The London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is the safest area to live in England and Wales, says a new report. Virgin Money Home Insurance found that the safest homes, as rated by risk of criminal damage, burglary, flooding, Neighbourhood Watch schemes and police numbers were in the west London borough, also one of the most expensive areas for property in the capital. 

Kensington and Chelsea came out top, says the report, because it performed well across all criteria but scored particularly highly on low levels of criminal damage and faces a very limited flood risk, although burglary numbers are high. Runners up for safest home areas were Dudley in the West Midlands and Poole in Dorset while Brighton, Wandsworth and Westminster were all also in the top ten of safest places to live.

At the other end of the scale, areas with higher risks included Doncaster, Nottingham, Sheffield, Manchester, Leeds and Bristol.  ‘That doesn’t of course mean that Doncaster or Nottingham or Sheffield are unsafe or dangerous but it does help show that there are higher risks in those areas when it comes to a range of issues,’ said Grant Bather, spokesman at Virgin Money.

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