Photo: Lobsterthermidor at en.wikipedia · CC0Burglary, vehicle crime and damage per resident is lower in Wotton-under-Edge than in 67% of UK towns
Its letter overall is B (#14 of 48 in Gloucestershire): close to the middle of UK towns, from crimes police recorded inside its built-up area through September 2023 to August 2026. Year on year, 22.3 violent and sexual offences and 7.5 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage occur per 1,000 residents. Of the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, 60% record more crime per resident.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Wotton-under-Edge
About the middle for a town its size
Of 823 UK towns of 3,000 to 7,000 people, Wotton-under-Edge has the 338th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Ripponden, Needham Market and Wheatley, higher than Menston, Cross Hills and Great Lumley. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
What sits behind Wotton-under-Edge’s B
A fairly firm grade. Built on 359 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Wotton-under-Edge 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
Anti-social behaviour and violence & sexual offences sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 33 | 6.6 | 22.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 31 | 6.2 | 8.8 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 7 | 1.4 | 4.5 |
| Other theft | not graded | 7 | 1.4 | 3.2 |
| Public order | not graded | 5 | 1 | 3.6 |
| Other crime | not graded | 5 | 1 | 1.5 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 3 | 0.6 | 1.9 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 3 | 0.6 | 2 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 0 | 0 | 1.8 |
| Drugs | not graded | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 0 | 0 | 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.
How Wotton-under-Edge’s neighbourhoods rank in England
37% 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.
Wotton-under-Edge’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 name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 73% of Wotton-under-Edge’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 5% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (71% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 4% of violent and 2% 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. 160 crimes.
Wotton-under-Edge against towns its size
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bailrigg Lancashire | 4,788 | 4.7 | 2.5 | 7.9 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 28 | South Cerney Gloucestershire | 3,998 | 11.2 | 4 | 4.1 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 51 | Chalford Gloucestershire | 6,665 | 13.5 | 3.8 | 2.7 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 57 | Prestbury Gloucestershire | 4,078 | 10.9 | 6.8 | 3.9 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 65 | Leonard Stanley and King's Stanley Gloucestershire | 3,584 | 14.3 | 3.9 | 1.8 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 335 | Menston West Yorkshire | 5,905 | 20.5 | 9.1 | 4.5 | B |
| 336 | Cross Hills North Yorkshire | 4,809 | 20.2 | 9.4 | 6.1 | B |
| 337 | Great Lumley County Durham | 3,627 | 21.1 | 8.6 | 3.3 | B |
| 338 | Wotton-under-Edge Gloucestershire | 4,966 | 22.3 | 7.5 | 6.3 | B |
| 339 | Peasedown St John Somerset | 6,668 | 23.8 | 6 | 7.3 | B |
| 340 | Ringmer East Sussex | 3,221 | 21.4 | 8.4 | 3.7 | B |
| 341 | Lambourn Berkshire | 3,141 | 22 | 7.9 | 3.8 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 823 | 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 Wotton-under-Edge, and others in Gloucestershire.
Crime in Wotton-under-Edge 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 3 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 1 shoplifting and theft report, 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 Wotton-under-Edge’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 11 collisions with injuries inside Wotton-under-Edge in five years. 5 people were killed or seriously injured: 1 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, and Wotton-under-Edge is one of them.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Wotton-under-Edge’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; Wotton-under-Edge 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 Wotton-under-Edge’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Wotton-under-Edge
Wotton-under-Edge records more graded crime per resident than 3 of its 7 neighbours. Kingswood, 1 miles away, records 15.5 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Wotton-under-Edge’s 22.3.
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
- Some months are short. Gloucestershire Police published February 2026, March 2026, April 2026, May 2026, June 2026, July 2026 and August 2026 only in part or not at all. Those months are left out of the rates, which average the months that were published in full; the raw counts include what was published.
- 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 Wotton-under-Edge 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 Wotton-under-Edge
Is Wotton-under-Edge safe?
Police recorded 22.3 violent and sexual offences and 7.5 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Wotton-under-Edge’s built-up area). That earns a B for safety: less crime per resident than 56% of UK towns. Among 823 UK towns of 3,000 to 7,000 people, Wotton-under-Edge is 338th from the least crime.
What is the most common crime in Wotton-under-Edge?
Violence & sexual offences: 33 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (7) and other theft (7), with 31 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Wotton-under-Edge compare with Yate?
Yate records 38.4 violent and sexual offences and 12.7 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Wotton-under-Edge’s 22.3 and 7.5, 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.