Photo: Roy Gray · CC BY-SA 2.0Compared with UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, Hedge End has less crime per resident than 86% of them
Of all the kinds of crime, shoplifting is where Hedge End departs most from towns its size: 15.2 per 1,000 against 6.1. Each year brought 22.1 violent and sexual offences and 8.2 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage for every 1,000 residents. In sum, crimes police recorded inside its built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 put Hedge End at B (#32 of 76 in Hampshire): close to the middle of UK towns. Recorded violence fell 24% in a year.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Hedge End
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 24% less violent crime per resident in Hedge End than in the year before; across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people violent crime held steady. Burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage held steady (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
Less crime than most places its size
Of 251 UK towns of 16,000 to 31,000 people, Hedge End has the 31st lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Shoreham-by-Sea, Farnham and Ripon, higher than Ormskirk, Carterton and Reigate. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
The B for Hedge End, and how it is built
A fairly firm grade. Built on 2,097 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Hedge End 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 Hedge End has moved
“Towns its size” pools all UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people that police.uk covers each month (Greater Manchester has no data).
Rolling six-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 -24% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles +2% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft +27% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour +16% (towns its size -4%).
How Hedge End’s neighbourhoods rank in England
49% 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.
Hedge End’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.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Hedge End runs highest on shoplifting (15.2 per 1,000 against 6.1). Drugs and criminal damage & arson sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 432 | 18.6 | 30.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 353 | 15.2 | 6.1 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 201 | 8.7 | 12.4 |
| Public order | not graded | 111 | 4.8 | 5.4 |
| Other theft | not graded | 74 | 3.2 | 4.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 70 | 3 | 6.2 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 56 | 2.4 | 2.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 36 | 1.6 | 2.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 32 | 1.4 | 1.8 |
| Drugs | not graded | 24 | 1 | 1.9 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 12 | 0.5 | 0.7 |
| Robbery | Violent | 12 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 8 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 7 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
“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 10,000 to 50,000 people.
31st of 251: Hedge End among towns its size
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heswall Merseyside | 29,082 | 14.3 | 5.5 | 3.8 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 8 | Lee-on-the-Solent Hampshire | 24,307 | 17.8 | 5 | 5.3 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 28 | Ormskirk Lancashire | 27,720 | 21.3 | 7.4 | 8.2 | B |
| 29 | Carterton Oxfordshire | 17,951 | 22.9 | 6.2 | 5.9 | B |
| 30 | Reigate Surrey | 23,774 | 20 | 9.8 | 11.9 | B |
| 31 | Hedge End Hampshire | 23,195 | 22.1 | 8.2 | 16.9 | B |
| 32 | Longfield, New Ash Green and Hartley Kent | 16,077 | 17.1 | 13.4 | 10.8 | B− |
| 33 | Cobham Surrey | 17,505 | 19.5 | 11.3 | 10.1 | B− |
| 34 | Royston Hertfordshire | 17,443 | 20.6 | 10.3 | 9.9 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 44 | Romsey Hampshire | 19,923 | 21.6 | 10.7 | 13.6 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 82 | Hythe and Dibden Purlieu Hampshire | 19,857 | 27.6 | 10.4 | 8.8 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 102 | Alton Hampshire | 17,883 | 31.7 | 9.4 | 9.4 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 251 | Great Yarmouth Norfolk | 28,979 | 105 | 32.9 | 33.7 | 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 Hedge End, and others in Hampshire.
Police in Hedge End identify a suspect less often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 76% of Hedge End’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” (59% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 5% of violent and 4% 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. 720 crimes.
Lowest recorded crime in Botley, Hedge End North and Bursledon & Hound North; highest in Hedge End South
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Botley | 898 | 13 | 6.7 | |
| Hedge End North | 10,465 | 18.2 | 6.1 | |
| Bursledon & Hound North | 949 | 17.9 | 9.5 | |
| Hedge End South | 10,883 | 25.7 | 9.5 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Shopping areas | 659 | 60% shoplifting & theft |
| Supermarkets | 583 | 76% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 173 | 29% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live. police.uk places each crime at an anonymous map point; some are named for the kind of place (a supermarket, a car park), and each row adds up every place of that kind in Hedge End. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Hedge End’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Crime in Hedge End 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 19 shoplifting and theft reports, 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 Hedge End’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 92 collisions with injuries inside Hedge End in five years. 18 people were killed or seriously injured: 5 on foot and 4 on a bicycle.
That is about what is typical for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people: at their median rate (0.9 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Hedge End’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Hedge End’s own rate (0.0) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Hedge End had 15.5 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, below the median for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people (23.8).
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 Hedge End’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Hedge End
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hedge End | 23,195 | 22.1 | 8.2 | B |
| Botley | 5,900 | 38.9 | 13.5 | C− |
| West End | 10,865 | 24.4 | 15 | C+ |
| Bursledon | 8,072 | 33.8 | 14 | C− |
| Horton Heath | 3,047 | 12.1 | 6 | A |
| Whiteley | 9,350 | 29.3 | 10 | C+ |
| Netley | 6,309 | 29.4 | 12.7 | C |
| Southampton | 249,633 | 58.3 | 22.2 | D− |
Hedge End records more graded crime per resident than 1 of its 7 neighbours. Horton Heath, 2.3 miles away, records 12.1 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Hedge End’s 22.1.
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 Hedge End 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 Hedge End
Is Hedge End safe?
Police recorded 22.1 violent and sexual offences and 8.2 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Hedge End’s built-up area). That earns a B for safety: less crime per resident than 55% of UK towns. Among 251 UK towns of 16,000 to 31,000 people, Hedge End is 31st from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Hedge End?
By council ward, Botley, Hedge End North and Bursledon & Hound North record the least violent and household crime per resident: 13, 18.2 and 17.9 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 25.7 in Hedge End South.
Is crime going up in Hedge End?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 24%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage held steady, shoplifting and theft rose 27% and anti-social behaviour rose 16%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Hedge End?
Violence & sexual offences: 432 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (353) and public order (111), with 201 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Hedge End compare with Southampton?
Southampton records 58.3 violent and sexual offences and 22.2 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Hedge End’s 22.1 and 8.2, 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.