A ROBUST two-pronged approach – with the emphasis on prevention and punishment - is needed to reduce the number of arson attacks in the Bradford district.

On the one hand, agencies need to work together to continue presenting a strong fire safety message with a view to preventing such incidents.

On the other hand, if that educational message doesn’t hit home, offenders need to be genuinely fearful of being caught and put before the courts.

If either of those two prongs is perceived to be weaker than the other, the effectiveness of the approach is drastically reduced.

In today’s Telegraph & Argus, we are reporting that the number of arson attacks in Bradford is 18.8 per cent worse than the target so far this year – even before the busy Bonfire period.

At the same time, figures have revealed there were only a dozen convictions for arson offences across the whole of West Yorkshire during the last financial year, including four in Bradford.

Those 12 convictions equate to a tiny fraction of the thousands of reported arson attacks across the county in the same time period – suggesting that the vast majority of people who start fires escape punishment.

In light of these figures, surely more work is needed to ascertain why such a small number of arsonists are being put before the courts.

A greater understanding is obviously needed of the reasons for the gap between reported arson attacks and convictions.