Enfield has the highest rate of serious youth violence in London, according to figures from the Metropolitan Police.

There were 397 serious youth violence offences in Enfield in the year to November 2018 – an 8.8 per cent increase on the previous year.

This bucked the trend across London as a whole, which saw a five per cent fall in serious youth violence.

Serious youth violence is defined by the Metropolitan Police as “any offence of most serious violence or weapon-enabled crime where the victim is aged 1 to 19”.

Neighbouring Haringey – the borough with the fourth-highest rate – witnessed a 5.5 per cent rise in offences in the year to November, while Barnet saw a 13 per cent fall in incidents.

Meanwhile, knife crime offences in Enfield rose by 20 per cent to reach a total of 630, while robberies involving guns jumped by 109.1 per cent to 46.

Residential burglaries rose by almost a quarter, as the borough’s overall crime rate climbed by just over ten per cent.

The figures are due to be discussed at a meeting of Enfield’s crime scrutiny panel next week.

Enfield has seen a spate of stabbings and shootings in recent months, and councillors held a heated debate on how to tackle the crime problem at a full council meeting in November.

Labour councillors blamed cuts in police funding from central government for the rise, while some Conservative members accused the Mayor of London and the council of failing to make the best use of the available resources to tackle crime.

The North Area Knife Crime and Serious Youth Violence Action Plan has been set up to tackle knife crime and serious youth violence across both Enfield and Haringey.

A report on the action plan by Superintendent Nigel Brookes – which will also be discussed at the crime scrutiny panel – says that while there are “now positive signs of stabilisation, knife crime and youth violence remains a significant challenge for London as a whole and locally”.

Supt Brookes states in the report that a “multi-disciplinary” team has been set up to work across London to “address the links between violence in the home and on the street”.

He adds: “It aims to better understand the risk factors in a person’s early life that can lead to serious violence by using data from health, criminal justice and other public services.

“It will also focus on improved and sped up interventions at a local level, with the aim of reducing violence and protecting those vulnerable to exploitation.”

The crime scrutiny panel will meet at 7.30pm on Thursday, January 10 at Enfield Civic Centre.