To want to move due to crime rates

[Dinoswearunderpants]

I live in a London borough but close to Essex and it is progressively getting worse.

Today I witnessed a women punch another women on the train. The aggressor was off her head on something. Thankfully there was off duty police who got the aggressor off the train but the poor victim was left stunned.

I have a three year old and I just feel like this area is getting worse and worse. I just want to move to somewhere safe but does that even exist in the UK.

DH has three other kiddies we need to think about too so can't move too far. I feel so scared of where I'm raising my child.

Has anyone else noticed their areas getting worse, if so did you move?

I go and check official crime reports in the area which are published monthly. It usually puts my mind at rest. There were 39 crimes committed in my area last month, 30 of them were shoplifting as we live near a big shopping mall. 8 domestic rows and only 1 burglary. I recon that's as good as it gets.

There's no crime problem. You're imagining it. It's the media scaremongering to sell papers.

I agree op , I’m in north east London and I would love to move for this reason ,

If you're where I think you are - then yes, I would move away.
Life is too short to hate where you live.

She just witnessed one 🤦‍♀️

I was being sarcastic. My inlaws left London 15 years ago because of the crime.

Hi OP. I think we're maybe just slightly round from you - north London borough that borders Essex and Herts. We have lived for a long time in what was a historically 'naice' part of our borough, overlooking a green. We're planning on moving this year and, while rising crime isn't the only factor, it's definitely part of the picture.

We had no problems until maybe 5-6 years ago, but recently both of our cars have been stolen from the road outside our house (along with most of our neighbours having experienced the same, or a break in). The green, which used to be lovely, is increasingly covered with fly-tipped rubbish, shopping trolleys and the wall that runs alongside it is covered with graffiti. Groups of young men congregate to take and sell drugs, and Über drives park up to pee in the bushes (my OH has a lovely view of this as he works from home!) The town centre, 5mins walk away, is also rapidly becoming a no-go zone, and phone snatching in particular is rife.

Many of our friends and neighbours, who moved here from other London boroughs, are less bothered by the changing environment and low level crime because they don't know how things used to be, but I grew up here and it's so different from how is was for the first 35 years of my life. Most people we know just don't use the town centre or local facilities now, and ferry their kids around in cars everywhere.

Of course, the local social media sites for the areas we're looking to move to are equally fully of complaints about rising crime and changes for the worse - obviously nowhere is perfect. But from what I can gauge they seem to be about 5-10 years behind our area in terms of the deterioration, and we just want out DD to feel safe, be able to walk places, make her own way home from school, meet with friends in the town centre without too much hassle etc. Our local town centre secondaries now all have volunteer patrols outside after school and the kids are instructed to go straight home to avoid all the muggings and gang fights.

Hmmm I’m in north London and see mad stuff all the time - but it doesn’t really affect my day to day life so I just ignore it.

theres people stabbed and stuff daily on my high road but its gangs so I don’t really care about it and they aren’t going around killing random members of the public

i don’t feel like it’s particularly unsafe for me or my kids.

If is B&D id definitely move.

If is B&D id definitely move

Also if it's B&D you now have our ex-council leader as your MP, and she is both useless and notoriously corrupt so I'd definitely be inclined to move!

The problem with this thread is you'll have two camps:

• the "Oh dear OP, didn't you know your area is vibrant? We have no problems here in East London despite it being a notorious area for gangs and murder. Maybe try getting to know some of your neighbours? I walk DD to her oboe lessons and we always spud the local shotters who are posted up on the corner."

or

• "Everywhere is bad now. I agree. We've seen someone throw a Costa cup out of their window last week and its a sign that the barbers opposite is being used for money laundering. Make sure you move right away OP for your mental health".

Thanks for the replies. I'm in the neighbouring borough to B&D. It just seems to be getting worse and worse.

I have a little boy who I'm so scared of the thought of him walking around when he's older.

Does anyone know much about Braintree, Chelmsford or Colchester please?

There's so many to stay as we have lovely neighbours but all I can think about is my little one.

I'd be a nervous wreck! 🙈

I have a little boy who I'm so scared of the thought of him walking around when he's older

I can definitely empathise OP. With us it's not even that we're worried about crime and anti-social behaviour affecting DD directly; it's more that we want to allow her a certain level of freedom as she grows up, rather than being stereotypical helicopter parents driving her round everywhere, and we don't feel we can easily achieve that here in London.

We also don't want to normalise all the theft and knife crime and have her become immune to it all - I was fairly streetwise as a teen growing up here, but it was more around things like traffic and stranger danger than knives and gangs! She's only 7 at the moment but very switched on and inquisitive, and I hate it every time I have to explain why the bus driver has stopped the bus we're on to deal with yet another fight, or why the police have cordoned off that particular part of the town centre.

I completely understand this. It's just so sad how things have changed so much since we were younger (god I sound old!).

We moved to just outside a town that doesn’t have the best reputation, but we were far enough away to avoid it and the house we wanted was less money. Over time, the anti social behaviour has increased and moved further towards the village, the road became a rat run and I began to hate it, although I loved the house.

We moved at the end of last year. The house and car insurance have reduced because the postcode is different, it’s quiet, but near enough to shops etc. There probably isn’t anywhere that’s crime free, but I feel much happier here.

I think it might be a good idea for you to read up on the actual crime stats and trends over the last 50 years.

Remember you have changed since you were young, you are looking through different eyes.

However, feeling safe is always a good reason to move. Families have been moving out of London for this reason since the settlement first existed!

Chelmsford has grammar schools shops and some nice bits. Also some not so nice bits.
Colchester is a uni town and also has army barracks Apart from that I don't know too much about it for family life.

I did when I noticed. Sadly, it correlated with our house price also going down, probably for the same sort of reasons - as anti social crime went up, the area became less desirable and so the house prices went down. Took a bit of a financial hit but moved to an area with had quite a boom in house price value so have sort of made up for it in a way. Do what brings you peace.

We did live somewhere safe until lots of new housing was built, lots of new people moved into the area - many from London and now the area has behaviour just as you describe. So it’s everywhere.

@Dinoswearunderpants It is sad. As I said, I think for us it's seeing things change over time - our friends who have moved here from places like Hackney and Islington are less bothered by it, as to them that's just how London is (they often didn't grow up here, so London is 'The Big Smoke' rather than 'Home' if that makes sense).

Also it sounds idealistic but we want to be part of a thriving, cohesive community, not stuck in a little middle class bubble. Many of our friends just go from their houses to work (or WFH) and then drive out to other boroughs for nicer leisure centres, cinemas etc, Kids are driven to school, between activities etc. Whereas while I do drive we try to walk and access local facilities more, so see very clearly how they've gone downhill.

Surely seeing facilities going downhill into rack and ruin is the whole middle class bubble popping experience you're looking for though.

Move.

We did, from an urban to semi-rural area, and it was night and day.

Do you want your children to go to the shop or school without a good chance of getting stabbed? That's the difference it can make.

That's exactly what I'm worried about. But then you hear about 'Country lines' so I have no idea what's better.

All you can do is to minimise the chances of bad stuff happening, and living in a better area is a really good start.