Nottingham leaders have challenged an assertion by a national newspaper that Nottingham is the most dangerous city for students in the UK.

The Leader and Chief Executive of Nottingham City Council, along with the Vice Chancellors of both universities, the Chief Executive of the Nottingham Crime and Drugs Partnership and the city’s Police Commander all wrote to The Independent to urge them to reconsider publishing the story. The Vice Chancellors also wrote to the statistician who compiled the figures to consider re-running the data based on the Greater Nottingham conurbation.

But The Independent went ahead today, publishing the story in its education and careers supplement based on figures provided by the Good University Guide.

Nottingham’s challenge argued that it was wrong to compare the City of Nottingham to places such as Leeds and Manchester which include outlying areas that are rural or semi rural. If Greater Nottingham’s leafy suburbs had been included, Nottingham would have fallen from the top position in the Good University Guide’s table to around sixth out of 24 UK cities. The letter also explained that almost half the students at Nottingham Trent University and the University of Nottingham don’t live in the City of Nottingham which the statistics relate to, but in some of the leafy suburbs of the surrounding conurbation.

It went on to explain that strenuous multi-agency efforts have seen an impressive fall in overall crime in the City of Nottingham of 10% in the last year and a wide range of measures to prevent students becoming victims of crime had been successful, with burglary of students down 22%.

Deputy Leader of Nottingham City Council, Councillor Graham Chapman, said: "Once again, a flawed understanding of our boundaries has distorted a league table. The reality is we are a thriving, welcoming city which remains among the most popular choices for students in the country.

"We’re disappointed that The Independent went ahead with publication despite our clearly setting out their misinterpretation. We had hoped they would realise how important it is to get this right. It does not help the city, nor does it reflect the reality. Not only are we the fifth most popular place in the country for university choice, we know that around a third of students in Nottingham remain here for work and to settle down. This clearly shows that rather than finding it dangerous, many students have such a safe and happy time here that they want to stay."

The Nottingham Evening Post comments today: "Nottingham and its universities should attempt to set the record straight, and we support them. We say this to all school-leavers considering Nottingham for their higher education ...This is a great city with two great universities. Your experience is likely to be no worse than in any comparable university city - and it will be a great deal better than most. Make Nottingham your first choice.

To see what the Nottingham Evening Post had to say in full, click here

See what listeners to Trent FM have got say by clicking here

To see the letter to The Independent in full, click here