Photo: Jaggery · CC BY-SA 2.0Compared with UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, Neston has less crime per resident than 87% of them
On burglary, vehicle crime and damage it beats 76% of UK towns; on violent crime, only 49%. In a usual year, 23.0 violent and sexual offences and 6.4 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage are logged per 1,000 inhabitants. Weighing it all, Neston earns B for safety (#25 of 46 in Cheshire), with close to the middle of UK towns, on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area over September 2023 to August 2026. 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 Neston
Less crime than most places its size
Of 372 UK towns of 10,000 to 20,000 people, Neston has the 56th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Sidmouth, Whickham and Uckfield, higher than Godalming, Carterton and Herne. 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. 35% of Neston’s residents live in one of the lowest-crime 10%, and 17% 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.
Inside Neston’s B for safety
A fairly firm grade. Built on 1,317 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Neston against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
A third of Neston residents live in one of England’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods
60% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 17% 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.
Neston’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 Neston identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 51% of Neston’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” (60% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 13% of violent and 9% 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. 483 crimes.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Other theft and criminal damage & arson sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 310 | 20.7 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 90 | 6 | 12.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 88 | 5.9 | 6.1 |
| Public order | not graded | 56 | 3.7 | 5.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 41 | 2.7 | 6.2 |
| Other theft | not graded | 29 | 1.9 | 4.4 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 21 | 1.4 | 2.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 18 | 1.2 | 1.9 |
| Other crime | not graded | 16 | 1.1 | 1.8 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 12 | 0.8 | 2.8 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 7 | 0.5 | 0.7 |
| Robbery | Violent | 2 | 0.1 | 0.5 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 1 | 0.1 | 0.3 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 1 | 0.1 | 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.
Of 372 towns its size, Neston is 56th from the least graded crime
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kesgrave Suffolk | 14,947 | 13 | 3.3 | 2.7 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 12 | Davenham Cheshire | 13,840 | 18.5 | 3.4 | 3.5 | A− |
| 13 | Poynton Cheshire | 13,015 | 16.4 | 5.4 | 8.3 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 16 | Lymm Cheshire | 11,547 | 16.2 | 6.2 | 6.2 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 49 | Knutsford Cheshire | 13,254 | 21.2 | 7.3 | 8.4 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 53 | Godalming Surrey | 10,450 | 20.3 | 8.7 | 10 | B |
| 54 | Carterton Oxfordshire | 17,951 | 22.9 | 6.2 | 5.9 | B |
| 55 | Herne Kent | 14,874 | 21.7 | 7.6 | 5 | B |
| 56 | Neston Cheshire | 14,963 | 23 | 6.4 | 6.7 | B |
| 57 | Gillingham Dorset | 11,009 | 20 | 9.4 | 8 | B |
| 58 | Sherborne Dorset | 10,359 | 21.6 | 7.8 | 8.9 | B |
| 59 | Polegate East Sussex | 10,067 | 20.1 | 9.3 | 17.8 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 372 | Haverfordwest Dyfed | 12,088 | 91.4 | 28.6 | 32.3 | 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 Neston, and others in Cheshire.
Lowest recorded crime in Parkgate, Little Neston and Neston; highest in Neston
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parkgate | 4,971 | 12.4 | 3.5 | |
| Little Neston | 4,522 | 18.9 | 4.8 | |
| Neston | 5,470 | 35.9 | 10.3 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Car parks | 206 | 30% shoplifting & theft |
| Supermarkets | 56 | 77% shoplifting & theft |
| Petrol stations | 53 | 42% shoplifting & theft |
| Police stations | 34 | 38% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Neston records 2.3× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Neston. 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 Neston. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Neston’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
How crime in Neston 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 -4% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -33% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft +4% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour +70% (towns its size -4%).
Crime in Neston 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 5 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 8 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
No one died in a collision on Neston’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 56 collisions with injuries inside Neston in five years. 19 people were killed or seriously injured: 5 on foot and 4 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 Neston’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Neston’s own rate (0.0) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Neston had 25.6 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as 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 Neston’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Neston
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Neston | 14,963 | 23 | 6.4 | B |
| Willaston (Cheshire West and Chester) | 2,472 | 9 | 2.7 | A+ |
| Heswall | 29,082 | 14.3 | 5.5 | A− |
| Bebington | 57,607 | 25.6 | 8.3 | B− |
| Flint | 12,776 | 40 | 13.5 | C− |
| Connah's Quay | 16,768 | 33.3 | 10.6 | C |
| Bagillt | 5,943 | 39.3 | 12.7 | C− |
| Garden City | 2,427 | 66.3 | 26.8 | D− |
Neston records more graded crime per resident than 2 of its 7 neighbours. Willaston (Cheshire West and Chester), 2.4 miles away, records 9 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Neston’s 23.
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 Neston 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 Neston
Is Neston safe?
Police recorded 23 violent and sexual offences and 6.4 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Neston’s built-up area). That earns a B for safety: less crime per resident than 57% of UK towns. Among 372 UK towns of 10,000 to 20,000 people, Neston is 56th from the least crime. 35% of residents live in neighbourhoods in England’s lowest-crime 10%.
What are the safest areas of Neston?
By council ward, Parkgate, Little Neston and Neston record the least violent and household crime per resident: 12.4, 18.9 and 35.9 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 35.9 in Neston.
Is crime going up in Neston?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 33%, shoplifting and theft held steady and anti-social behaviour rose 70%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Neston?
Violence & sexual offences: 310 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (88) and public order (56), with 90 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Neston compare with Birkenhead?
Birkenhead records 50.1 violent and sexual offences and 17.2 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Neston’s 23 and 6.4, 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.