Photo: Peter Wood · CC BY-SA 2.0Leyland records more violent crime per head than 81% of UK towns
Set against the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, it has less crime per resident than 37% of them. Overall, it grades C− for safety (#41 of 65 in Lancashire). Recorded violence held steady in a year. In a usual year, 37.3 violent and sexual offences and 14.2 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 Leyland
About the middle for a town its size
Of 184 UK towns of 27,000 to 53,000 people, Leyland has the 99th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Epsom, Rushden and Braintree, higher than Yate, Newbury and Warwick. Towns its size ↓
Neighbourhood ranks
27% of Leyland’s residents live in a neighbourhood ranked in the highest-crime 20% of England (Indices of Deprivation 2025, crime domain), and 24% 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.
What’s behind Leyland’s grade
A firm grade. Built on 6,053 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Leyland against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
Police in Leyland identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 58% of Leyland’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 11% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (63% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 5% of violent and 5% 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. 2,054 crimes.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Leyland runs highest on anti-social behaviour (18.9 per 1,000 against 12.4), shoplifting (9.2 per 1,000 against 6.1) and violence & sexual offences (37 per 1,000 against 30.4). Public order sits below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 1,455 | 37 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 744 | 18.9 | 12.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 361 | 9.2 | 6.1 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 256 | 6.5 | 6.2 |
| Other theft | not graded | 177 | 4.5 | 4.4 |
| Public order | not graded | 176 | 4.5 | 5.4 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 118 | 3 | 2.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 104 | 2.6 | 2.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 79 | 2 | 1.8 |
| Drugs | not graded | 76 | 1.9 | 1.9 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 32 | 0.8 | 0.7 |
| Robbery | Violent | 27 | 0.7 | 0.5 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 21 | 0.5 | 0.3 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 7 | 0.2 | 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.
Crime in Leyland 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 12 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 14 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 Leyland residents live in one of England’s highest-crime neighbourhoods
24% 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.
Leyland’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.
Lowest recorded crime in Farington East, Buckshaw & Worden and Clayton West & Cuerden; highest in Seven Stars
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Farington East | 4,544 | 16.5 | 6.3 | |
| Buckshaw & Worden | 2,071 | 18.5 | 7.4 | |
| Clayton West & Cuerden | 5,656 | 24.6 | 7.7 | |
| Moss Side | 3,770 | 27.7 | 8.7 | |
| Leyland Central | 4,934 | 30.7 | 13.3 | |
| St Ambrose | 4,203 | 44.2 | 14.8 | |
| Earnshaw Bridge | 4,813 | 48.9 | 20.8 | |
| Broadfield | 4,969 | 53.9 | 21.1 | |
| Seven Stars | 4,321 | 57.3 | 19 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 744 | 57% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 517 | 29% anti-social behaviour |
| Petrol stations | 148 | 39% shoplifting & theft |
| Shopping areas | 105 | 41% shoplifting & theft |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 100 | 36% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Seven Stars records 1.7× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Leyland. 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 Leyland. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Leyland’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
How crime in Leyland 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 +4% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -12% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft +1% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour -43% (towns its size -4%).
Among 184 towns its size, Leyland ranks 99th for the least graded crime
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heswall Merseyside | 29,082 | 14.3 | 5.5 | 3.8 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 14 | Ormskirk Lancashire | 27,720 | 21.3 | 7.4 | 8.2 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 40 | Lytham St Anne's Lancashire | 42,693 | 27.3 | 11.2 | 11.6 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 66 | Fulwood Lancashire | 34,693 | 32.1 | 12.7 | 9.4 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 74 | Bamber Bridge Lancashire | 40,359 | 33.4 | 13.5 | 14.9 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 96 | Yate Gloucestershire | 28,352 | 38.4 | 12.7 | 13.2 | C− |
| 97 | Newbury Berkshire | 42,262 | 37.1 | 14.1 | 20.3 | C− |
| 98 | Warwick Warwickshire | 36,673 | 34.1 | 17.2 | 18.6 | C− |
| 99 | Leyland Lancashire | 39,281 | 37.3 | 14.2 | 14.3 | C− |
| 100 | Witham Essex | 27,395 | 37.9 | 13.6 | 13.2 | C− |
| 101 | Newton Abbot Devon | 29,650 | 40.4 | 11.2 | 14.7 | C− |
| 102 | Andover Hampshire | 48,484 | 41.5 | 10.3 | 12.3 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 184 | 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 Leyland, and others in Lancashire.
Two people died in collisions on Leyland’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 241 collisions with injuries inside Leyland in five years, in which two people died (1 was a pedestrian). 88 people were killed or seriously injured: 33 on foot and 10 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 Leyland’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Leyland’s own rate (1.0) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Leyland had 44.8 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people (23.8). 38% of them were on foot, against 30% across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
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 Leyland’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Leyland
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leyland | 39,281 | 37.3 | 14.2 | C− |
| Farington Moss | 2,692 | 22.9 | 13 | C+ |
| Euxton | 17,519 | 21 | 6.9 | B |
| Wymott | 2,092 | 28.4 | 1.8 | B |
| Whittle-le-Woods | 4,388 | 22.8 | 8.7 | B− |
| Bamber Bridge | 40,359 | 33.4 | 13.5 | C |
| Eccleston | 4,543 | 14.9 | 9.1 | B+ |
| Penwortham | 20,489 | 24.8 | 8.8 | B− |
Leyland records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Farington Moss, 1.1 miles away, records 22.9 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Leyland’s 37.3.
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 Leyland 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 Leyland
Is Leyland safe?
Police recorded 37.3 violent and sexual offences and 14.2 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Leyland’s built-up area). That earns a C− for safety: less crime per resident than 20% of UK towns. Among 184 UK towns of 27,000 to 53,000 people, Leyland is 99th from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Leyland?
By council ward, Farington East, Buckshaw & Worden and Clayton West & Cuerden record the least violent and household crime per resident: 16.5, 18.5 and 24.6 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 57.3 in Seven Stars.
Is crime going up in Leyland?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 12%, shoplifting and theft held steady and anti-social behaviour fell 43%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Leyland?
Violence & sexual offences: 1,455 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (361) and criminal damage & arson (256), with 744 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Leyland compare with Preston?
Preston records 60.8 violent and sexual offences and 26.8 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Leyland’s 37.3 and 14.2, 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.