Photo: Chris Whippet · CC BY-SA 2.0More violent crime is recorded per resident in Ashford than in 85% of UK towns
Violent crime barely moved in a year. Its letter for safety is C−, worked out from crimes police recorded inside Ashford’s built-up area over September 2023 to August 2026: #62 of 87 in Kent. In a usual year, 40.4 violent and sexual offences and 14.6 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage are logged per 1,000 inhabitants.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Ashford
One ward carries much of the rate
Victoria ward recorded 2,530 of Ashford’s 9,902 violent and sexual offences in three years: 117.6 per 1,000 of its own residents a year. Across the rest of Ashford the figure is 32.6. Where in Ashford ↓
Less crime than many places its size
Of 86 UK towns and cities of 58,000 to 111,000 people, Ashford has the 29th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Stafford, Loughborough and Lowestoft, higher than Hemel Hempstead, Paignton and Corby. Towns its size ↓
Neighbourhood ranks
27% of Ashford’s residents live in a neighbourhood ranked in the highest-crime 20% of England (Indices of Deprivation 2025, crime domain), and 8% 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 C− for Ashford, and how it is built
A firm grade. Built on 13,476 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Ashford against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
Lowest recorded crime in Conningbrook & Little Burton Farm, Park Farm South and Washford; highest in Victoria
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conningbrook & Little Burton Farm | 2,104 | 13.5 | 3.8 | |
| Park Farm South | 2,699 | 15.1 | 3.2 | |
| Washford | 2,512 | 13.4 | 5.4 | |
| Kennington | 2,277 | 14.5 | 6 | |
| Park Farm North | 2,485 | 15.3 | 7.9 | |
| Godinton | 2,845 | 14.2 | 9.8 | |
| Highfield | 2,447 | 15.3 | 8.9 | |
| Singleton West | 3,037 | 18.5 | 8.5 | |
| Roman | 3,449 | 23.7 | 8.8 | |
| Repton | 5,028 | 27.4 | 8 | |
| Kingsnorth Village & Bridgefield | 1,191 | 37.2 | 2.8 | |
| Furley | 6,334 | 29 | 11.9 | |
| Singleton East | 2,682 | 30.3 | 13.3 | |
| Bybrook | 3,364 | 32.9 | 12.8 | |
| Goat Lees | 2,852 | 32.1 | 13.6 | |
| Beaver | 7,499 | 38 | 12.3 | |
| Norman | 3,059 | 42.7 | 16.5 | |
| Aylesford & East Stour | 6,559 | 45.6 | 17.8 | |
| Willesborough | 6,718 | 53.3 | 17.4 | |
| Stanhope | 3,407 | 55.6 | 22.9 | |
| Bockhanger | 2,422 | 60.1 | 24.2 | |
| Victoria | 7,173 | 117.6 | 37.8 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Car parks | 1,253 | 37% shoplifting & theft |
| Shopping areas | 1,203 | 64% shoplifting & theft |
| Petrol stations | 843 | 42% shoplifting & theft |
| Hospitals | 731 | 57% violent |
| Supermarkets | 713 | 61% shoplifting & theft |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 264 | 42% violent |
| Police stations | 58 | 43% violent |
| Conference and exhibition centres | 56 | 63% violent |
| Bus and coach stations | 24 | 71% homes & vehicles |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Victoria records 3.6× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Ashford. 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 Ashford. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Ashford’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Ashford runs highest on bicycle theft (1.2 per 1,000 against 0.9), other crime (2.6 per 1,000 against 2.1) and possession of weapons (1.3 per 1,000 against 1.1). Vehicle crime and public order sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 2,926 | 35.6 | 38.6 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 1,586 | 19.3 | 17.5 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 764 | 9.3 | 10.3 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 671 | 8.2 | 7.5 |
| Other theft | not graded | 529 | 6.4 | 6.6 |
| Public order | not graded | 343 | 4.2 | 7.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 271 | 3.3 | 3.8 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 231 | 2.8 | 4.9 |
| Other crime | not graded | 217 | 2.6 | 2.1 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 172 | 2.1 | 3.4 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 104 | 1.3 | 1.1 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 101 | 1.2 | 0.9 |
| Robbery | Violent | 62 | 0.8 | 1.4 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 34 | 0.4 | 0.7 |
“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 and cities of 50,000 or more.
