Photo: Jaggery · CC BY-SA 2.0Nelson records vehicle crime at 3.1 times the rate of a typical town its size
Recorded violence rose 11% in a year. All told, Nelson grades C for safety (#6 of 38 in Gwent): more crime per resident than 72% of UK towns, on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026. Violent crime here is higher than in 64% of UK towns; burglary, vehicle crime and damage, higher than in 84%. Each year brought 28.0 violent and sexual offences and 16.3 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage for every 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 Nelson
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 11% more violent crime per resident in Nelson 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 rose 29% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
More crime than many places its size
Of 706 UK towns of 3,000 to 6,000 people, Nelson has the 536th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Kingsbridge, Looe and Thurston, higher than Lingfield, Martock and Bedale. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
Inside Nelson’s C for safety
A fairly firm grade. Built on 563 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Nelson 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, Nelson runs highest on vehicle crime (6.1 per 1,000 against 2), burglary (4.7 per 1,000 against 1.9) and public order (5.4 per 1,000 against 3.6). Anti-social behaviour sits below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 130 | 30.7 | 22.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 31 | 7.3 | 8.8 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 26 | 6.1 | 4.5 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 26 | 6.1 | 2 |
| Public order | not graded | 23 | 5.4 | 3.6 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 20 | 4.7 | 1.9 |
| Other theft | not graded | 12 | 2.8 | 3.2 |
| Other crime | not graded | 9 | 2.1 | 1.5 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 7 | 1.7 | 1.8 |
| Drugs | not graded | 6 | 1.4 | 1 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 3 | 0.7 | 0.4 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 2 | 0.5 | 0.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 2 | 0.5 | 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 Nelson’s neighbourhoods rank in Wales
36% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of Wales’s neighbourhoods, and 0% in the highest-crime 20%. The community safety domain scores recorded crime, anti-social behaviour and fire incidents where people live, so it can read differently from the town-wide rate, which counts crimes where they happened.
Nelson’s residents by the crime decile of their neighbourhood (LSOA, about 1,500 people) in the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation 2025 (community safety domain), where 1 is the highest-crime 10% of Wales’s neighbourhoods and 10 the lowest.
536th of 706: Nelson among towns its size
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bailrigg Lancashire | 4,788 | 4.7 | 2.5 | 7.9 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 183 | Pen-pedair-heol Gwent | 3,787 | 19.1 | 6.2 | 1.7 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 212 | Undy and Magor Gwent | 5,742 | 18.6 | 8 | 4.1 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 533 | Lingfield Surrey | 3,622 | 25 | 19.1 | 9.8 | C |
| 534 | Martock Somerset | 4,079 | 34.9 | 9.2 | 5.2 | C |
| 535 | Bedale North Yorkshire | 3,289 | 33.7 | 10.6 | 6.8 | C |
| 536 | Nelson Gwent | 4,235 | 28 | 16.3 | 6.7 | C |
| 537 | West Malling Kent | 4,251 | 28.5 | 15.8 | 11.8 | C |
| 538 | Ferndale Mid Glamorgan | 4,301 | 31.3 | 13.1 | 6.6 | C |
| 539 | Thirsk North Yorkshire | 5,891 | 33.2 | 11.4 | 9.7 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 561 | Fleur-de-lis and Pengam Gwent | 3,102 | 30.1 | 16.9 | 7.9 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 564 | Llanbradach Gwent | 3,766 | 32.7 | 14.7 | 4.9 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 706 | 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 Nelson, and others in Gwent.
How crime in Nelson 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 +11% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles +29% (towns its size -1%), shoplifting and theft -16% (towns its size +2%), anti-social behaviour -6% (towns its size +0%).
Crime in Nelson 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 17 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 5 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 72% of Nelson’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 4% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (77% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 4% of violent and 0% 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. 178 crimes.
No one died in a collision on Nelson’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 13 collisions with injuries inside Nelson in five years. 5 people were killed or seriously injured: 1 on foot and 0 on a bicycle.
Most UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people (81%) had no road deaths in these five years, and Nelson is one of them.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Nelson’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; Nelson 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 Nelson’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Nelson
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nelson | 4,235 | 28 | 16.3 | C |
| Trelewis | 2,022 | 28.4 | 14.8 | C |
| Treharris | 5,042 | 24.7 | 11.6 | C+ |
| Gelligaer | 1,436 | 85 | 26.9 | D− |
| Abercynon | 6,376 | 39.9 | 13.5 | C− |
| Pen-pedair-heol | 3,787 | 19.1 | 6.2 | B+ |
| Ystrad Mynach | 11,856 | 44.1 | 18.1 | D |
| Tir-y-berth and Glan-y-nant | 1,411 | 36.9 | 15.9 | C− |
Nelson records more graded crime per resident than 3 of its 7 neighbours. Trelewis, 1.2 miles away, records 28.4 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Nelson’s 28.
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 Nelson 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 Nelson
Is Nelson safe?
Police recorded 28 violent and sexual offences and 16.3 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Nelson’s built-up area). That earns a C for safety: less crime per resident than 28% of UK towns. Among 706 UK towns of 3,000 to 6,000 people, Nelson is 536th from the least crime.
Is crime going up in Nelson?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 11%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 29%, shoplifting and theft fell 16% and anti-social behaviour fell 6%. Across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Nelson?
Violence & sexual offences: 130 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (26) and vehicle crime (26), with 31 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Nelson compare with Pontypridd?
Pontypridd records 46.7 violent and sexual offences and 14.4 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Nelson’s 28 and 16.3, 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 · 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.