In next year's British elections for police and crime commissioners, anti-social behaviour and gun and knife crime have been identified as the main concerns, a survey has shown.

During the survey of more than 1,800 people, carried out by ComRes on behalf of the Local Government Association, more than two-thirds said tackling anti-social behaviour should be key priority for the PCCs.

Two in five felt gun and knife crime should be a main concern while one in three people felt tackling property crime and gangs should be a priority.

Elected police commissioners set priorities for the local police force, oversee its budget and hire the chief constable. Replacing the police authorities, the elected commissioner will take over from councils the budgets for Community Safety Partnerships.

"Most councillors up and down the country would not be surprised that anti-social behaviour is uppermost in people's concerns about their areas," said Mehboob Khan, chairman of the LGA's safer and stronger communities board.

"Councils have been at the forefront of tackling the sort of nuisance behaviour that can make people's lives a misery and they are often the first place people turn to if they are having problems. This is not an issue that police can tackle alone. The results of this survey show that the public will expect new police chiefs to continue to work alongside councils to build on that good work," said Khan.

Mark Burns-Williamson, chairman of the Association of Police Authorities, warned that the findings "echo our concerns that the overwhelmingly locally focused mandate of PCCs has the potential to lead to the relative neglect of less visible and less local policing issues."

Labour's shadow home secretary Gloria De Piero added: "Tackling anti-social behaviour is one of the public's top priorities yet this out-of-touch government is determined to scrap anti-social behaviour orders and make it harder for communities to put up CCTV.

"All this comes on top of their plans to cut more than 16,000 police officers. They are putting people's safety at risk," said Piero.

Elections