A WARRINGTON Guardian investigation has revealed which streets in the town last year were the most dangerous, according to the data.

The investigation looked at reported crimes for every street across Warrington, as published on the Home Office-run website Police.uk.

This data was provided for the whole of Cheshire, and it has been filtered down to crimes reported in Warrington between January and December 2022.

Warrington Guardian: Browning Drive was the street with the largest number of offences reported outside of the town centreBrowning Drive was the street with the largest number of offences reported outside of the town centre (Image: Newsquest)

It should be noted that the list of crimes published on Police.uk is 'reported crimes' - this could mean that a crime could have been reported multiple times.

Equally, a number of crimes will go unreported in Warrington.

Police say the data doesn't accurately show where incidents happen, just where the call may have been logged.

So Browning Drive in Winwick is close to Winwick Hospital while Park Lane in Walton is used to record incidents at the Creamfields festival.

Others are on some of the longest streets or roads in the town.

Four of Warrington's most dangerous streets are located in the vicinity of the town centre, with other entries coming from Winwick, Birchwood, Stockton Heath, Grappenhall, Orford, and Appleton.

The 10 streets in Warrington with the highest number of crimes reported are as follows:

  1. Patten Lane, town centre
  2. Browning Drive, Winwick
  3. Bridge Street, town centre
  4. Friars Gate, town centre
  5. Chester Road, Stockton Heath/Grappenhall
  6. Hamnett Court, Birchwood
  7. Greenings Court, Carrington Park
  8. Manchester Road
  9. Winwick Road, Orford
  10. Park Lane, Appleton/Walton

In terms of the number of crimes reported for each location between January and December 2022, they are as follows:

  • Patten Lane - 141 
  • Browning Drive - 110
  • Bridge Street - 95
  • Friars Gate - 95
  • Chester Road - 89
  • Hamnett Court - 82
  • Greenings Court - 81
  • Manchester Road - 73
  • Winwick Road - 73
  • Park Lane - 67

Another caveat with the data is that a number of the crimes reported were listed as being 'on or near' certain streets or locations.

Warrington Guardian: Winwick Road reported a high number of crimes last yearWinwick Road reported a high number of crimes last year (Image: Newsquest)

A large number of crimes were reported from other areas such as police stations, hospitals, petrol stations, and supermarkets - the totals of which are below.

  • Supermarket - 259
  • Shopping Area - 253
  • Sports/Recreation Area - 193
  • Petrol Station - 178
  • Parking Area - 100
  • Prison - 58
  • Park/Open Space - 54
  • Pedestrian Subway - 54
  • Police Station - 43
  • Further/Higher Educational Building - 39
  • Hospital - 39

In total, there were 18,979 crimes reported to Cheshire Constabulary in Warrington in 2022, according to the Police.uk data - an increase of 8.61 per cent from the 17,473 offences reported in 2021.

All in all, there were 90.37 crimes reported for every 1,000 Warrington residents in 2022, using the figure of 210,000 residents as per the 2021 census. 

This is higher than the UK average for 2022/23, which was 75.88 reports per 1,000 people, according to Crime Rate UK.

Warrington Guardian: Cheshire Constabulary recorded almost 20,000 crimes in Warrington in 2022Cheshire Constabulary recorded almost 20,000 crimes in Warrington in 2022 (Image: Newsquest)

When asked about the data collated by the Warrington Guardian, chief inspector Neil Drum, of Warrington Local Policing Unit, said: “While these figures may sound alarming, it’s important that they are put into context.

“Firstly, it’s important to note that the data on the Police.uk website doesn’t accurately show on which streets incidents actually occurred.

“Instead, the system uses snap points to highlight the crime figures for different areas of the town.

“For example, Browning Drive in Winwick is highlighted as having 110 incidents in 2022. However, that doesn’t actually mean they all occurred on that specific street. Instead Browning Drive is simply the name of the snap point used to highlight incidents in the wider Winwick area.

“In addition, many of the streets listed in the top 10 are near busy shopping centres, medical facilities or around the town centre. These types of areas tend to receive a higher proportion of reported incidents than others."

Ch. Insp. Drum added: “Regardless of the location, I want to reassure anyone who lives, works or visits the town that whenever there is a report of a crime we take it seriously and will do everything we can to investigate what has happened, find those responsible and provide support to victims.

“Our beat management teams closely monitor repeat demand, and whenever a location is highlighted as an area of concern they will always undertake problem solving work to address this.”