Photo: David Howard · CC BY-SA 2.0Among UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, Wootton records less crime per resident than 85%
It has less violent crime than 73% of UK towns, and less burglary, vehicle crime and damage than 82%. Violence recorded locally climbed 21% in a year. Its police logs show 16.4 violent and sexual offences and 5.6 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 residents a year.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Wootton
Less crime than most places its size
Of 546 UK towns of 5,000 to 10,000 people, Wootton has the 47th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Lower Willingdon, Kibworth Beauchamp and Kibworth Harcourt and Whitnash, higher than Hagley, Chinnor and Comber. Towns its size ↓
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 21% more violent crime per resident in Wootton than in the year before; across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people violent crime held steady. Trend ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
Wootton’s Safety Grade is A−
A fairly firm grade. Built on 499 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Wootton against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
How crime in Wootton has moved
“Towns its size” pools all UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people that police.uk covers each month (Greater Manchester has no data).
Rolling twelve-month rate, per 1,000 residents a year (longer windows for smaller places, where a few crimes swing a month). In the 12 months to August 2026 against the 12 before: violent +21% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -35% (towns its size -1%), anti-social behaviour +11% (towns its size +0%).
How Wootton’s neighbourhoods rank in England
18% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 0% in the highest-crime 20%. The crime domain scores the risk of violence, burglary, theft and criminal damage where people live, so it can read differently from the town-wide rate, which counts crimes where they happened.
Wootton’s residents by the crime decile of their neighbourhood (LSOA, about 1,500 people) in the English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (crime domain), where 1 is the highest-crime 10% of England’s neighbourhoods and 10 the lowest.
Wootton places 47th of 546 towns its size, the least crime first
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Merley Dorset | 5,489 | 8.4 | 2.8 | 3.8 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 44 | Hagley Worcestershire | 7,012 | 13.3 | 8.6 | 5.7 | A− |
| 45 | Chinnor Oxfordshire | 7,268 | 15.5 | 6.5 | 5.1 | A− |
| 46 | Comber Ards and North Down | 9,529 | 15.6 | 6.4 | 2.8 | A− |
| 47 | Wootton Bedfordshire | 7,567 | 16.4 | 5.6 | 2.6 | A− |
| 48 | Cranfield Bedfordshire | 7,053 | 15.1 | 7 | 4.4 | A− |
| 49 | Milford and Witley Surrey | 6,489 | 14.6 | 7.6 | 6.6 | A− |
| 50 | Steyning West Sussex | 5,513 | 14.1 | 8.2 | 22.1 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 81 | Ampthill Bedfordshire | 8,825 | 16.1 | 8.5 | 4.1 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 103 | Potton Bedfordshire | 5,229 | 16.5 | 9.9 | 4.5 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 140 | Marston Moretaine Bedfordshire | 6,350 | 19.7 | 8.8 | 11.2 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 240 | Arlesey Bedfordshire | 6,027 | 21.3 | 12.7 | 5.5 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 546 | City of London London | 7,820 | 252.8 | 111.5 | 710 | D− |
Safety letters rank against every UK town of 1,000 or more; the order here is context only.
Graded crime per 1,000 residents a year, September 2023 to August 2026, counting from the least: towns ranked near Wootton, and others in Bedfordshire.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Violence & sexual offences and criminal damage & arson sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 130 | 17.2 | 22.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 62 | 8.2 | 8.8 |
| Public order | not graded | 22 | 2.9 | 3.6 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 21 | 2.8 | 4.5 |
| Other theft | not graded | 20 | 2.6 | 3.2 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 8 | 1.1 | 2 |
| Other crime | not graded | 6 | 0.8 | 1.5 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 5 | 0.7 | 0.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 4 | 0.5 | 1.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 3 | 0.4 | 1.9 |
| Drugs | not graded | 2 | 0.3 | 1 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 2 | 0.3 | 0.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 1 | 0.1 | 0.2 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 0 | 0 | 0 |
“Violent” is police.uk’s violence and sexual offences (which includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury), robbery and possession of weapons. Anti-social behaviour isn’t a crime category; shoplifting and other theft happen mostly in shops and town centres rather than to residents, so neither counts in the grade.
