February 10th, 2021.

LDC release:


Lewes district remains a low crime area with an offending rate that is well below average, LDC Cabinet councillors heard on  February the 4th.

Councillors welcomed the figures during an update on the activities and achievements of Eastbourne and Lewes Community Safety Partnership (CSP) whose key members are police, fire authority, councils, police and crime commissioner and NHS commissioning groups.

Lewes district had a recorded crime rate of 57 crimes per 1000 people in 2019/20, which is among the lowest compared to other areas across the country with similar demographics. The average rate was 75 crimes per 1,000 people.

A total of 5,953 crimes and anti-social behaviour incidents were recorded by Sussex Police in the year to March 2020.

Councillor Johnny Denis, Cabinet member for Customers and Communities, said: “Lewes district is still one of the safest places in the country to live and work, and the role of the Community Safety Partnership is significant to this achievement."

The CSP’s latest plan, approved in June 2020, identified four priorities: addressing anti-social behaviour; tackling hate crime, domestic and sexual abuse; reduce serious violence and knife crime; reduce anti-social driving on our roads.

Councillor Denis added: “The impact of anti-social driving can sometimes be overlooked but this problem has a significant negative impact on our communities. It is one of the key areas we are focusing on and we are raising this with our partners at East Sussex County Council and Sussex Police.

"Anti-social driving is a widespread problem experienced by all of our communities and needs to be taken more seriously."

Looking ahead to 2021/22, the partnership will be reviewing recent crime trends and feedback from local residents and business for the next action plan.