UK Peace Index: What makes Broadland the safest place in the UK?

The UK Peace Index today revealed the areas of Britain with the highest and lowest levels of violent crime.

The inaugural study found there has been a 'substantial and sustained' fall in violent crime over the last decade.

Broadland in Norfolk was announced as the most peaceful local authority area in Britain - with just eight incidents of armed violence in 2012.

The rural authority in eastern England had just 46 crimes per 1,000 people last year, 20 below the national average.

In Broadland, a local authority with a population of 120,000 covering northern areas of Norwich and surrounding towns and villages, officials are rightly proud of their low crime record.

Broadland District Council put their top ranking down to a focus on youth - a decade ago they identified troubled youngsters as potential future criminals, so went into local schools to nip violent crime in the bud before it took place.

Their initiative was aimed at producing a 'pathway to crime prevention', and has since helped Broadland top the list for the most peaceful area in the UK.

The local authority launched the 'Stairway' in 2007, where charities went into schools and engaged with youngsters who had troublesome upbringings - whether it was bullying, bereavement or domestic abuse.

Broadland councillor Simon Woodbridge, a member champion for crime prevention and community safety, explained to Yahoo!: 'If you look at criminal studies, many tell you that criminal behavior is generated from a fairly early age.

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'We went into schools to to engage one-to-one with children who may have suffered some kind of emotional trauma.

'We were picking up between 40 and 50 children a month who had suffered bereavement, family breakdown and other issues, and we gave them all coping strategies.

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'As a result these youngsters were less likely to take resentment, guilt or anger into later life - all of which can lead to criminal behaviour.

'It's been an ongoing, long-term effort which has been 10 years in the making.'

Mr Woodbridge insisted that the initiatives of district councils like Broadland could be mirrored in other areas around the UK.

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He added: 'The principles of our work can be applied in other areas of the country.

'Trying to generate jobs and providing training opportunities for youngsters is also crucial to keeping crime low, but pastoral care of youngsters is very important.

'Crime levels are also linked with economic activity - areas with high amounts of deprivation will have high levels of crime.'

Broadland, in Norfolk, was the most peaceful area at local authority level, followed by Three Rivers in Hertfordshire, South Cambridgeshire, East Dorset and Maldon in Essex.

Inner London boroughs were the least peaceful - headed by Lewisham and followed by Lambeth, Hackney, Newham and Tower Hamlets.

The most peaceful region in the UK was South East England and the least peaceful Greater London followed by Scotland and Northern Ireland.

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The least peaceful major urban centre in the UK was Glasgow, followed by London and then Belfast.

The findings were published in the UK Peace Index, produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), which defines peace as the absence of violence or fear of violence.

'Both crime and homicide have fallen significantly,' the report said.

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'The fall over the last decade has resulted in the UK homicide rate now being roughly equivalent to that of the Western European average, and it is now at its lowest level since 1978.

'However, the UK violent crime rate is significantly higher than the European Union average.'