What the new crime maps say about Wanstead

Though the newly-released crime maps for the whole of England struggled with first-day user demand, they will be worth persisting with since they give intriguing portraits of areas which we haven’t seen in this detail before – Wanstead included.

Taking a snapshot of crime within a mile’s radius of a high street postcode – in this case E11 2AA – will necessarily give a flawed picture of Wanstead (which Wansteadium has always taken to mean Snaresbrook and Wanstead wards). For instance, anything south of Green Man roundabout is clearly not Wanstead, as is anything north of Chigwell Road. But, for sake of argument, and taking that as a constant for comparison in future months, we begin to see a picture of criminal activity in our area.

The figures for December 2010 were:

The area as a whole is described in the stats as having an average level of crime, but the numbers of violent crimes and burglaries does seem high for a single month. And the level of anti-social behaviour too will alarm many, though this no doubt includes a lot of low-level annoyance short of criminal behaviour. It might also reflect the ease of reporting activities to visible PCSOs, or even a degree of public-spiritedness among Wanstead residents being prepared to report anti-social goings on.

More details – including street-by-street analysis of offences – will become available as the site gradually copes with demand. Wansteadium for its part will report month by month how crime levels are changing: these maps have been devised as a tool of accountability, though some people have warned that they are likely to lead to increased levels of fear of crime. Others will discuss if it’s better to be aware of crime or oblivious to it, but it’s clear that these new maps could be a boon to the kind of localism people – including the readers of this blog and and hundreds of others around the country – seem to have a growing appetite for.

Wanstead news roundup, 1.02.11; Stump, Hacking and Overheard in Wanstead

• It’s not looking good for Wanstead’s best-known heirloom, the chestnut tree-stump which until last September sat with a certain grace on George Green. It became clear that the grace was actually wood rot, and the Corporation of London removed it for renovation. It seems, though, that it might be beyond repair – the corporation is asking anyone who knows anything about restoring to get in touch. (People once sang to this tree..)

• Interviews for volunteers for London 2012 begin on Tuesday morning.

• Wanstead High Street update: Just weeks after Wanstead Beauty Clinic celebrated its 25th anniversary, two new beauticians are opening – one in the former Horsfall and Wright shop, and one in the rather magnificently redeveloped Cuckfield Garage. A positive sign, perhaps, but not exactly ideal for the diversity of the high street.

• Mark Stephens, Wanstead’s most celebrated lawyer (and Julian Assange’s brief) is waiting to find out if he is one of the people whose voicemail was hacked by the News of the World. He says he “certain that many of my clients have, and indeed some of them have been in to ask what they can do about it”.

• Overheard in Wanstead: Friday morning, inside Santander branch on Wanstead High Street: woman says thank you to cash dispenser.

If Wanstead was a boot, what kind of boot would it be?

Last month we asked what one should make of the Radley Wanstead bag (“If Wanstead was a handbag, what sort of handbag would it be?“). Now here come the Wanstead boots, – or to give them their full name, “The Ladies Wanstead Lace Boots” – a bargain brought to you by Peacocks (reduced from £25 to £10 for black and £20 for mid-brown). They are “stylish work boots,” they say, adding that they’re “lightweight, flexible and exceptionally comfortable”.

So, just as with the handbag, the same question needs to be put: in what way are these boots in any way like Wanstead? Answers via comments below, Twitter or Facebook. Thank you. (And thanks to spotter Gabrielle Collard.)

UPDATE:
Dave Buba, in first again, writes: ‘Surely the description of ” lightweight, flexible and stylish” says it all?’