Photo: Dave Bevis · CC BY-SA 2.0More violent crime is recorded per resident in New Mills than in 61% of UK towns
It has less crime per resident than 43% of the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people. Weighing it all, New Mills earns C+ for safety (#22 of 59 in Derbyshire), with close to the middle of UK towns, on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area over September 2023 to August 2026. Violence recorded locally held about level in a year. Behind the grade sit 27.1 violent and sexual offences and 8.8 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 people a year.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in New Mills
About the middle for a town its size
Of 487 UK towns of 6,000 to 12,000 people, New Mills has the 220th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Malton, Billingshurst and Higham Ferrers, higher than Rawdon, Yatton and Pontarddulais. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
New Mills: C+ for safety, and why
A fairly firm grade. Built on 987 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks New Mills against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
How New Mills’s neighbourhoods rank in England
20% 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.
New Mills’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 New Mills identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 60% of New Mills’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” (60% 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. 350 crimes.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, New Mills runs highest on public order (4.9 per 1,000 against 3.6). 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 | 231 | 25.1 | 22.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 54 | 5.9 | 8.8 |
| Public order | not graded | 45 | 4.9 | 3.6 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 35 | 3.8 | 4.5 |
| Other theft | not graded | 22 | 2.4 | 3.2 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 20 | 2.2 | 2 |
| Other crime | not graded | 14 | 1.5 | 1.5 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 12 | 1.3 | 1.9 |
| Drugs | not graded | 9 | 1 | 1 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 6 | 0.7 | 0.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 3 | 0.3 | 1.8 |
| Robbery | Violent | 2 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 1 | 0.1 | 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.
Violent crime held steady over the year
“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 -3% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -20% (towns its size -1%), shoplifting and theft -37% (towns its size +2%), anti-social behaviour -23% (towns its size +0%).
Lowest recorded crime in New Mills West, Sett and New Mills East
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Mills West | 4,185 | 20.7 | 8.8 | |
| Sett | 641 | 22.4 | 8.3 | |
| New Mills East | 3,872 | 35.8 | 8.8 |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so New Mills East records 1.7× the violent crime per resident of the rest of New Mills.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside New Mills’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026.
Set against 487 towns its size, New Mills is 220th
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Barton on Sea Hampshire | 6,763 | 9.6 | 5 | 3.1 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 24 | Wingerworth Derbyshire | 6,404 | 14.9 | 5.6 | 3 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 76 | Hilton Derbyshire | 8,269 | 19.8 | 5.9 | 3.9 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 133 | Borrowash Derbyshire | 7,171 | 21.4 | 8.6 | 4.2 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 159 | Breaston and Draycott Derbyshire | 7,393 | 22.6 | 9.2 | 8.6 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 217 | Rawdon West Yorkshire | 6,738 | 21.7 | 13.6 | 4.5 | C+ |
| 218 | Yatton Somerset | 7,704 | 26.6 | 8.9 | 6.5 | C+ |
| 219 | Pontarddulais West Glamorgan | 6,513 | 25.6 | 10.2 | 6.9 | C+ |
| 220 | New Mills Derbyshire | 9,195 | 27.1 | 8.8 | 4.5 | C+ |
| 221 | Sawbridgeworth Hertfordshire | 10,471 | 23.2 | 12.7 | 6 | C+ |
| 222 | Caister-on-Sea Norfolk | 9,095 | 28.4 | 7.6 | 4.1 | C+ |
| 223 | Aintree Merseyside | 6,212 | 24.1 | 11.9 | 29.5 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 487 | City of London London | 7,820 | 252.8 | 111.5 | 710 | 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 New Mills, and others in Derbyshire.
Crime in New Mills 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 7 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 3 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 New Mills’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 39 collisions with injuries inside New Mills in five years. 12 people were killed or seriously injured: 3 on foot and 1 on a bicycle.
Most UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people (81%) had no road deaths in these five years, and New Mills is one of them.
Counting serious injuries too, New Mills had 25.9 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people (16.7).
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 New Mills’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around New Mills
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Mills | 9,195 | 27.1 | 8.8 | C+ |
| Furness Vale | 1,069 | 15.3 | 6.2 | A− |
| Disley | 3,891 | 13.3 | 6.3 | A− |
| Hayfield | 1,878 | 20.4 | 6.7 | B |
| Whaley Bridge | 4,618 | 22.4 | 9 | B− |
| High Lane | 4,617 | — | — | — |
| Marple Bridge | 4,702 | — | — | — |
| Chinley | 1,913 | 13.9 | 7.2 | A− |
New Mills records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Furness Vale, 1.3 miles away, records 15.3 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against New Mills’s 27.1.
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 New Mills 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 New Mills
Is New Mills safe?
Police recorded 27.1 violent and sexual offences and 8.8 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside New Mills’s built-up area). That earns a C+ for safety: less crime per resident than 43% of UK towns. Among 487 UK towns of 6,000 to 12,000 people, New Mills is 220th from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of New Mills?
By council ward, New Mills West, Sett and New Mills East record the least violent and household crime per resident: 20.7, 22.4 and 35.8 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 35.8 in New Mills East.
Is crime going up in New Mills?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 20%, shoplifting and theft fell 37% and anti-social behaviour fell 23%. Across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in New Mills?
Violence & sexual offences: 231 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came public order (45) and criminal damage & arson (35), with 54 reports of anti-social behaviour.
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.