a question from Wisbech councillor Dave Patrick who asked what the council was doing to stamp out anti-social behaviour.
The council leader was reluctant to accept Cllr Patrick’s statement that Wisbech was top of the ‘league’ table of middle-sized Cambridgeshire towns with high crime rates.
“Ultimately it doesn’t matter,” said Cllr Boden. “There is too much crime in Wisbech; too much anti-social behaviour.”
He said a “specific” resource had been allocated to Medworth ward, but the responsibility continues to rest with Cambridgeshire police.
It was “perfectly proper” to challenge them and the police and crime commissioner Daryl Preston about resources.
He said the crime figures for Wisbech were “quite startingly” high when compared with March, Chatteris and Whittlesey.
Wisbech figures showed a “significantly disproportionate problem”.
He did not want to give the impression of Wisbech being a lawless place where people did not want to live and where they remained in constant fear.
But more needed to be done to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour.
A recent study showed Wisbech has the unenviable record of the most dangerous medium-sized town in Cambridgeshire.
And it is among the top 10 most dangerous overall out of Cambridgeshire’s 262 towns, villages, and cities.
CrimeRate is an interactive crime map shows criminal offences that took place between July 2019 and June 2022.
It has found that the overall crime rate in Wisbech in 2021 was 124 crimes per 1,000 people. This compares poorly to Cambridgeshire’s overall crime rate, coming in 41% higher than the Cambridgeshire rate of 73 per 1,000 residents.
For England, Wales, and Northern Ireland as a whole, Wisbech is among the top 20 most dangerous medium-sized towns, and the 333rd most dangerous location out of all towns, cities, and villages.
CrimeRate says: “In December 2021, Wisbech was the worst medium-sized town in Cambridgeshire for criminal damage and arson, with 25 crimes reported and a crime rate of 0.97 per 1,000 inhabitants.
“December 2021 was also a bad month for Wisbech residents, when it was Cambridgeshire’s most dangerous medium-sized town for burglary, recording 15 crimes at a rate of 0.58 per 1,000 residents.”
It adds: “Wisbech recorded 19 reports of drugs during October 2021, making its crime rate of 0.74 the worst medium-sized town for drugs in Cambridgeshire that month.”
CrimeRate says that out of all of Cambridgeshire’s larger towns and cities, Wisbech is the most dangerous.
The next most dangerous is Peterborough, and Cambridge comes in as third most dangerous.
There are safer parts of Cambridgeshire, starting with St. Neots which ranks as the safest area in Cambridgeshire, followed up by Huntingdon in second place, and Cambridge in third place.
