The 30 most dangerous streets in Eastbourne revealed

Police figures for more than 900 roads show which parts of the town have the highest number of crime reports.

The statistics cover the period between November 2017 and October 2018.

Terminus Road, in central Eastbourne, has been revealed as the most dangerous road in the town. 

The leader of Eastbourne town council, David Tutt, said the high rate of crime in the centre was down to drug dealers coming from outside.

He said: “Firstly, it is worth saying that compared with most of the UK crime levels in Eastbourne are relatively low.  

“That said, looking at the analysis of the streets which have had more incidents, most of these are in the town centre and a contributory factor is the increase in drug dealing.

“Such is our concern that together with Cllr John Ungar, I will be meeting with the police and crime commissioner next week to ask her to give a higher priority to address this issue.

“This is a concern for the council and appears to be largely the result of out-of-town gangs targeting the town.”  

The police figures report crime as happening “on or near” a street.

They also report crimes as happening “on or near” places such as a hospital or supermarket and these reports would be excluded from the street results.

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1) Terminus Road | Crime reports: 155

2) Elms Avenue | Crime reports: 111

3) Lottbridge Drove | Crime reports: 102

4) Jevington Gardens | Crime reports: 92

5) Grand Parade | Crime reports: 82

6) Hereward Road | Crime reports: 80

7) North Street | Crime reports: 78

8) Commercial Road | Crime reports: 77

9) Ceylon Place | Crime reports: 70

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Chief Inspector Anita Turner, district policing commander for Eastbourne, said: “It is important to consider crime figures down to the level of street by street as this can be extremely useful in directing our resources and local policing activity. 

“However, it should be noted that crime in the town is on a downward trend and has fallen by 2.4 per cent since April. What these figures don’t reflect is the difference types of crime, specifically their level of seriousness. Similarly, they don’t indicate where a single particular incident or problem may have generated a large number of reports. 

“There is no doubt that ‘hot spots’ mapped using crime data can help direct policing resources and provide targeted response. This continues to happen in the most densely populated streets in Eastbourne, the town centre being the most obvious. Much of our enforcement around drug supply has been in the town centre; that type of activity will contribute to the figures with an increase in the recording of drug supply offences and possession. 

“We work hard with partners to reduce crime and disorder, focusing on those crime types that cause the most harm. We are working hard to ensure all crime types are recorded and encourage reporting of those hidden crimes that are too often not seen or hidden in plain sight.”