‘Abandoned’ residents living in the ‘most dangerous town in Wales’ have claimed they are inundated with beggars, drug dealers who inject themselves on the street and ‘child drug dealers.’
Despite having a population of just 159,600 residents, Newport has the highest crime rate in the country, with a staggering 121 offences committed for every 1,000 people according to figures from the Home Office.
This is equivalent to one in eight people having filed a crime report and dwarfs the Welsh national average of 84 reported crimes per 1,000 people.
Analysis by the MailOnline has revealed that certain types of crime including possession of weapons, sexual offences and violence have all markedly increased since covid.
The South Wales town also suffers from homelessness and drug related crime issues with the highest rates in the country for each.
When MailOnline visited the deprived ‘zombie town’ Pillgwenlly ward this week the state of decay in the town was plain to see, with drug addicted residents wandering the rundown streets.
Many of the once thriving shops and cafes in the once proud community now stand boarded up and in one case, burnt out.
Evidence of flytipping, ranging from compostable rubbish to hard household waste was common throughout the area.
Residents living in the ‘most dangerous town in Wales’ have claimed they have been abandoned
Despite having a population of just 159,600 residents, Newport has the highest crime rate in the country
MailOnline observed one man appearing to inject himself in the street while shocked pedestrians looked on
The deprived Pillgwenlly ward is known by locals to be a problem area
Pensioner Jim Holland, 77, has lived in the area for years and told us he was furious at the decline of the town
Despite the area’s obvious struggles, the residents who spoke to MailOnline were warm and sociable, with most reserving their ire for their local council and devolved Welsh government.
Pensioner Jim Holland, 77, has lived in the area for years and told us he was furious at the decline of the town.
He said: ‘Why is it a sh******? Well the council aren’t looking after it, are they?! They’re spending money on loads of other things, like millions of pounds putting extra people in the senate down in Cardiff, and are spending it in the city.
‘They’ve just neglected it, it looks like it’s been bombed; you’d think we were in Gaza really.’
Another resident, who appeared to be working in a street cleaning capacity for the council, expressed his fear for the town’s future under the condition of anonymity.
He said: ‘It’s just a ghost town now, it’s a shame because it used to be thriving, it used to be alive. But it’s just gone.
‘Pill’s (Pillgwenlly) the worst like. You get gangs of youths hanging around and all. I mean every junkie hanging around here, it’s a shoplifter’s paradise to them.
‘Drugs is terrible down here, absolutely fucking rife. Lack of policing is why, and I mean if Newport County are playing against Wrexham, you’ve got that many police here, it’s a shame.
‘They can’t catch ’em, there’s so many kids selling drugs, there’s no prospects for them anymore! Because there’s nothing for them to do!
‘I work for the council and when we cut grass, we’ve got to look for needles before we start. Do you know what I mean? If you want drugs, you can have anything you want, you’ve just got to ask the right person. It’s a shame, an absolute shame, because I like this place – it always had a bit of a bad name for it.
‘But it was always good people and it had a good community spirit and now it’s like a third world country down here. Do you know what I mean?’
Council workers have claimed they have had to check the grass for needles before cutting it
Many shops and buildings in the town are now derelict (Pictured: a burnt out former business)
For generations, residents of Newport have complained that Cardiff, 12 miles along M4, gets all the investment, sports stadiums, concert arenas and high street brands.
The touted redevelopment of Friar’s Walk now looks like a ghetto with only about half of the original 34 shops still open and the once busy Commercial Street no longer lives up to its name with shop windows covered by ugly sheets of steel.
Conceding defeat, many locals now head to to Newport’s satellite town of Cwmbran, five miles away, to make use of its neat and compact shopping centre and free parking.
And residents claim that the decline of local business on the high street has led it to become inundated with beggars, homeless people and drug users who shoot up on the streets.
The south Wales town has the highest rates of homelessness in the country with 193 households of every 10,000 now classed as homeless.
The council claim has been spurred on ‘unprecedented’ housing pressures due to Newport’s status as the fastest growing city in Wales with the population jumping from 145,700 to 159,587 between the 2011 and 2021 census.
Local Jordan Cunliffe said that the lack of positive change and investment in the town has left residents feeling abandoned.
He said: ‘What you see is what you get down here. I’ve noticed an increase of everything really – the crime and the deprivation, I think everyone’s just used to it.
‘I think this is an area now where everyone’s just dumped here and then no one really cares about us.’
Like many areas of the UK, Newport is also suffering from a drugs crisis.
Whilst our reporter was in the area, we observed one man appearing to inject himself in the street while shocked pedestrians looked on.
Shop owner Lyn Wen, 52, declared the problem was obvious everywhere you looked in the town
Signs of deprivation in the area are as obvious as the flytipped rubbish which litters the streets
Mother-of-two Samantha Rogers, 27, said the constant anti-social behavior from yobs, drunks, beggars and drug users has made her worry for her young children
Shop owner Lyn Wen, 52, declared the problem was obvious everywhere you looked in the town.
She said: ‘There’s lots of drugs – far too much drugs. That’s the main problem and also the lack of money.
‘Everyone’s at it, younger people are doing it and older people are doing it. I’ve lived here for about 20 odd years and it’s gotten worse – it’s getting really bad.’
These sentiments were echoed by mother-of-two Samantha Rogers, 27, who said the constant anti-social behavior from yobs, drunks, beggars and drug users has made her worry for her young children.
She said: ‘I have seen drug dealers around here. The other day I saw an abandoned car and a load of empty Mr Whippy cannisters which they do balloons and loads of glass on the floor.
‘I’ve got two young children and it doesn’t feel safe, I worry about it. When my other daughter gets older, I don’t even feel safe enough to put her on a range to walk around here.
‘Yesterday, I went to see my nan and as I came out my front door I could tell somebody had just jacked up because there was an empty needle packet on the floor.
‘If you keep yourself to yourself, I find it okay but I wouldn’t want to stay here permanently.’
A spokesman for the charity Eden Gate, which works with underprivileged and socially isolated adults in the town told MailOnline it was working to bring ‘sustainable change.’
Fran Richley, Operations Manager commented: ‘We’re acutely aware that Newport is a city facing significant social challenges.
‘It’s easy to focus on the issues in any local area—but the real question is: what are we, as individuals, prepared to do about it? I think it’s quite simple—we can sit on the sidelines and complain, or we can choose to be the difference.’
Temporary Chief Superintendent Jason White, Head of Neighbourhood Policing at Gwent Police, said:
‘Anti-social behaviour (ASB) and associated disorder is completely unacceptable. It has a negative impact on the quality of life of our communities and it won’t be tolerated in Newport and in Gwent, as a whole.
‘Between April 2024 and the end of March 2025, we carried out an additional 7,000 hours of patrols in hotspot areas across Gwent, which led to an overall reduction in ASB.
‘Our commitment to address ASB is ongoing and we’ve just secured an additional £1million Home Office funding for this work to continue over the next year, complementing our existing patrols in hotspot areas, including parts of Newport, with an additional 9,000 hours’ worth.
‘From next month, we will be increasing our neighbourhood activity, which includes a focus on ASB, as part of the Safer Street Summer Initiative (SSI).
‘Our policing teams are continuing to carry out partnership work with Newport City Council and other organisations and agencies to ensure that all businesses and residents feel safe.
‘When it comes to anti-social behaviour, we’re guided not only by information gathered though investigations and patrols, but by information the public has provided through their reports. That’s why it’s really important people affected by these issues come forward and talk to us.’
