Is where you live safe?

[Dinoswearunderpants]

I keep thinking about safety in our local area and it feels pretty dire.

We have muggings, stabbings and burglaries often. It makes me so uncomfortable raising my child here.

We are considering moving but no idea where. We currently live in Essex but I work in London so need to be able to get into London but I have a colleague who commutes in from Birmingham so it shows it's manageable.

Is your area safe and where (roughly) is it please.

My bit is. But there's areas of the town I won't go at night, a couple I won't go at all no matter the time.

I stay in my bit.
I'm in a larger town in the Midlands. Not far from MK, Northampton, Leicester, Coventry etc.

I feel safe where I live. I can walk home alone in the dark and not worry. I doubt it’s commute distance to London though as it’s up in Lancashire.

I do feel safe where I live. I’m in a seaside town in West Sussex, the train to London take an hour and twenty minutes. Crime rates are pretty low here. It’s a very expensive place to live though, houses are pricey.

it is safe as in you can walk down the street fine there Is drugs related crime at the other end of our town and some of the villages are "iffy" but where I am is OK.

I mean I'm in Scotland so you wouldn't really commute but yours was a 2 part question.

Yep, rural NE England. Worst thing that happens is farmers drink driving horse + carts home on a Saturday night.and tearing up the village green. Occasional random break ins like once or twice a year.
I can walk around the village at midnight in winter without an issue. However appreciate that this is zero use for you!

Yes, very, but we're about six hours from London

I live in Somerset and it feels really safe here, not sure I'd want to commute to London every day though!

Parts of Surrey are pretty safe?

Very safe. Tiny rural Rutland village.

It’s a bit far for a daily commute but some people do it. We are about 30 mins drive to Peterborough and then it’s 70 mins to London.
I’d do it if I was hybrid and only went in 1-2 days a week.

Yes, I feel very safe where I live. This is backed up by very low crime rate. Actually I think it’s one of the lowest in the country last time I checked. I am happy to walk my dogs alone in the dark in the fields or walk home alone from a night out at 1 in the morning. I let my kids go out and play. I’m more worried about road safety than I am about crime. I know most of the kids who are at the local state secondary. They’re mostly good kids. Occasionally someone will catch them smoking pot behind the garages. We’re a close knit community so it gets back to their parents pretty quickly! That’s about the worst of the crime!
We’re in the north. About 2 hours on the train from London. Lots of people commute to London from here but it’s expensive!! £££

I live in Essex , Leigh -on- sea. It feels very safe , perhaps it might be an option for you. Where in Essex do you live?

Nope!

Local park is full of drug addicts and needles, families with out of control dogs, everyday the neighbourhood whatsapp group is full of ring door bell videos of cars being broken into or trying to be broken into. Drugs. Parents fight in the school playground, smoke weed on the school run.

Ds motorcycle was nicked off the drive at 5pm, he heard the bolt cutters but knows as a police officer, there’s no food from running out and trying to stop them, they would have caved his head in with said bolt cutters.

It’s an absolute shit hole. house is on the market (we couldn’t afford anywhere else). Bizarrely, the housing market here is boyant. Probably as it’s still a cheapish area 40 from a major city.

Funny enough this was a location I was looking at.

I'm near Romford and that's not safe at all.

Lots of muggings, robberies for expensive jewellery, stabbing, even shootings and stealing cars is very often on local Facebook page

having said that myself and children are street wise and we love London. This is all over London not just an a local issue. I have friends in Birmingham, derby and Peterborough and it’s the same there they say.

It's a lovely place to live @Dinoswearunderpants , moving here was a great decision for us. I have never felt unsafe and my children had a wonderful childhood. My DS is in his last year at Grammar school and DD is at university now. We found it very welcoming.

It's the best decision we made , you should definitely have a look. Good luck with your search.x

We live in what feels like a safe suburb of a big city. I never hear of any violence or muggings etc. I have heard of a couple of burglaries with half a mile.
I feel the UK is very mixed and even the nicest areas can be next door to more deprived, crime ridden areas. We're not far from such places but I never feel unsafe. I'm perfectly comfortable walking home in the dark, for example.

Our SW Scottish village is very safe. It's the kind of place where doors aren't locked all day. Kids roam from a very young age. We do have some people/families getting into scraps, the rougher folk who populate a couple of streets that take drugs and yell at each other on a random Saturday night or during Christmastime. But it doesn't affect anyone else really. Break ins, car thefts and random acts of violence aren't a thing. Insurance is cheap as chips. I wouldn't live anywhere else.

Very safe in the 8 years we have lived here the worst crime was a report to the police that someone was sneaking into their neighbours back garden in the early hours - on checking it turned out the neighbour had a new milkman! Oh and a brief spate of sheep rustling. It’s so safe here we have a travelling post office who run out of a church hall, they sit at a table with the cash box on display, sometimes you pop in and the staff member has popped to the toilet/kitchen to make a cuppa and all money is just left sitting on the table, no security, no cameras- I remember being so shocked when I first saw it but it’s just the norm now. We live East Midlands. My husband commutes to London and it’s less than an hour and a half from our closest station to Kings Cross.

Yes, live in a thriving but small Oxfordshire Villiage. The biggest crime we’ve had was a lamb massacre a couple of years ago (by a dog)

Hi @AlltheFs 👋🏻 I am also in a tiny rural Rutland Village! Youre further from Pboro than me, as its about 15/20 mins but then its only 50 mins on the train from there to Kings Cross.

OP, where roughly in London do you work, as that makes a massive difference to where you want to live in the UK.

There are many safer parts of Essex as someone mentioned, you might have to branch out a little. Definitely safer than Birmingham! We have family there in different parts and going out after dark isn’t common.
I live in one of the wealthier London boroughs. It is quieter after dark than say pre Covid times. The odd mugging etc. However, lots to do and more work opportunities for us so we stay here despite it being more expensive.

We live in NE Hampshire and I think it’s very safe. Rarely hear of violent crime although, like anywhere l, there are issues with drugs and county lines.

@JellyComb we are towards Oakham (Exton) but I find it an ok journey to Peterborough, although my office is in Leicester so do tend to go in to London from there if it’s for work reasons.
Not many Rutland people crop up on here! Most people still don’t know where it is 😂

@AlltheFs There used to be someone on here with the username "Edith Weston" which used to make me laugh. I said hello once and asked if she was from Rutland by any chance and never saw that user name again! Hahaha!

We're in zone 2 London. It has a high crime rate statistically and there is a lot of drug use, and phone snatching, and some stabbings. But I've never been affected by any of that so I feel very safe when walking around. It is so busy and bright with lots of lighting. Admittedly I'm rarely out after dark as we have young dc, and I grew up in London so I'm instinctively streetwise.