Majority of 18 to 30 year olds and those aged over 61 feel “Very Safe” or “Safe” in town centre

Survey results containing impressions on Wrexham dating from late 2015 has been provided to Wrexham.com, giving a range of views on how safe the public feel at home, in their wards and the town centre. Data is also provided on how those opinions have been shaped.

Wrexham Council’s Executive Board are due to consider a report on Tuesday that contains reference to some grim sounding stats on page 17 coming out of an obscure survey:

Despite hunting around we could not find a copy of the full survey response, but having promoted and fill it in ourselves, knew it had a range of answers and geo specific data collected. We asked Wrexham Council for a copy, and today they sent us the full PDF report for a unique public look. Although we are unsure if it is a public document we feel it is in the public interest to publish – so you can view it in full here.

The survey was conducted from November 2016 thorough to March 2017, however asked the views of respondents of their experience on the previous 12 months.

1128 respondents answered the question “How safe did you feel when visiting the town centre during the daytime?”, all who had said they had visited the town centre during the daytime, in the last 12 months, so could have covered part of 2015.

The results are graphed below, with a comparison against an averaged ‘Citizens Panel Survey 2015’ result, with a summary: “Once again, we see that the number of respondents feeling unsafe has increased significantly in the period between surveys.”

The daytime figures come with explanatory notes, “There is very little disparity in the responses given by males and females. The majority of respondents aged between 18 to 30, and those aged over 61 feel “Very Safe” or “Safe”, The majority of respondents aged between 31 and 50, feel “A bit unsafe” or “Very unsafe”.”

The night time stats note: ” ‘A bit unsafe’ was the most popular response across every age group”.

A similar day/night question set was posed to people who had not visited the town centre, and they were asked how much they agreed with the statement: “I have avoided the town centre (in daytime / night time) because I am fearful of crime” with the below results.

The sample size was small for the daytime question with just 8 self qualifying respondents, and 275 for the night time answer.

87 people took time to comment on why they did not visit town after dark, with 57% saying “No reason to visit after dark” or “offer is limited or holds no appeal”.

Unsparingly those who said they were fearful of crime overwhelmingly said high visibility policing and action to tackle anti-social behaviour would make them feel safer.

Data was also collected about what people saw and thought about their safety at home and within a two mile radius of where they lived.

1089 respondents answered “In the last 12 months, have you personally experienced, or witnessed, any of the following within a two mile radius of your home” with 80% saying they saw environmental issues (e.g. litter or rubbish inc. fly tipping or dog fouling) and 77% had encountered ‘street drinking/drunken behaviour/underage drinking’.

The question was posed on “How safe do you feel in the following situations?”, with 1105 respondents answering to the scenario of “Walking alone in the daylight, within a 2 mile radius of my home”.

The graph in the PDF is broken, and does not show data, however there is a note that indicates possible outcomes “In 70% of Wrexham wards, “Fairly safe” ranked highest, or joint highest” and “Very safe” ranked highest, or joint highest amongst respondents in age groups 41-50 and 61-70”

A similar question was answered by 1097 respondents on “Walking alone after dark, within a 2 mile radius of my home”, with the male/female split given:

A note to the data reads: “Of all the scenarios presented, this generated the greatest disparity when comparing responses from males and females, with males feeling safest. This is consistent with the results of The National Survey for Wales 2013-14, which found that “…women have a lower probability of feeling safe than men.” In 52% of Wrexham wards, “Very unsafe” ranked highest, or joint highest.”

When the question was moved to people’s homes, 84% replied they felt very safe / fairly safe at home alone in the daytime, although that drops to 60% ‘after dark’ – little disparity in the responses given by males and females.

Ward specific information is also provided for the safety at home / within 2 miles question, with it noted the percentage of respondents selecting “A bit unsafe” or “very unsafe” to the scenarios presented at Q7 was highest in Smithfield, Queensway, Gwenfro, Stansty and Whitegate.

The survey also asked about people’s perception of their fear of being a victim of crime compared to other places. Building on that 1156 respondents answered “Which of the following information sources influenced your response about your fear of being a victim of crime in Wrexham?” with the below graph being given as a collation of their responses:

Commentary on the data noted: “In one quarter of Wrexham’s wards, ‘Local news outlets, e.g. Wrexham Leader, Wrexham.com’ ranked highest, or joint highest, as the source influencing respondents’ fear of crime rating”, and “substantially fewer respondents are influenced by broadsheet & tabloid newspapers, TV documentaries & radio & TV news than local media, suggesting that local outlets are currently the primary influencers in Wrexham.”

As well as sending us a copy of the full survey results a spokesperson for Wrexham Council said: “The results of the Perceptions of Safety Survey cited in ‘Focused on Our Performance’ date from a survey carried out in 2017, and the survey was taken during a time in which there was a good deal of media coverage – both locally and nationwide – of issues of anti-social behaviour in Wrexham town centre.”

“Since that time, as noted in the Focused on Our Performance report, a lot of work has taken place to tackle those concerns raised by the public in the 2017 survey, including the hard work undertaken by the New Psychoactive Substances task-force and the associated Gold Group, partnering Wrexham Council, North Wales Police and other agencies to tackle the taking of NPS in the town centre, and the associated issues of anti-social behaviour and rough sleeping.

“The achievements of this partnership received national press attention, and also saw the group win the Drug Intervention Award in the North Wales Police and Crime Commissioners Community Awards.”

“We are very much aware of the public’s concerns around public safety and anti-social behaviour, and have worked hard over the last year to work on the issues raised.

“This year’s Community Safety Survey is ongoing, and we would encourage members of the public to take part in the survey, which is available online here. Further work will, of course, be carried out on any issues arising from this year’s survey, and a review of the results will be made in comparison to last year’s results.”

The full survey response PDF can be found here.

Headline: Wrexham.com’s glass is always half full.