CRIME in the Chester area has fallen by 18% in the last year and by more than 20% across ten particular types of crime.

Chester Community Safety Partnership’s latest performance figures compiled by the British Crime Survey Comparator Crime (BCSC) show significant drops eight areas of crime and a small rise in two.

The partnership was set a 15% reduction target for March 2008 in specific areas listed by the BCSC.

Compared to 2006/ 07 the figures for April 2007 to February 2008 show:

Theft of motor vehicles down 28%

Theft from motor vehicles down 19%

Vehicle interference down 44%

Theft of bicycles down 17%

Theft from the person down 37%

Criminal damage down 25%

All wounding down 22%

Robbery of personal property down 30%

Common assault up 6%

Domestic burglary up 1%

Total BCSC crime down 20.5%

Chester City Council executive member for environment, Councillor Neil Ritchie, said: “These are very welcome figures. Although there is a slight increase in common assault, the figures for all other crimes have fallen more than the set targets.

“The figures for wounding are markedly reduced and reward the good work that all partners are doing to tackle crime.

“The trend is now in the right direction and shows that the efforts we continue to make are being successful.

“The recent accreditation of the Community Safety Wardens and our planned expansion and improvements to the CCTV system show our commitment to working with the police to make Chester safer.”

The British Crime Survey Comparator Crime figures account for over 50% of all recorded crime and include vehicle crime, burglary, criminal damage and robbery.