Sandford Mill · Photo: Des Blenkinsopp · CC BY-SA 2.0Woodley has less crime per resident than 96% of UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people
It has less violent crime than 66% of UK towns, and less burglary, vehicle crime and damage than 80%. Each year brought 18.1 violent and sexual offences and 5.8 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage for every 1,000 residents. Recorded violence held steady in a year.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Woodley
Less crime than most places its size
Of 220 UK towns of 20,000 to 38,000 people, Woodley has the 8th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Seaford, Kenilworth and Crowborough, higher than Harpenden, Lee-on-the-Solent and Great Bookham and Fetcham. Towns its size ↓
Many neighbourhoods rank low for crime nationally
The government’s Indices of Deprivation 2025 rank every neighbourhood in England on recorded crime. 27% of Woodley’s residents live in one of the lowest-crime 10%, and 0% in one of the highest-crime 20%. Neighbourhood ranks ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
The B+ for Woodley, and how it is built
A fairly firm grade. Built on 2,013 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Woodley against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Anti-social behaviour and shoplifting sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 495 | 17.7 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 143 | 5.1 | 12.4 |
| Public order | not graded | 97 | 3.5 | 5.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 85 | 3 | 6.2 |
| Other theft | not graded | 79 | 2.8 | 4.4 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 43 | 1.5 | 2.8 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 42 | 1.5 | 6.1 |
| Drugs | not graded | 35 | 1.2 | 1.9 |
| Other crime | not graded | 32 | 1.1 | 1.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 29 | 1 | 2.4 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 14 | 0.5 | 0.3 |
| Robbery | Violent | 8 | 0.3 | 0.5 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 3 | 0.1 | 0.7 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 1 | 0 | 0.3 |
“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 10,000 to 50,000 people.
Among 220 towns its size, Woodley ranks 8th for the least graded crime
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heswall Merseyside | 29,082 | 14.3 | 5.5 | 3.8 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 4 | Sandhurst Berkshire | 20,220 | 14.9 | 6.8 | 4.9 | A− |
| 5 | Harpenden Hertfordshire | 30,964 | 11.3 | 11.2 | 13.4 | A− |
| 6 | Lee-on-the-Solent Hampshire | 24,307 | 17.8 | 5 | 5.3 | A− |
| 7 | Great Bookham and Fetcham Surrey | 21,655 | 15.3 | 7.5 | 5.1 | A− |
| 8 | Woodley Berkshire | 28,019 | 18.1 | 5.8 | 5.5 | B+ |
| 9 | Chandler's Ford Hampshire | 31,965 | 17.5 | 6.7 | 6 | B+ |
| 10 | Dronfield Derbyshire | 21,161 | 15.9 | 8.5 | 8.9 | B+ |
| 11 | Carrickfergus Mid and East Antrim | 28,141 | 18.7 | 6.3 | 6.8 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 17 | Caversham Berkshire | 33,038 | 16.7 | 9 | 14.3 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 23 | Ascot Berkshire | 24,003 | 18.8 | 9.6 | 6.6 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 62 | Thatcham Berkshire | 25,537 | 29.7 | 8 | 10.3 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 220 | Great Yarmouth Norfolk | 28,979 | 105 | 32.9 | 33.7 | 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 Woodley, and others in Berkshire.
1 in 4 Woodley residents lives in one of England’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods
82% 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.
Woodley’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.
Police in Woodley identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 63% of Woodley’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 14% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (57% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 7% of violent and 4% 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. 690 crimes.
Crime in Woodley 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 6 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 5 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Lowest recorded crime in South Lake, Sonning and Coronation; highest in Bulmershe and Whitegates
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Lake | 5,045 | 9.8 | 4.2 | |
| Sonning | 1,585 | 12 | 4 | |
| Coronation | 5,631 | 15.7 | 4.5 | |
| Loddon | 10,526 | 20.1 | 6.2 | |
| Bulmershe and Whitegates | 5,232 | 26.2 | 8.3 |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Bulmershe and Whitegates records 1.6× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Woodley.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Woodley’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026.
How crime in Woodley has moved
“Towns its size” pools all UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people that police.uk covers each month (Greater Manchester has no data).
Rolling six-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 -1% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles +5% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft -13% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour -2% (towns its size -4%).
No one died in a collision on Woodley’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 81 collisions with injuries inside Woodley in five years. 15 people were killed or seriously injured: 3 on foot and 1 on a bicycle.
That is about what is typical for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people: at their median rate (0.9 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Woodley’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Woodley’s own rate (0.0) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Woodley had 10.4 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, below the median for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people (23.8).
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 Woodley’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Woodley
Woodley records more graded crime per resident than 4 of its 7 neighbours. Sonning, 1 miles away, records 9.3 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Woodley’s 18.1.
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 Woodley 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 Woodley
Is Woodley safe?
Police recorded 18.1 violent and sexual offences and 5.8 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Woodley’s built-up area). That earns a B+ for safety: less crime per resident than 73% of UK towns. Among 220 UK towns of 20,000 to 38,000 people, Woodley is 8th from the least crime. 27% of residents live in neighbourhoods in England’s lowest-crime 10%.
What are the safest areas of Woodley?
By council ward, South Lake, Sonning and Coronation record the least violent and household crime per resident: 9.8, 12 and 15.7 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 26.2 in Bulmershe and Whitegates.
Is crime going up in Woodley?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 5%, shoplifting and theft fell 13% and anti-social behaviour held steady. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Woodley?
Violence & sexual offences: 495 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came public order (97) and criminal damage & arson (85), with 143 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Woodley compare with Reading?
Reading records 39.6 violent and sexual offences and 15.5 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Woodley’s 18.1 and 5.8, 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.