Crime in Ashford 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 13 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 17 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
27% of Ashford residents live in one of England’s highest-crime neighbourhoods
8% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 27% 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.
Ashford’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 in Ashford identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 62% of Ashford’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 15% 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 8% 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. 4,973 crimes.
Ashford places 29th of 86 towns its size, the least crime first
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Metropolitan Castlereagh Lisburn and Castlereagh | 58,763 | 14.8 | 6.6 | 7.1 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 26 | Hemel Hempstead Hertfordshire | 95,995 | 36.3 | 17.1 | 19.9 | C− |
| 27 | Paignton Devon | 67,509 | 40.2 | 13.7 | 16.3 | C− |
| 28 | Corby Northamptonshire | 68,164 | 41.1 | 13.2 | 16.4 | C− |
| 29 | Ashford Kent | 82,143 | 40.4 | 14.6 | 20.2 | C− |
| 30 | Ellesmere Port Cheshire | 65,425 | 44.3 | 10.8 | 14.9 | C− |
| 31 | Stevenage Hertfordshire | 94,462 | 42.1 | 13.3 | 18.4 | C− |
| 32 | Gosport Hampshire | 70,120 | 43.6 | 13 | 13.5 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 41 | Gillingham Kent | 108,485 | 42.7 | 16.7 | 14.9 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 48 | Rochester Kent | 67,279 | 44.7 | 16.8 | 17.3 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 50 | Maidstone Kent | 109,503 | 46.4 | 17 | 20.1 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 53 | Dartford Kent | 69,131 | 43.5 | 20.8 | 17.4 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 86 | Doncaster South Yorkshire | 87,440 | 72.6 | 38.2 | 43.3 | 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 Ashford, and others in Kent.
Violent crime held steady over the year
“Towns its size” pools all UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more that police.uk covers each month (Greater Manchester has no data).
Rolling three-month rate, per 1,000 residents a year. In the 12 months to August 2026 against the 12 before: violent -5% (towns its size +2%), homes and vehicles -1% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft -15% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour +33% (towns its size -2%).
Eight people died in collisions on Ashford’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 500 collisions with injuries inside Ashford in five years, in which eight people died (2 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist). 123 people were killed or seriously injured: 41 on foot and 13 on a bicycle.
That is about what is typical for UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more: at their median rate (1.1 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Ashford’s size would see about 5 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Ashford’s own rate (2.0) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Ashford had 30.0 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as the median for UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more (30.3). 33% of them were on foot, against 31% across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more.
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 Ashford’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Ashford
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ashford | 82,143 | 40.4 | 14.6 | C− |
| Finberry | 1,571 | 32.9 | 4.9 | C+ |
| Shadoxhurst | 1,009 | 10.9 | 4 | A |
| Wye | 2,064 | 22.7 | 8.9 | B− |
| Brabourne Lees | 1,479 | 12 | 8.3 | A− |
| Aldington | 1,280 | 16.9 | 5.5 | A− |
| Bethersden | 1,008 | 14.9 | 9.6 | B+ |
| Challock | 1,089 | 5.2 | 3.1 | A+ |
Ashford records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Finberry, 2 miles away, records 32.9 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Ashford’s 40.4.
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
- Big public sites inside the boundary. police.uk counted 731 at or near a hospital over three years. They count in Ashford’s rate, as they would for any town that has them.
- 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 Ashford 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 Ashford
Is Ashford safe?
Police recorded 40.4 violent and sexual offences and 14.6 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Ashford’s built-up area). That earns a C− for safety: less crime per resident than 16% of UK towns. Among 86 UK towns of 58,000 to 111,000 people, Ashford is 29th from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Ashford?
By council ward, Conningbrook & Little Burton Farm, Park Farm South and Washford record the least violent and household crime per resident: 13.5, 15.1 and 13.4 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 117.6 in Victoria.
Is crime going up in Ashford?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage held steady, shoplifting and theft fell 15% and anti-social behaviour rose 33%. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Ashford?
Violence & sexual offences: 2,926 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (764) and criminal damage & arson (671), with 1,586 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 · 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.