the cost of rural crime is on the rise in both Surrey and Hampshire.

NFU Mutual’s annual Rural Crime Report, published on Monday, revealed across the UK the cost of rural crime increased by 13.4 per cent in 2017.

However, in Surrey this cost more than doubled from £427,489 in 2016 to £862,099 in 2017 - a 102 per cent increase.

Neighbouring Hampshire also far exceeded the national average, with rural crime costing the county more than £1 million in 2017, an increase of 48.8 per cent compared to 2016.

James Prewett, NFU Mutual senior agent in Hampshire, said: “Countryside criminals continue to become more brazen and farmers are now having to continually increase security and adopt new ways of protecting their equipment.”

Andrew Maclean, NFU Mutual senior agent in Surrey, added: “Our advice to people living and working in the countryside is to regularly evaluate your current security measures making improvements where necessary, remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity to the local police and local farm watch schemes.”

NFU has responded to its members’ concerns by supporting local and national rural security initiatives and investing more than £1.2m to tackle the threat of rural crime.

Over the last 12 months the most at risk items for theft were tools, bicycles, cars, and garden equipment, so readers should be extra vigilant with protecting these items.

Responding to the report, Hampshire’s deputy chief constable, Sara Glen, said: “Hampshire Constabulary has been working hard in recent years to support rural communities through our Country Watch team. “This specialist team works closely with partners to tackle poaching, agricultural plant theft, fly-tipping, wildlife crimes and other offences that matter to rural communities.

“In addition to this dedicated team, our neighbourhood teams in rural areas work closely with their communities to prevent and combat rural crime.

“As we talk to rural householders and businesses, we emphasise how crucial it is for them to report every crime to the police. Using this information, we can analyse crime hotspots and tackle the organised gangs that target isolated properties and land.”

DCC Glen added two new national strategies for wildlife crime policing and rural affairs have now been published by the National Police Chiefs’ Council, which she said “will ensure that we work with colleagues in other counties to share best practice and target criminal activity effectively”.

She continued: “An example of our work is Operation Rebate in the north of the county. This is our response to a series of burglaries and thefts in and around rural buildings and businesses that target plant, quad bikes, tools and any other high value items. As part of this operation, we have so far seized a number of vehicles and recovered over £150,000 worth of property.”

Surrey Police also welcomed the NFU report, commenting in a statement: “The data provided to us helps develop a clearer picture of rural crime within Surrey, but also understand the challenges our neighbouring forces are facing across the UK.

“Since receiving last year’s report, we have taken steps to improve the detecting and investigating of rural crime. We have been training our call handlers in recognising and recording the types of rural crime and impacts that it has on Surrey’s communities, we offer guidance and assistance to our officers and staff through access to our dedicated wildlife and rural crime co-ordinator and we are currently developing a detailed additional training package for our response officers.

“Surrey Police has also signed up to the national Rural Crime strategy, which complements our own plans and performance monitoring regime, which we continue to review.

“Our biggest concern is that rural crime in Surrey continues to be under-reported; the intelligence we receive from our communities is vital in helping us develop a broader picture of rural crime in Surrey and establish the investigative lines of enquiry needed to pursue the offenders.

“We need the fullest picture available to us to tackle these types of crime. Crime is crime and rural crime is embedded in our Policing in Your Neighbourhood model.

“We continue to work with partners, including the Surrey PCC, in promoting crime prevention advice to protect the vulnerable, pursue the offenders and help prevent it from happening.”

For more information and advice on how to beat rural crime, download the NFU Mutual report online at www.nfumutual.co.uk/ruralcrime .