The rise of organised rural crime: Communities fed up with constant barrage of incidents
CLA warns of crisis with more funding and training needed to protect rural communities and businesses
Rural communities are fed up with the constant barrage of incidents, the CLA has warned as new figures show the cost of rural crime is rising.
The CLA has worked to increase awareness of rural crime in recent months, surveying 1,000 people in rural areas to gather views and submitting Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to police forces across England and Wales to assess how they resource their rural teams.
We have also made a series of recommendations to the new government on how rural crime can be tackled, as part of our ambitious 'Programme for Government' document compiled for Labour to help it support the rural economy.
New data out this week shows the cost of rural crime increased by 4.3% year-on-year in 2023, to nearly £53m, with gangs becoming increasingly organised and sophisticated.
'Heavy burden'
Country Land and Business Association President Victoria Vyvyan said:
“Rural crime places a heavy burden on already-isolated communities up and down the country. Well-established criminal gangs are dumping waste; hare coursing and poaching; stealing machinery and often moving it abroad – this is not small-scale or opportunistic crime.
“As our own recent survey of 1,000 people living in rural areas found, more than half of respondents said they were either ‘very unconfident’ or ‘somewhat unconfident’ that their local police can tackle crime. Meanwhile many rural areas in England and Wales have no dedicated rural officers, ringfenced police funding or forces with basic kit such as torches, according to recent Freedom of Information responses compiled by the CLA.
“Rural communities are fed up with the constant barrage of incidents. Victims of fly-tipping also have to pay to have dumped waste removed from their land, only adding to the injustice.”
The CLA is calling for all forces to have adequate equipment packs; improved rural training for all 999/101 call handlers; and guidance for local authorities to ringfence fines from fly-tipping to fund enforcement and clean-up activities.
Victoria added: “Building up a comprehensive picture of the severity of the problems is often difficult, which in turn means tackling rural crime goes under-resourced, gifting criminals an open goal in which to operate.
“Government must empower the police, the courts and rural communities to fight crime, defending themselves, their property and their neighbourhoods.”