1-4, The High Street · Photo: Pugsarethebest1234 · CC BY-SA 4.0Per resident, Ashley Heath records less violent crime than 91% of UK towns
The typical town its size sees 2 cases of vehicle crime per 1,000 residents; Ashley Heath sees 3.6, or 26 in the 12 months to August 2026. Violent crime was down 22% in a year. Taking everything together, Ashley Heath scores A− (#8 of 30 in Dorset): less crime per resident than 79% of UK towns, measured on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area between September 2023 and August 2026. Typical years here bring 10.9 violent and sexual offences plus 10.4 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 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 Ashley Heath
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 22% less violent crime per resident in Ashley Heath 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 fell 47% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
Less crime than most places its size
Of 546 UK towns of 5,000 to 10,000 people, Ashley Heath has the 40th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Hagley, Chinnor and Comber, higher than Greenisland, Haslington and Twyford. 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. 24% of Ashley Heath’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’s behind Ashley Heath’s grade
A firm grade. Built on 456 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Ashley Heath 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, Ashley Heath runs highest on vehicle crime (3.6 per 1,000 against 2). Violence & sexual offences and criminal damage & arson sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 69 | 9.6 | 22.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 53 | 7.4 | 8.8 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 26 | 3.6 | 2 |
| Other theft | not graded | 23 | 3.2 | 3.2 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 13 | 1.8 | 1.9 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 11 | 1.5 | 4.5 |
| Public order | not graded | 7 | 1 | 3.6 |
| Other crime | not graded | 5 | 0.7 | 1.5 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 2 | 0.3 | 1.8 |
| Drugs | not graded | 2 | 0.3 | 1 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 0 | 0 | 0.4 |
| Robbery | Violent | 0 | 0 | 0.2 |
| 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 Ashley Heath identify a suspect less often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 88% of Ashley Heath’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 17% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (69% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 8% of violent and 1% 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. 154 crimes.
How crime in Ashley Heath 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 -22% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -47% (towns its size -1%), shoplifting and theft -35% (towns its size +2%), anti-social behaviour +96% (towns its size +0%).
Of 546 towns its size, Ashley Heath is 40th from the least graded crime
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Merley Dorset | 5,489 | 8.4 | 2.8 | 3.8 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 37 | Greenisland Mid and East Antrim | 5,383 | 16 | 5 | 2.7 | A− |
| 38 | Haslington Cheshire | 5,042 | 17.1 | 4 | 4.6 | A− |
| 39 | Twyford Berkshire | 8,072 | 11.8 | 9.4 | 13.4 | A− |
| 40 | Ashley Heath Dorset | 7,151 | 10.9 | 10.4 | 4.9 | A− |
| 41 | Denmead Hampshire | 6,509 | 16 | 5.3 | 2.1 | A− |
| 42 | Sonning Common Oxfordshire | 5,264 | 16.1 | 5.5 | 5.4 | A− |
| 43 | Bearsted Kent | 8,349 | 14.8 | 7.1 | 4.8 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 83 | Wool Dorset | 5,044 | 19.3 | 5.4 | 4.2 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 155 | Swanage Dorset | 9,115 | 21.3 | 8.1 | 7.4 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 165 | Upton Dorset | 8,401 | 19.4 | 10.6 | 9.1 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 546 | 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 Ashley Heath, and others in Dorset.
1 in 4 Ashley Heath residents lives in one of England’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods
82% 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.
Ashley Heath’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 Ashley Heath 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 4 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
One person died in collisions on Ashley Heath’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 57 collisions with injuries inside Ashley Heath in five years, in which one person died. 11 people were killed or seriously injured: 2 on foot and 2 on a bicycle.
Most UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people (81%) had no road deaths in these five years, so with numbers this small a single collision changes the picture; Ashley Heath’s one death is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Ashley Heath had 31.9 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 Ashley Heath’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Ashley Heath
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ashley Heath | 7,151 | 10.9 | 10.4 | A− |
| West Moors | 10,432 | 16.9 | 9 | B+ |
| Three Legged Cross | 1,129 | 33.4 | 21 | C− |
| Ringwood | 12,789 | 28.8 | 14.9 | C |
| Hightown | 1,296 | 7.5 | 4.9 | A+ |
| Verwood | 13,706 | 12.5 | 5.9 | A |
| Ferndown | 13,267 | 13.8 | 7.2 | A− |
| West Parley | 3,665 | 9.1 | 7.8 | A |
Ashley Heath records more graded crime per resident than 4 of its 7 neighbours. Hightown, 3.1 miles away, records 7.5 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Ashley Heath’s 10.9.
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 Ashley Heath 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 Ashley Heath
Is Ashley Heath safe?
Police recorded 10.9 violent and sexual offences and 10.4 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Ashley Heath’s built-up area). That earns an A− for safety: less crime per resident than 79% of UK towns. Among 546 UK towns of 5,000 to 10,000 people, Ashley Heath is 40th from the least crime. 24% of residents live in neighbourhoods in England’s lowest-crime 10%.
Is crime going up in Ashley Heath?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 22%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 47%, shoplifting and theft fell 35% and anti-social behaviour rose 96%. Across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Ashley Heath?
Violence & sexual offences: 69 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came vehicle crime (26) and other theft (23), with 53 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Ashley Heath compare with Bournemouth?
Bournemouth records 37.1 violent and sexual offences and 20.4 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Ashley Heath’s 10.9 and 10.4, 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.