Burglars Voted Community Enemy Number One

More than one in two people say that Burglary is the social issue they would most like to see eradicated from Millennium Britain - according to a new Alliance & Leicester survey.

The survey findings are the last from Homeowner 2025 - the Alliance & Leicester project that has explored homeowner perceptions of the changing role of the home in domestic, community and working life in the new millennium. Having established in previous weeks how people think the nature of the home and family will change over the next 25 years, the final phase of research asked approximately 2,000 people about expected change to the neighbourhood and broader community: In particular;

• which social issues they would like to see eradicated;
• which social services and amenities they most feared losing;
• what tasks people would do for their neighbour.

Safe as houses

Alliance & Leicester asked people which social issue they would most like to see eradicated from their local community by 2025. Crime fears dominated the findings, with burglary topping the poll (56 per cent). This was followed by vandalism (44 per cent). Car theft was a key issue for one in three people (33 per cent).

The survey also suggested that green issues would be more firmly on the British agenda in the future - 41 per cent wanted to see pollution stamped out by 2025 and 32 per cent wanted to see a clamp down on litterbugs and environmental damage.

Social services: cutbacks and concerns

Alliance & Leicester then asked people what they were most worried about losing in their local community in the future. One third (33 per cent) mentioned their hospital or local doctor's surgery. Following this was concern over losing the post office (25 per cent) or the police station (22 per cent).

Loss of a local school was mentioned by 16 per cent of people - on a par with the local shop (16 per cent). Only six per cent of people voiced concern over losing their church - a finding that follows last week's shock figures on declining church congregations. (See notes to editors for full list of statistics).

Close-knit communities

Despite a high level of concern over communities losing local services and expectations of a greater use of technology in the home, Britons have started the new millennium with a strong sense of neighbourhood and community spirit. When MORI asked which tasks they would be prepared to do for their neighbours, three out of four people said they would take steps to prevent their neighbour being burgled while more than two thirds would feed their pets while they were away.

Jill Butterwood, Marketing Manager, Alliance & Leicester Flexible Mortgages: "The social issues that people felt were important have a direct correlation with their attitudes to home ownership. Previous Homeowner 2025 research revealed that the crime busting and green issues also dominated homeowners attitudes to home improvement. When asked what would most add value to their home of the future, almost three in five people (58 per cent) opted for hi-tech burglar alarms and two in five (54 per cent) mentioned the installation of solar panels."

"The attitudes and perceptions revealed in the Homeowner 2025 survey will help Alliance & Leicester to shape new products and services to meet these needs."

Technical details

The Alliance & Leicester survey was undertaken by MORI among a 16+ GB representative sample of about 6,000 people between September to December 1999.

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