Photo: Mat Fascione · CC BY-SA 2.0Oswaldtwistle records more crime per resident than 94% of UK towns
Vehicle crime runs at 8.5 per 1,000 residents in Oswaldtwistle, against 2.8 in a typical town its size: police recorded 92 in the 12 months to August 2026. The local count comes to 48.8 violent and sexual offences and 23.0 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 people each year. Its letter for safety is D, worked out from crimes police recorded inside the town’s built-up area over September 2023 to August 2026: #57 of 65 in Lancashire. Violence recorded locally climbed 6% 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 Oswaldtwistle
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 6% more violent crime per resident in Oswaldtwistle 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 rose 22% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
Neighbourhood ranks
36% of Oswaldtwistle’s residents live in a neighbourhood ranked in the highest-crime 20% of England (Indices of Deprivation 2025, crime domain), and 12% 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 grade: D for Oswaldtwistle
A firm grade. Built on 2,329 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Oswaldtwistle 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, Oswaldtwistle runs highest on vehicle crime (8.5 per 1,000 against 2.8), burglary (7.2 per 1,000 against 2.4) and anti-social behaviour (28.6 per 1,000 against 12.4).
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 530 | 49 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 309 | 28.6 | 12.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 109 | 10.1 | 6.2 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 92 | 8.5 | 2.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 78 | 7.2 | 2.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 76 | 7 | 6.1 |
| Public order | not graded | 70 | 6.5 | 5.4 |
| Other theft | not graded | 57 | 5.3 | 4.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 26 | 2.4 | 1.9 |
| Other crime | not graded | 19 | 1.8 | 1.8 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 12 | 1.1 | 0.7 |
| Robbery | Violent | 6 | 0.6 | 0.5 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 5 | 0.5 | 0.3 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 3 | 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.
How Oswaldtwistle compares with UK towns of 8,000 to 15,000
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greasby Merseyside | 9,175 | 11.3 | 3.7 | 2.5 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 7 | Longton Lancashire | 10,912 | 14 | 5.6 | 3.5 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 11 | Tarleton and Hesketh Bank Lancashire | 8,756 | 16.4 | 4.3 | 3.4 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 94 | Adlington Lancashire | 8,777 | 22.9 | 8.8 | 5.9 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 102 | Barnoldswick Lancashire | 10,915 | 22.6 | 9.4 | 6.1 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 354 | Crook County Durham | 9,717 | 45.4 | 26 | 13.1 | D |
| 355 | Bacup Lancashire | 13,559 | 48.4 | 23 | 14.9 | D |
| 356 | Penzance Cornwall | 14,957 | 53 | 18.7 | 19.3 | D |
| 357 | Oswaldtwistle Lancashire | 10,810 | 48.8 | 23 | 12.7 | D |
| 358 | Dinnington South Yorkshire | 10,962 | 47.3 | 24.9 | 10.6 | D |
| 359 | Ammanford Dyfed | 8,282 | 56.7 | 16.9 | 13 | D |
| 360 | Clay Cross Derbyshire | 8,915 | 58.7 | 14.9 | 16.1 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 393 | Haverfordwest Dyfed | 12,088 | 91.4 | 28.6 | 32.3 | 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 Oswaldtwistle, and others in Lancashire.
36% of Oswaldtwistle residents live in one of England’s highest-crime neighbourhoods
12% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 36% 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.
Oswaldtwistle’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.
Crime in Oswaldtwistle 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 26 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 13 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Police in Oswaldtwistle identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 62% of Oswaldtwistle’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” (65% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 6% 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. 757 crimes.
How crime in Oswaldtwistle 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 +6% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles +22% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft +33% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour -31% (towns its size -4%).
Lowest recorded crime in St Oswald's, Immanuel and St Andrew's; highest in St Andrew's
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Oswald's | 3,176 | 24.1 | 18.9 | |
| Immanuel | 3,746 | 52.8 | 25.7 | |
| St Andrew's | 3,888 | 65.2 | 23.7 |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so St Andrew's records 1.6× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Oswaldtwistle.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Oswaldtwistle’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026.
No one died in a collision on Oswaldtwistle’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 56 collisions with injuries inside Oswaldtwistle in five years. 21 people were killed or seriously injured: 3 on foot and 2 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 Oswaldtwistle’s size would see about 0 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Oswaldtwistle’s own rate (0.0) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Oswaldtwistle had 38.9 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).
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 Oswaldtwistle’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Oswaldtwistle
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oswaldtwistle | 10,810 | 48.8 | 23 | D |
| Church | 5,030 | 63 | 27.2 | D− |
| Accrington | 34,897 | 58.5 | 24.8 | D− |
| Rishton | 6,653 | 43.9 | 19.5 | D |
| Clayton-le-Moors | 7,969 | 46.6 | 20.8 | D |
| Great Harwood | 11,022 | 39.8 | 17.1 | D |
| Huncoat | 1,258 | 28.4 | 10.9 | C+ |
| Hoddlesden | 1,218 | 10.1 | 7.4 | A |
Oswaldtwistle records more graded crime per resident than 5 of its 7 neighbours; only Church and Accrington record more. Rishton, 1.8 miles away, records 43.9 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Oswaldtwistle’s 48.8.
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 Oswaldtwistle 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 Oswaldtwistle
Is Oswaldtwistle safe?
Police recorded 48.8 violent and sexual offences and 23 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Oswaldtwistle’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 6% of UK towns. Among UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, Oswaldtwistle has less crime per resident than 11%.
What are the safest areas of Oswaldtwistle?
By council ward, St Oswald's, Immanuel and St Andrew's record the least violent and household crime per resident: 24.1, 52.8 and 65.2 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 65.2 in St Andrew's.
Is crime going up in Oswaldtwistle?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 6%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 22%, shoplifting and theft rose 33% and anti-social behaviour fell 31%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Oswaldtwistle?
Violence & sexual offences: 530 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (109) and vehicle crime (92), with 309 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Oswaldtwistle compare with Blackburn?
Blackburn records 44.5 violent and sexual offences and 18.3 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Oswaldtwistle’s 48.8 and 23, 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.