WEST Yorkshire has been ranked as the least safe place to live in the UK, according to a new study.

To help those looking to move to a new location, regulated property buyers, Good Move have analysed crime rates across the UK including sexual offences and robbery to unveil the safest (and not so safe) areas to live.

The study also featured each area’s crimes for violence against a person, theft offences, criminal damage/arson, drug offences and public order offences.

West Yorkshire scored the highest in the country on violence against the person crimes.

Cleveland, Humberside, Northumbria, and Kent make up the top five riskiest areas.

Meanwhile, the study also found 58 per cent of UK homeowners feel safe from crime in their current area, while 15 per cent feel neither safe nor unsafe.

The top 5 riskiest places to live are as follows (headings for numbers in table below): Location; Violence against a person; Sexual offences; Robbery Theft offences; Criminal damage/arson; Drug offences; Public order offences; Total index; Rank: 

West Yorkshire  0.00        0.08        0.67        0.30        0.40        0.74        0.22        2.42        1

Cleveland            0.21        0.18        0.76        0.25        0.00        0.79        0.52        2.71        2

Humberside       0.35        0.31        0.80        0.39        0.30        0.98        0.39        3.53        3

Northumbria      0.54        0.33        0.90        0.51        0.27        0.90        0.18        3.64        4

Kent                      0.20        0.13        0.79        0.53        0.47        0.95        0.59        3.66        5

In sixth was Merseyside, followed by the Metropolitan Police, then Gwent in eighth, Durham in ninth and South Yorkshire 10th. 

Deputy Chief Constable Russ Foster of West Yorkshire Police, says careful consideration should be taken when police forces across the country are compared.

He said: “West Yorkshire Police would advise that caution is always exercised when comparing crime figures recorded by police forces.

“The force has been rated as ‘outstanding’ at recording crime by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Service (HMICFRS), and was the first metropolitan force to be awarded this accolade.

“Other forces have not attained this high grading, so West Yorkshire Police would always advise very careful consideration is taken when comparing one force with another. It will not necessarily always be an accurate and reliable assessment.

“It is a fact that crime in West Yorkshire has been falling with overall crime reducing by a 2.8 per cent in the last quarter of 2019/2020. This has included decreases in burglary, vehicle crime, robbery and serious violent crime. There was also a reduction in anti-social behaviour of over 5,000 fewer incidents and over 516 fewer missing persons.

“Our Operation Jemlock activity to tackle knife crime also continues across the force area. Jemlock officers have made in excess of 2,800 arrests and seized over 220 weapons since the team’s launch in April 2019.

“The positive trends in crime reduction noted above have continued throughout 2020 and residents here can be confident that the chance of being a victim of crime in West Yorkshire is reducing.

“They can also be confident that if they report a crime to West Yorkshire Police it will be recorded appropriately as well as being dealt with proportionately and professionally.

“Officers in West Yorkshire continue to be dedicated to making people safe and also making them feel safe.”

Meanwhile, Gloucestershire has been unveiled as the UK’s safest spot.

The South Western county scored among the lowest for all crimes – and had the lowest overall score for sexual offences and violence against a person.

North Yorkshire, Wiltshire and Surrey closely followed.

The Good Move research included a study of 2,000 UK homeowners this month by OnePoll.

The crime rates are Crime rates sourced via the Office of National Statistics (ONS), year ending December 2019 (and last updated by ONS on April 23, 2020) covering England and Wales.

It analysed the number of offences and divided this by per 1,000 of the population.

The crime rate stats for cities of London were not included.