Photo: Derek Harper · CC BY-SA 2.0Llay stands out for drugs: 6.6 times the rate of a typical town its size
Violent crime here is higher than in 77% of UK towns; burglary, vehicle crime and damage, higher than in 60%. Weighing it all, Llay earns C for safety (#16 of 39 in Clwyd), with more crime per resident than 73% of UK towns, on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area over September 2023 to August 2026. Recorded violence rose 9% in a year. Each year brought 34.7 violent and sexual offences and 10.9 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage for every 1,000 residents.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Llay
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 9% more violent crime per resident in Llay than in the year before; across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people violent crime held steady. Burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage held steady (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
More crime than many places its size
Of 706 UK towns of 3,000 to 6,000 people, Llay has the 549th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Watchet, Hebden Bridge and Boroughbridge, higher than Kirton, Hatfield Peverel and Fordingbridge. Towns its size ↓
Many neighbourhoods rank low for crime in Wales
The Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation 2025 ranks every neighbourhood in Wales on community safety. 35% of Llay’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.
What sits behind Llay’s C
A fairly firm grade. Built on 638 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Llay 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, Llay runs highest on drugs (6.9 per 1,000 against 1), criminal damage & arson (7.9 per 1,000 against 4.5) and violence & sexual offences (36.6 per 1,000 against 22.4).
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 171 | 36.6 | 22.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 60 | 12.9 | 8.8 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 37 | 7.9 | 4.5 |
| Drugs | not graded | 32 | 6.9 | 1 |
| Public order | not graded | 20 | 4.3 | 3.6 |
| Other theft | not graded | 15 | 3.2 | 3.2 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 13 | 2.8 | 1.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 8 | 1.7 | 1.9 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 7 | 1.5 | 2 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 5 | 1.1 | 0.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 4 | 0.9 | 1.5 |
| Robbery | Violent | 1 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 0 | 0 | 0.1 |
| 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.
Police in Llay identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 39% of Llay’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 10% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (68% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 17% of violent and 27% 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. 196 crimes.
A third of Llay residents live in one of Wales’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods
35% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of Wales’s neighbourhoods, and 0% in the highest-crime 20%. The community safety domain scores recorded crime, anti-social behaviour and fire incidents where people live, so it can read differently from the town-wide rate, which counts crimes where they happened.
Llay’s residents by the crime decile of their neighbourhood (LSOA, about 1,500 people) in the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation 2025 (community safety domain), where 1 is the highest-crime 10% of Wales’s neighbourhoods and 10 the lowest.
Of 706 towns its size, Llay is 549th from the least graded crime
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bailrigg Lancashire | 4,788 | 4.7 | 2.5 | 7.9 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 31 | Mynydd Isa Clwyd | 4,738 | 12.2 | 3.5 | 1.8 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 39 | Penrhyn Bay Clwyd | 4,201 | 13 | 3.7 | 4.2 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 45 | Gresford Clwyd | 4,948 | 11.5 | 5.7 | 5.1 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 73 | Penyffordd Clwyd | 3,822 | 13.9 | 5.2 | 5.6 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 546 | Kirton Lincolnshire | 5,576 | 35.2 | 10.1 | 7.1 | C |
| 547 | Hatfield Peverel Essex | 3,622 | 32.8 | 12.5 | 7.2 | C |
| 548 | Fordingbridge Hampshire | 4,947 | 30.1 | 15.3 | 11.9 | C |
| 549 | Llay Clwyd | 4,666 | 34.7 | 10.9 | 5.2 | C |
| 550 | Bilsthorpe Nottinghamshire | 3,490 | 30.5 | 15.2 | 7 | C |
| 551 | Talke and Talke Pits Staffordshire | 3,436 | 35.8 | 9.9 | 26.2 | C |
| 552 | Swillington West Yorkshire | 3,077 | 33.3 | 12.5 | 8.5 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 706 | Eastchurch Kent | 3,381 | 132 | 13.9 | 3.5 | 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 Llay, and others in Clwyd.
How crime in Llay 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 +9% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles +4% (towns its size -1%), shoplifting and theft +33% (towns its size +2%), anti-social behaviour -2% (towns its size +0%).
Crime in Llay 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 11 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 6 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 Llay’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 13 collisions with injuries inside Llay in five years. 5 people were killed or seriously injured: 2 on foot and 0 on a bicycle.
Most UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people (81%) had no road deaths in these five years, and Llay is one of them.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Llay’s size at the median for UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people would see about 4 people killed or seriously injured in five years; Llay had 5.
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 Llay’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Llay
Llay records more graded crime per resident than 4 of its 7 neighbours. Bradley, 1.1 miles away, records 13.4 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Llay’s 34.7.
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 Llay 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 Llay
Is Llay safe?
Police recorded 34.7 violent and sexual offences and 10.9 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Llay’s built-up area). That earns a C for safety: less crime per resident than 27% of UK towns. Among 706 UK towns of 3,000 to 6,000 people, Llay is 549th from the least crime. 35% of residents live in neighbourhoods in Wales’s lowest-crime 10%.
Is crime going up in Llay?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 9%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage held steady, shoplifting and theft rose 33% and anti-social behaviour held steady. Across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Llay?
Violence & sexual offences: 171 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (37) and drugs (32), with 60 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Llay compare with Wrexham?
Wrexham records 62.3 violent and sexual offences and 23.3 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Llay’s 34.7 and 10.9, 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 · Welsh Government Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation 2025, community safety domain by LSOA · 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.