Photo: Shazz · CC BY-SA 2.0Compared with UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, Headley Down and Headley has less crime per resident than 84% of them
Each year brought 16.4 violent and sexual offences and 5.9 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage for every 1,000 residents. Recorded violence fell 38% in a year. It has less violent crime than 73% of UK towns, and less burglary, vehicle crime and damage than 80%.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Headley Down and Headley
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 38% less violent crime per resident in Headley Down and Headley than in the year before; across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people violent crime held steady. Trend ↓
Less crime than most places its size
Of 823 UK towns of 3,000 to 7,000 people, Headley Down and Headley has the 139th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Oakley, Helsby and Barton-under-Needwood, higher than Great Ayton, Steyning and Lower Willingdon. 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. 57% of Headley Down and Headley’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 sits behind Headley Down and Headley’s A−
A fairly firm grade. Built on 331 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Headley Down and Headley 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 crime in Headley Down and Headley 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 -38% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles +57% (towns its size -1%).
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Violence & sexual offences and anti-social behaviour sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 59 | 12 | 22.4 |
| Public order | not graded | 18 | 3.6 | 3.6 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 15 | 3 | 4.5 |
| Other theft | not graded | 13 | 2.6 | 3.2 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 10 | 2 | 1.9 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 10 | 2 | 8.8 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 8 | 1.6 | 2 |
| Drugs | not graded | 5 | 1 | 1 |
| Other crime | not graded | 4 | 0.8 | 1.5 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 3 | 0.6 | 1.8 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 2 | 0.4 | 0.1 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 1 | 0.2 | 0.4 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 1 | 0.2 | 0 |
| Robbery | Violent | 0 | 0 | 0.2 |
“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.
Most Headley Down and Headley residents live in one of England’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods
57% 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.
Headley Down and Headley’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.
Headley Down and Headley places 139th of 823 towns its size, the least crime first
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bailrigg Lancashire | 4,788 | 4.7 | 2.5 | 7.9 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 22 | Barton on Sea Hampshire | 6,763 | 9.6 | 5 | 3.1 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 56 | Bransgore Hampshire | 3,688 | 11.4 | 6.2 | 4.2 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 64 | Horton Heath Hampshire | 3,047 | 12.1 | 6 | 5.6 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 87 | Four Marks Hampshire | 5,613 | 13.8 | 5.5 | 5.1 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 136 | Great Ayton North Yorkshire | 4,348 | 12.9 | 9.4 | 9.5 | A− |
| 137 | Steyning West Sussex | 5,513 | 14.1 | 8.2 | 22.1 | A− |
| 138 | Lower Willingdon East Sussex | 6,126 | 15.6 | 6.8 | 5.8 | A− |
| 139 | Headley Down and Headley Hampshire | 4,935 | 16.4 | 5.9 | 3.2 | A− |
| 140 | Exminster Devon | 4,388 | 16.8 | 5.6 | 2.9 | A− |
| 141 | Bulford Wiltshire | 4,923 | 17.3 | 5.2 | 3.1 | A− |
| 142 | Culcheth Cheshire | 6,722 | 17.5 | 5.1 | 5.8 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 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 Headley Down and Headley, and others in Hampshire.
Crime in Headley Down and Headley 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.
Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 71% of Headley Down and Headley’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 6% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (67% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 9% of violent and 3% 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. 121 crimes.
No one died in a collision on Headley Down and Headley’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 9 collisions with injuries inside Headley Down and Headley in five years. 3 people were killed or seriously injured: 0 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 Headley Down and Headley is one of them.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Headley Down and Headley’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; Headley Down and Headley had 3.
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 Headley Down and Headley’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Headley Down and Headley
Headley Down and Headley records more graded crime per resident than 1 of its 7 neighbours. Wrecclesham, 5.3 miles away, records 11.2 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Headley Down and Headley’s 16.4.
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 Headley Down and Headley 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 Headley Down and Headley
Is Headley Down and Headley safe?
Police recorded 16.4 violent and sexual offences and 5.9 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Headley Down and Headley’s built-up area). That earns an A− for safety: less crime per resident than 77% of UK towns. Among 823 UK towns of 3,000 to 7,000 people, Headley Down and Headley is 139th from the least crime. 57% of residents live in neighbourhoods in England’s lowest-crime 10%.
Is crime going up in Headley Down and Headley?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 38%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 57%, shoplifting and theft rose 19% and anti-social behaviour held steady. Across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Headley Down and Headley?
Violence & sexual offences: 59 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came public order (18) and criminal damage & arson (15), with 10 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Headley Down and Headley compare with Farnham?
Farnham records 21.8 violent and sexual offences and 9.9 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Headley Down and Headley’s 16.4 and 5.9, 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.