THE largest survey of crime in rural areas has revealed an unprecedented £800m crime bill.

The National Rural Crime Network (NRCN) surveyed more than 17,000 people living and working in rural areas throughout England and Wales.

The survey indicates that farmers and hard-pressed young families are the most frequent victims of crime, with the average cost of those crimes to a household being over £2,500 and for a business over £4,000.

Moreover, there appears to be a vicious circle of low expectations, leading to chronic under-reporting, anger, frustration and worry.

The result is increasing fear of crime and significantly lower satisfaction levels in the police than the national average.

As a consequence of these findings, the NRCN is making seven recommendations including fair funding for rural areas, more joined up working with partners and communities, building on rural resilience, embedding best practice, developing new policies and ways of working and ensuring a more targeted approach within rural communities.

Julia Mulligan, chair of the NRCN and Police and Crime Commissioner for North Yorkshire, said: “Our report comes at a critical time when the structure and funding for policing are being fundamentally reassessed.

“Some of the findings in this report make uncomfortable reading but it is vitally important for the reality of rural crime to be fully acknowledged and acted upon.

“Its actual scale is clearly much greater than we had previously known; £800m is a big number.

“The low satisfaction rates also need to be a wake-up call for police forces in rural areas and everything should be done to harness the opportunities presented.

“Good, accessible local policing is central to this and I believe police forces which significantly shrink their local teams in rural areas do so at their peril.”