COMMUNITY safety campaigners are celebrating after Chorley’s latest figures showed showed an overall drop in crime.

The statistics for all crime in the borough between April 2009 and March 2010 revealed a 0.5 per cent drop compared to the year before with a total of 5,297 crimes reported during that time.

Anti-social behaviour is down by 12 per cent, domestic violence down by almost 20 per cent and robbery reducing by a massive 27 per cent during that time.

Councillor Eric Bell, Chorley’s executive member for neighbourhoods and chair of Chorley’s Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership, said he was delighted with the news.

He added: “Chorley is already one of the safest places to live and recent surveys in the borough have revealed the majority of people rightly feel safe when they’re out and about.

“These latest statistics are another step in the right direction – crime on the whole is decreased with some dramatic reductions in key areas like anti-social behaviour, robbery and domestic violence.”

However, in the figures released by Lancashire Constabulary there was a slight increase in burglary and serious acquisitive crime.

Councillor Bell added: “Our recent meeting asked local people to come in to see the figures and discuss the work of the partnership, which is a really worthwhile exercise.

“On the whole, there aren’t huge problems in Chorley but even minor incidents are upsetting and affect the quality of life for those involved, so it’s important we know about things that are happening on the street and discuss how we can put them right.”