Why place matters: neighbourhood effects on crime and anti-social behaviour

samuelcraigie
Aug 26
4 min read

Insights Report

Sophie Davis, Director of Research | Manon Roberts, Senior Strategy & Insight Manager

Tuesday 19 August 2025

Click here to read the full report: Why place matters: neighbourhood effects on crime and anti-social behaviour

Crest was commissioned by the Independent Commission on Neighbourhoods (ICON) to explore how neighbourhood-level approaches can be better harnessed to reduce crime, and in particular, to tackle anti-social behaviour (ASB) and visible disorder. Neighbourhoods are understood here as the small, local areas people identify with in their daily lives which do not necessarily align with official administrative boundaries. This report draws on a wide body of evidence to explore how neighbourhood conditions shape patterns of ASB and crime more broadly. It makes the case for why neighbourhoods must be at the heart of crime policy — both as spaces where crime is experienced and as sites of potential solutions.

This work was commissioned against the backdrop of a renewed focus on place-based policy. In its June 2025 Spending Review, the government announced a new national commitment to improving 350 deprived communities, and a £240 million investment in a Growth Mission Fund — signalling a renewed commitment to place-based approaches. This takes place alongside the Government’s broader mission to “take back our streets”. As part of this, the Government has pledged to ‘restore local policing’ and place 13,000 neighbourhood police officers and police community support officers (PCSOs) into dedicated community roles.

This report focuses on how locally grounded, preventative and place-based approaches can complement traditional policing tools to reduce demand over the long term. It aims to show that neighbourhoods are not just sites where crime happens — they are key to solving it.

Summary of key findings

Crime is heavily concentrated and persistent in areas of multiple disadvantage. A small proportion of geographic areas account for a disproportionate share of crime and ASB. These areas often face persistent poverty, underinvestment, and institutional neglect, which foster conditions for crime to take root and persist. Residents in these areas report significantly greater concerns about ASB, illegal drugs and safety, and feel less connected and optimistic about their communities.
Disadvantage and instability reinforce each other, weakening community control. Factors such as residential turnover can interact with disadvantage to undermine social cohesion, weakening informal social control and making communities more vulnerable to ASB and crime.
The built environment shapes both risk and resilience. Urban design influences crime not only by affecting opportunities for offending but also by shaping perceptions of safety, trust and community pride, and enabling more positive use of public space, including through increased natural surveillance and by supporting informal guardianship.
Social cohesion and trust can act as protective factors, particularly in areas of disadvantage. Strong social bonds, shared norms, and a collective willingness to intervene (collective efficacy) can help neighbourhoods resist crime and ASB, even in deprived areas.
Crime and ASB matter to communities — they act as wider signals of neighbourhood decline. Visible signs of disorder and ineffective institutional responses erode trust and community pride, reinforcing a negative cycle of decline and insecurity. Addressing these perceptions is key to rebuilding confidence and reducing crime.

Summary of recommendations

The report calls for a neighbourhood-based approach to tackling crime and ASB, grounded in the evidence that strong community relationships — alongside enforcement — are essential to safer, more resilient places. It proposes five areas for action:

Governance and strategic targeting: Focus policy and funding on the neighbourhoods most affected by crime and ASB. A new cross-government unit should coordinate investment, align strategies and ensure sustained oversight, supported by local partnerships and devolved funding models.
Social infrastructure and community power: Invest in the social fabric of communities to build collective efficacy. A Social Fabric Fund should support grassroots initiatives that build trust, strengthen social ties and promote informal guardianship in areas with high harm and limited civic infrastructure.
Neighbourhood policing and enforcement: Rebuild visible, community-responsive policing. Neighbourhood policing should be rebranded as a specialist discipline, with dedicated training, career pathways, and metrics that reflect trust, engagement and responsiveness — not just enforcement.
Local services and place-based prevention: Bring services to where harm happens by co-locating youth, mental health and substance misuse support in affected areas. Community input should shape local service delivery and environmental improvements.
Evidence, insight and evaluation: Develop a national framework for measuring neighbourhood safety, led by the new Police Performance Unit. This should incorporate resident perspectives, go beyond crime stats, and help identify what works at neighbourhood scale.

The report also recommends exploring sustainable funding options — such as levies on developers and high-impact industries — to support long-term, place-based investment in neighbourhood cohesion and safety.

Sophie is our Director of Research and has experience working with government departments, police forces and senior audiences across the criminal justice sector.

If you would like to discuss any research questions or opportunities that arise from this report or other issues, please contact her on sophie.davis@crestadvisory.com