Drug crime in Castleford rises by 160 per cent in five years

According to new data from police forces across the UK, collected by the BBC, drug crime is increasingly moving out of cities and into towns and villages.

Yvette Cooper MP has called for an “urgent meeting” with police and councillors about the increase.

Though drug crimes have fallen in Wakefield and Leeds, the number of reported drug crimes in Castleford rose from 74 in 2013 to 192 in 2018, an increase of almost 160 per cent.

Yvette Cooper, MP for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford, said: “We have been warning the Government repeatedly that drug crime and violent crime are increasing steeply in our towns not just our cities. But they just haven’t listened and their response is completely failing.

“In Castleford, drug crime has doubled in the last five years at a time when neighbourhood policing has been halved, drug treatment has been cut, and youth services have been slashed as a result of Government policies.

“I’ve called for an urgent meeting with West Yorkshire Police and Wakefield Council about tackling the county lines operating into Castleford.”

The only other West Yorkshire locations to report an increase were Huddersfield and Bradford, with rises of 4 and 12 per cent respectively.

Levels of drug crime fell by more than 37 per cent during the same period in Wakefield, with 209 drug crimes recorded last year.

In Hemsworth, just four drug crimes were reported in 2017. The town saw 91 reports of drug crime between 2013 and 2018.

Levels of drug crime have remained fairly stable in Pontefract, with 72 reports in 2018, a decrease from 85 in 2013. In 2015, just 38 were recorded.