September 2025 to August 2026, per 1,000 residents. The tick on each bar is the typical (median) town among UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people.
Crime in Wootton per 1,000 residents
A crime isn’t a victim: one person can report several, and crimes in a town centre often involve visitors rather than residents.
And about 4 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 3 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 69% of Wootton’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 9% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (70% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 2% of violent and 2% of household crimes reached court.
The latest outcome police.uk shows for each crime recorded in the first of the three years (September 2023 to August 2024), so most cases have closed. 170 crimes.
No one died in a collision on Wootton’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 21 collisions with injuries inside Wootton in five years. 6 people were killed or seriously injured: 3 on foot and 1 on a bicycle.
Most UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people (81%) had no road deaths in these five years, and Wootton is one of them.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Wootton’s size at the median for UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people would see about 6 people killed or seriously injured in five years; Wootton had 6.
Casualties are counted where the collision happened, not where people lived: a main road through town adds through-traffic, and residents’ own risk on roads elsewhere isn’t here. Seriously injured uses the Department for Transport’s adjusted figures, which even out the police forces’ different ways of recording injuries. There’s no national rate here: more than half of road deaths in England and Wales (58%) happen outside every town’s built-up area. Source: DfT road casualty statistics (STATS19), 2021–2025.
Collisions police recorded inside Wootton’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Wootton
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wootton | 7,567 | 16.4 | 5.6 | A− |
| Stewartby | 2,546 | 21.3 | 9.4 | B− |
| Kempston | 22,779 | 35.5 | 16 | C− |
| Great Denham | 4,363 | 20.4 | 12.2 | B− |
| Marston Moretaine | 6,350 | 19.7 | 8.8 | B |
| Wixams | 6,044 | 35 | 12.4 | C− |
| Houghton Conquest | 1,867 | 15.7 | 8 | B+ |
| Bromham | 4,652 | 8.5 | 5.2 | A+ |
Wootton records more graded crime per resident than 1 of its 7 neighbours. Bromham, 3.6 miles away, records 8.5 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Wootton’s 16.4.
Per 1,000 residents a year, the same three years. Tap a town for its safety page.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Where crimes happen, not where victims live. police.uk places each crime at a point near where it happened. Town centres with shops, stations, a hospital and nightlife record more crime per resident, and residents of nearby villages who come in to shop or go out are part of that count.
- Bigger towns record more per resident. Across UK towns, recorded crime per resident rises steeply with size, more than in the U.S., so a city’s grade sits low against the whole UK. The “towns its size” figures show where Wootton sits among towns like it; they are context and don’t change the grade.
- Points are approximate. police.uk moves each point to the nearest of a set of anonymous map points, so crimes near the edge of the built-up area can fall either side of it.
Questions about safety in Wootton
Is Wootton safe?
Police recorded 16.4 violent and sexual offences and 5.6 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Wootton’s built-up area). That earns an A− for safety: less crime per resident than 78% of UK towns. Among 546 UK towns of 5,000 to 10,000 people, Wootton is 47th from the least crime.
Is crime going up in Wootton?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 21%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 35%, shoplifting and theft rose 53% and anti-social behaviour rose 11%. Across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Wootton?
Violence & sexual offences: 130 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came public order (22) and criminal damage & arson (21), with 62 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Wootton compare with Bedford?
Bedford records 44.5 violent and sexual offences and 20.3 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Wootton’s 16.4 and 5.6, over the same three years.
Sources: data.police.uk street-level crime, 36 months to August 2026, points inside the built-up-area boundary · ONS Census 2021, output areas summed to the ONS 2022 built-up area · MHCLG English Indices of Deprivation 2025, crime domain by LSOA (residents from ONS Census 2021) · Department for Transport road casualty statistics (STATS19), collisions 2021–2025, points inside the built-up-area boundary · TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranked against UK towns only. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.