Photo: Alan Murray-Rust · CC BY-SA 2.0For violent crime, Ellesmere Port trails 89% of UK towns per resident
On crimes police recorded inside Ellesmere Port’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026, it grades C− for safety: #40 of 46 in Cheshire. Recorded violent and sexual offences ran at 44.3 per 1,000 residents a year, and burglary, vehicle crime and damage at 10.8. Measured against the 207 UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, 65% of them record more crime per resident.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Ellesmere Port
About the middle for a town its size
Of 109 UK towns and cities of 46,000 to 88,000 people, Ellesmere Port has the 51st lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Durham, Loughborough and Lowestoft, higher than Paignton, Corby and Ashford. 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. 13% of Ellesmere Port’s residents live in one of the lowest-crime 10%, and 31% 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.
Ellesmere Port: C− for safety, and why
A firm grade. Built on 10,801 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Ellesmere Port 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
Against the typical town its size, Ellesmere Port runs highest on public order (10.8 per 1,000 against 7.4). Burglary and anti-social behaviour sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 2,764 | 42.2 | 38.6 |
| Public order | not graded | 704 | 10.8 | 7.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 654 | 10 | 10.3 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 581 | 8.9 | 17.5 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 406 | 6.2 | 7.5 |
| Other theft | not graded | 343 | 5.2 | 6.6 |
| Drugs | not graded | 248 | 3.8 | 3.8 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 225 | 3.4 | 4.9 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 146 | 2.2 | 3.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 137 | 2.1 | 2.1 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 53 | 0.8 | 1.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 44 | 0.7 | 1.4 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 40 | 0.6 | 0.9 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 7 | 0.1 | 0.7 |
“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 and cities of 50,000 or more.
Police in Ellesmere Port identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 57% of Ellesmere Port’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 8% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (63% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 12% of violent and 6% 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. 3,686 crimes.
1 in 8 Ellesmere Port residents lives in one of England’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods
22% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 31% 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.
Ellesmere Port’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.
Crime in Ellesmere Port 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 12 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 16 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 Strawberry, Whitby Groves and Ledsham & Manor; highest in Wolverham
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strawberry | 5,244 | 15.1 | 4.5 | |
| Whitby Groves | 4,323 | 18.7 | 5.6 | |
| Ledsham & Manor | 9,420 | 18 | 6.3 | |
| Netherpool | 5,448 | 23.5 | 5.1 | |
| Gowy Rural | 681 | 25.5 | 10.8 | |
| Sutton Villages | 11,081 | 35.8 | 9.2 | |
| Whitby Park | 5,381 | 43.3 | 9.5 | |
| Central & Grange | 12,505 | 70 | 13.2 | |
| Westminster | 5,517 | 72.8 | 17.3 | |
| Wolverham | 5,825 | 87.9 | 24.9 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Car parks | 1,137 | 30% violent |
| Shopping areas | 1,099 | 70% shoplifting & theft |
| Supermarkets | 520 | 54% shoplifting & theft |
| Bus and coach stations | 166 | 32% shoplifting & theft |
| Police stations | 159 | 51% violent |
| Nightclubs | 135 | 28% anti-social behaviour |
| Petrol stations | 132 | 48% shoplifting & theft |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 68 | 59% violent |
| Parks and open spaces | 59 | 66% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Wolverham records 2.2× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Ellesmere Port. police.uk places each crime at an anonymous map point; some are named for the kind of place (a supermarket, a car park), and each row adds up every place of that kind in Ellesmere Port. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Ellesmere Port’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Set against 109 towns its size, Ellesmere Port is 51st
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Metropolitan Castlereagh Lisburn and Castlereagh | 58,763 | 14.8 | 6.6 | 7.1 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 38 | Macclesfield Cheshire | 54,352 | 40.2 | 10.2 | 14.3 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 48 | Paignton Devon | 67,509 | 40.2 | 13.7 | 16.3 | C− |
| 49 | Corby Northamptonshire | 68,164 | 41.1 | 13.2 | 16.4 | C− |
| 50 | Ashford Kent | 82,143 | 40.4 | 14.6 | 20.2 | C− |
| 51 | Ellesmere Port Cheshire | 65,425 | 44.3 | 10.8 | 14.9 | C− |
| 52 | Barry South Glamorgan | 56,589 | 40.2 | 15.3 | 20.9 | C− |
| 53 | Gosport Hampshire | 70,120 | 43.6 | 13 | 13.5 | C− |
| 54 | Stafford Staffordshire | 71,695 | 43.8 | 12.8 | 16 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 59 | Widnes Cheshire | 59,938 | 45.3 | 13 | 12 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 65 | Runcorn Cheshire | 61,641 | 48.6 | 12.6 | 10.2 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 73 | Crewe Cheshire | 74,116 | 51.3 | 14.3 | 17.6 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 109 | Doncaster South Yorkshire | 87,440 | 72.6 | 38.2 | 43.3 | 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 Ellesmere Port, and others in Cheshire.
