Top ten burglary hotspots

Ten places in Solihull you are most likely to get burgled

Tom Cramp - Local Democracy Reporter | Friday 29th July 2022 3:32pm

The worst Solihull ward with the most burglaries over the last 12 months has been revealed. A total of 99 burglaries took place in Shirley West between June 2021 and June 2022, ten more than any other ward. 

The Shirley area as a whole saw the most burglaries by some distance, with 257 across Shirley West, East and South. Burglars tended to focus on the west of Solihull as Shirley West, Olton and Shirley South made up the top three.

Affluent areas to the south and the east of the borough such as Dorridge & Hockley Heath, Knowle and Meriden surprisingly did not make the top ten. This is in contrast to Birmingham where Edgbaston, one of the city’s most affluent areas, was the second-most burgled ward over the last twelve months and first for aggravated car-jackings.

Below is a full breakdown of the top ten burglary hotspots in Solihull between June 2021 and July 2021:

1. Shirley West – 99
2. Olton – 89
3. Shirley South – 88
4. Bickenhill – 85
5. Knowle – 78
6. Lyndon – 78
7. Smith’s Wood – 77
8. Blythe – 75
9. Kingshurst & Fordbridge – 71
10. Shirley East – 70
11. St. Alphege – 70

In total, there were 880 burglaries across these wards over the twelve-month period. The figures also include attempted burglary offences.  

West Midlands Police said that of these 880 burglaries, just 31 led to charges or a court summons. This amounts to just over 3.5 per cent. 

Across Birmingham’s top ten burglary hotspots, there were 3,107 burglaries during the same period. 85 of these led to a charge or court summons, less than 3 per cent of total cases.

The bustling student area of Selly Oak topped the list of burglary hotspots in Birmingham as thieves clearly targeted young academic households. Laptops, iPhones, iPads, cars and consoles are just a handful of things to go missing in the last year. 

Earlier this year, the Solihull Liberal Democrats claimed that 18,803 burglary cases across the West Midlands were closed by West Midlands Police in 2021, but no suspect was identified in 16,188 cases. They said this works out to roughly 311 burglaries per week in a year where no suspects were identified.  

Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Cllr Lauren McCarthy, said at the time: “Crime is soaring, with police struggling to cope following 10 years of officer and budget cuts under this Tory government. The Conservatives are soft on crime and letting far too many criminals get away with it. 

“As a result, too many people’s lives in Solihull are being ruined by burglaries. As someone who has experienced burglaries myself, I know the long-lasting trauma that a burglary leaves.”

The figures were released after a Freedom of Information request by the Local Democracy Reporting Service. 

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