Photo: Roger Cornfoot · CC BY-SA 2.0Crime per resident in Gelligaer runs higher than in almost every UK town
Violent crime was up 9% in a year. On top of that, on the record of crimes police recorded inside Gelligaer’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026, it takes D− for safety. Public order stands out: 17.4 per 1,000 residents in the town, against 2.4 in a typical town its size, with 25 recorded in the 12 months to August 2026. Its police logs show 85.0 violent and sexual offences and 26.9 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 residents a year.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Gelligaer
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 9% more violent crime per resident in Gelligaer than in the year before; across UK towns of 1,000 to 2,500 people violent crime held steady. Trend ↓
Neighbourhood ranks
62% of Gelligaer’s residents live in a neighbourhood ranked in the highest-crime 20% of Wales (WIMD 2025 community safety), and 0% 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.
The D− for Gelligaer, and how it is built
A firm grade. Built on 482 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Gelligaer 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, Gelligaer runs highest on public order (17.4 per 1,000 against 2.4), other crime (7 per 1,000 against 1.1) and criminal damage & arson (19.5 per 1,000 against 3.2).
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 122 | 85 | 16.6 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 40 | 27.9 | 5.3 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 28 | 19.5 | 3.2 |
| Public order | not graded | 25 | 17.4 | 2.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 15 | 10.4 | 0 |
| Other theft | not graded | 14 | 9.7 | 2.5 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 11 | 7.7 | 1.5 |
| Other crime | not graded | 10 | 7 | 1.1 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 7 | 4.9 | 1.6 |
| Drugs | not graded | 3 | 2.1 | 0.6 |
| Robbery | Violent | 3 | 2.1 | 0 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 1 | 0.7 | 0 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 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 1,000 to 2,500 people.
Police in Gelligaer identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 44% of Gelligaer’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 9% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (64% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 6% 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. 156 crimes.
How Gelligaer compares with UK towns of 1,000 to 2,000
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Clipsham Rutland | 1,150 | 0 | 0 | 0 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 281 | Govilon Gwent | 1,342 | 13.2 | 4 | 3.7 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 440 | Caer-went Gwent | 1,523 | 14.9 | 5.7 | 2.2 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 496 | Portskewett Gwent | 1,627 | 18 | 3.7 | 1.6 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 552 | Penperlleni Gwent | 1,396 | 18.2 | 5 | 1.4 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 1205 | Thorp Arch West Yorkshire | 1,782 | 91.1 | 9.9 | 3 | D− |
| 1206 | Aberaeron Dyfed | 1,040 | 79.3 | 25.2 | 9.4 | D− |
| 1207 | Kewstoke Somerset | 1,609 | 95.5 | 10.8 | 6.8 | D− |
| 1208 | Gelligaer Gwent | 1,436 | 85 | 26.9 | 13.5 | D− |
| 1209 | Toll Bar South Yorkshire | 1,213 | 79.1 | 35.7 | 6.9 | D− |
| 1210 | Bodelwyddan Clwyd | 1,785 | 99.5 | 15.9 | 26.9 | D− |
| 1211 | Pensarn Clwyd | 1,329 | 100.8 | 25.4 | 60.7 | D− |
| … | ||||||
| 1214 | Ingoldmells Lincolnshire | 1,928 | 259 | 64.7 | 57.2 | 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 Gelligaer, and others in Gwent.
Crime in Gelligaer 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 32 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 20 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
How crime in Gelligaer has moved
“Towns its size” pools all UK towns of 1,000 to 2,500 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 +3%), homes and vehicles +21% (towns its size +0%), anti-social behaviour +38% (towns its size -1%).
No one died in a collision on Gelligaer’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 10 collisions with injuries inside Gelligaer in five years. 4 people were killed or seriously injured: 3 on foot and 0 on a bicycle.
Most UK towns of 1,000 to 2,500 people (94%) had no road deaths in these five years, and Gelligaer is one of them.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Gelligaer’s size at the median for UK towns of 1,000 to 2,500 people would see about 1 people killed or seriously injured in five years; Gelligaer had 4.
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 Gelligaer’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Gelligaer
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gelligaer | 1,436 | 85 | 26.9 | D− |
| Pen-pedair-heol | 3,787 | 19.1 | 6.2 | B+ |
| Tir-y-berth and Glan-y-nant | 1,411 | 36.9 | 15.9 | C− |
| Ystrad Mynach | 11,856 | 44.1 | 18.1 | D |
| Nelson | 4,235 | 28 | 16.3 | C |
| Fleur-de-lis and Pengam | 3,102 | 30.1 | 16.9 | C |
| Trelewis | 2,022 | 28.4 | 14.8 | C |
| Bargod | 8,034 | 52.4 | 18.8 | D |
Gelligaer records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Pen-pedair-heol, 0.7 miles away, records 19.1 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Gelligaer’s 85.
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 Gelligaer 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 Gelligaer
Is Gelligaer safe?
Police recorded 85 violent and sexual offences and 26.9 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Gelligaer’s built-up area). That earns a D− for safety: behind almost every UK town. Among UK towns of 1,000 to 2,500 people, Gelligaer has less crime per resident than 0%.
Is crime going up in Gelligaer?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 9%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 21%, shoplifting and theft rose 123% and anti-social behaviour rose 38%. Across UK towns of 1,000 to 2,500 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Gelligaer?
Violence & sexual offences: 122 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (28) and public order (25), with 40 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 · 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.