Photo: David Robinson · CC BY-SA 2.0Newton Aycliffe sees more crime per resident than 94% of UK towns
Recorded violence rose 14% in a year. Burglary stands out: 6.1 per 1,000 residents in Newton Aycliffe, against 2.4 in a typical town its size, with 158 recorded in the 12 months to August 2026. Its letter for safety is D, worked out from crimes police recorded inside the town’s built-up area over September 2023 to August 2026: #33 of 52 in County Durham. In a usual year, 48.3 violent and sexual offences and 24.9 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage are logged per 1,000 inhabitants.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Newton Aycliffe
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 14% more violent crime per resident in Newton Aycliffe than in the year before; across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 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 242 UK towns of 18,000 to 35,000 people, Newton Aycliffe has the 214th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Newport, Pontefract and Morecambe, higher than Truro, Cradley Heath and Chafford Hundred and West Thurrock. Towns its size ↓
Neighbourhood ranks
38% of Newton Aycliffe’s residents live in a neighbourhood ranked in the highest-crime 20% of England (Indices of Deprivation 2025, crime domain), and 20% in the lowest-crime 30%. Neighbourhood ranks ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
What’s behind Newton Aycliffe’s grade
A firm grade. Built on 5,650 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Newton Aycliffe 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, Newton Aycliffe runs highest on burglary (6.1 per 1,000 against 2.4), anti-social behaviour (31.6 per 1,000 against 12.4) and criminal damage & arson (14.4 per 1,000 against 6.2).
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 1,263 | 49 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 814 | 31.6 | 12.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 371 | 14.4 | 6.2 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 297 | 11.5 | 6.1 |
| Public order | not graded | 229 | 8.9 | 5.4 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 158 | 6.1 | 2.4 |
| Other theft | not graded | 135 | 5.2 | 4.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 107 | 4.2 | 1.8 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 104 | 4 | 2.8 |
| Drugs | not graded | 60 | 2.3 | 1.9 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 27 | 1 | 0.7 |
| Robbery | Violent | 19 | 0.7 | 0.5 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 10 | 0.4 | 0.3 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 9 | 0.3 | 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.
Set against 242 towns its size, Newton Aycliffe is 214th
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heswall Merseyside | 29,082 | 14.3 | 5.5 | 3.8 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 112 | Consett County Durham | 29,874 | 33.8 | 13.4 | 14.3 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 164 | Seaham County Durham | 21,660 | 34.3 | 21.6 | 17.7 | C− |
| 165 | Chester-le-Street County Durham | 23,554 | 37.2 | 18.9 | 24.7 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 191 | Billingham County Durham | 33,917 | 38.6 | 24.3 | 15.5 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 211 | Truro Cornwall | 23,060 | 56.3 | 16.3 | 22.4 | D |
| 212 | Cradley Heath West Midlands | 18,819 | 52.5 | 20.2 | 11.8 | D |
| 213 | Chafford Hundred and West Thurrock Essex | 23,589 | 39.9 | 33.1 | 44.4 | D |
| 214 | Newton Aycliffe County Durham | 25,760 | 48.3 | 24.9 | 19.7 | D |
| 215 | Rawmarsh South Yorkshire | 18,892 | 50 | 23.6 | 30.6 | D |
| 216 | Colwyn Bay Clwyd | 29,273 | 58.1 | 15.4 | 17.8 | D |
| 217 | Bridlington East Riding of Yorkshire | 34,831 | 56.4 | 17.3 | 23.6 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 242 | 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 Newton Aycliffe, and others in County Durham.
38% of Newton Aycliffe residents live in one of England’s highest-crime neighbourhoods
20% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 38% 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.
Newton Aycliffe’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.
How crime in Newton Aycliffe 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 +14% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles +4% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft -3% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour +0% (towns its size -4%).
Crime in Newton Aycliffe 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 25 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 18 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 65% of Newton Aycliffe’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 11% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (61% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 10% 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. 1,945 crimes.
Lowest recorded crime in Aycliffe North and Middridge, Aycliffe East and Aycliffe West
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aycliffe North and Middridge | 10,341 | 39 | 21 | |
| Aycliffe East | 8,318 | 51.6 | 25.6 | |
| Aycliffe West | 7,101 | 57.9 | 29.6 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 785 | 40% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 586 | 28% shoplifting & theft |
| Petrol stations | 315 | 49% shoplifting & theft |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 32 | 44% violent |
| Police stations | 27 | 30% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live. 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 Newton Aycliffe. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Newton Aycliffe’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
One person died in collisions on Newton Aycliffe’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 48 collisions with injuries inside Newton Aycliffe in five years, in which one person died. 20 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 Newton Aycliffe’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Newton Aycliffe’s own rate (0.8) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Newton Aycliffe had 15.5 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 Newton Aycliffe’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Newton Aycliffe
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newton Aycliffe | 25,760 | 48.3 | 24.9 | D |
| School Aycliffe | 1,590 | 13 | 4 | A |
| Heighington | 1,548 | 15.3 | 7.5 | A− |
| Chilton | 4,693 | 52.8 | 32.6 | D− |
| Shildon | 9,650 | 65.8 | 42.4 | D− |
| Coundon and Leeholme | 2,522 | 60.8 | 38.1 | D− |
| Ferryhill | 8,857 | 69.8 | 36.5 | D− |
| Bishop Auckland | 23,359 | 56.3 | 36.4 | D− |
Newton Aycliffe records more graded crime per resident than 2 of its 7 neighbours. School Aycliffe, 1.5 miles away, records 13 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Newton Aycliffe’s 48.3.
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 Newton Aycliffe 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 Newton Aycliffe
Is Newton Aycliffe safe?
Police recorded 48.3 violent and sexual offences and 24.9 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Newton Aycliffe’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 6% of UK towns. Among 242 UK towns of 18,000 to 35,000 people, Newton Aycliffe is 214th from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Newton Aycliffe?
By council ward, Aycliffe North and Middridge, Aycliffe East and Aycliffe West record the least violent and household crime per resident: 39, 51.6 and 57.9 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 57.9 in Aycliffe West.
Is crime going up in Newton Aycliffe?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 14%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage held steady, shoplifting and theft held steady 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 Newton Aycliffe?
Violence & sexual offences: 1,263 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (371) and shoplifting (297), with 814 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Newton Aycliffe compare with Darlington?
Darlington records 45.2 violent and sexual offences and 25.8 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Newton Aycliffe’s 48.3 and 24.9, 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 · 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.