BINGLEY Rural has seen a 17 per cent rise in crime.

Recorded offences in the ward, which includes Cullingworth and Denholme, rose from 914 in 2015 to 1,070 last year.

The biggest increases were in non-dwelling burglaries, assaults with injury and thefts from motor vehicles.

Across the whole Shipley parliamentary constituency, house burglaries soared by almost 50 per cent year-on-year, according to the new figures.

The number of recorded burglary dwellings rose by 47 per cent from 500 in 2015 to 735 in 2016, while the total number of crimes in the constituency rose by 17 per cent, up from 5,479 to 6,465.

Thefts from vehicles rose by 25 per cent and criminal damage by 13 per cent.

But shoplifting decreased by 23 per cent, while there was no change in the number of robberies in the constituency.

The statistics cover ten criminal offences: serious violence, assault with injury, burglary dwelling, burglary other, criminal damage, making off, robbery, shoplifting, theft from vehicles and theft of vehicles.

Shipley MP Philip Davies said the figures were “concerning”.

“I am not surprised by them as I have been taking up concerns of my constituents with the police for a long time,” he said.

“There is nothing worse than being a victim of crime.

“I am an absolute hardliner on crime. We need more resources for the police and harsher sentences for those who are caught breaking the law.”

The council ward with the biggest increase in crime, 35 per cent, was Wharfedale.

It saw a rise of 101 recorded offences, from 285 in 2015 to 386 in 2016, with the largest increases in burglary dwelling and theft from a motor vehicle.

Bingley reported a 29 per cent increase, from 1,020 in 2015 to 1,325 last year.

The figures, in a report compiled by the Shipley Neighbourhood Policing Team, are due to be discussed on Wednesday by Shipley Area Committee.

Chief Inspector Julie Deacon, of West Yorkshire Police, said: “There has been an increase in crime across the constituency. A proportion of this is due to the effect of changes in recording practices over the last few years and we remain committed to reducing crime, re-offending and anti-social behaviour, protecting the vulnerable and supporting victims and witnesses.

“In order to tackle these increases in crime, we are carrying out a specific operations which involves deploying additional officers in both plain and marked police cars to certain areas across the wards, which we have made 14 arrests for burglary offences since January.

“We are also utilising the force’s roads policing teams to assist our district officers in identifying and targeting suspects.”