Violent crime held steady over the year
“Towns its size” pools all UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more that police.uk covers each month (Greater Manchester has no data).
Rolling three-month rate, per 1,000 residents a year. In the 12 months to August 2026 against the 12 before: violent +1% (towns its size +2%), homes and vehicles +22% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft +18% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour +17% (towns its size -2%).
Two people died in collisions on Ellesmere Port’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 369 collisions with injuries inside Ellesmere Port in five years, in which two people died (1 was a pedestrian). 92 people were killed or seriously injured: 22 on foot and 18 on a bicycle.
That is about what is typical for UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more: at their median rate (1.1 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Ellesmere Port’s size would see about 4 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Ellesmere Port’s own rate (0.6) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Ellesmere Port had 28.3 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as the median for UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more (30.3). 24% of them were on foot, against 31% across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more.
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 Ellesmere Port’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Ellesmere Port
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ellesmere Port | 65,425 | 44.3 | 10.8 | C− |
| Moston | 1,099 | 20.3 | 3.3 | B+ |
| Saughall | 2,655 | 18.7 | 3.8 | A− |
| Willaston (Cheshire West and Chester) | 2,472 | 9 | 2.7 | A+ |
| Elton | 3,293 | 22.1 | 6 | B |
| Mickle Trafford | 1,840 | 10.7 | 1.8 | A+ |
| Bebington | 57,607 | 25.6 | 8.3 | B− |
| Garden City | 2,427 | 66.3 | 26.8 | D− |
Ellesmere Port records more graded crime per resident than 6 of its 7 neighbours; only Garden City records more. Moston, 3.6 miles away, records 20.3 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Ellesmere Port’s 44.3.
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 Ellesmere Port 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 Ellesmere Port
Is Ellesmere Port safe?
Police recorded 44.3 violent and sexual offences and 10.8 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Ellesmere Port’s built-up area). That earns a C− for safety: less crime per resident than 16% of UK towns. Among 109 UK towns of 46,000 to 88,000 people, Ellesmere Port is 51st from the least crime. 13% of residents live in neighbourhoods in England’s lowest-crime 10%.
What are the safest areas of Ellesmere Port?
By council ward, Strawberry, Whitby Groves and Ledsham & Manor record the least violent and household crime per resident: 15.1, 18.7 and 18 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 87.9 in Wolverham.
Is crime going up in Ellesmere Port?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 22%, shoplifting and theft rose 18% and anti-social behaviour rose 17%. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
Is Ellesmere Port town centre safe at night?
police.uk placed 135 crimes and reports at or near nightclubs in three years, 27% of them violent, and Wolverham ward records 87.9 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 of its residents a year. Over the last two years, violent crime peaked in June and was lowest in April.
What is the most common crime in Ellesmere Port?
Violence & sexual offences: 2,764 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came public order (704) and shoplifting (654), with 581 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Ellesmere Port compare with Chester?
Chester records 46.9 violent and sexual offences and 10.8 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Ellesmere Port’s 44.3 and 10.8, 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.