The Briars · Photo: David Dixon · CC BY-SA 2.0Whitworth records anti-social behaviour at 3 times the rate of a typical town its size
Among the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, it records less crime per resident than 19%. The yearly rates were 35.1 violent and sexual offences and 14.2 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 residents. Violence recorded locally held about level 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 Whitworth
More crime than many places its size
Of 481 UK towns of 5,000 to 9,000 people, Whitworth has the 362nd lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Bude, Newent and Wigton, higher than Holbeach, Market Warsop and Kirkham. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
Whitworth’s Safety Grade is C−
A fairly firm grade. Built on 993 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Whitworth 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, Whitworth runs highest on anti-social behaviour (26.4 per 1,000 against 8.8), vehicle crime (3.7 per 1,000 against 2) and violence & sexual offences (36.2 per 1,000 against 22.4).
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 243 | 36.2 | 22.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 177 | 26.4 | 8.8 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 47 | 7 | 4.5 |
| Other theft | not graded | 34 | 5.1 | 3.2 |
| Public order | not graded | 32 | 4.8 | 3.6 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 25 | 3.7 | 2 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 17 | 2.5 | 1.9 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 12 | 1.8 | 1.8 |
| Drugs | not graded | 10 | 1.5 | 1 |
| Other crime | not graded | 9 | 1.3 | 1.5 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 4 | 0.6 | 0.4 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 2 | 0.3 | 0.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 2 | 0.3 | 0.2 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 0 | 0 | 0 |
“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.
How Whitworth’s neighbourhoods rank in England
0% 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.
Whitworth’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.
Set against 481 towns its size, Whitworth is 362nd
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Merley Dorset | 5,489 | 8.4 | 2.8 | 3.8 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 12 | Bolton-le-Sands Lancashire | 6,728 | 12.6 | 5.3 | 3.8 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 34 | Tarleton and Hesketh Bank Lancashire | 8,756 | 16.4 | 4.3 | 3.4 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 72 | Garstang Lancashire | 5,804 | 17.9 | 6.1 | 14.5 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 180 | Adlington Lancashire | 8,777 | 22.9 | 8.8 | 5.9 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 359 | Holbeach Lincolnshire | 8,757 | 37.8 | 10.7 | 10.8 | C− |
| 360 | Market Warsop Nottinghamshire | 6,970 | 36.4 | 12.3 | 10.6 | C− |
| 361 | Kirkham Lancashire | 8,939 | 35.3 | 13.7 | 6.2 | C− |
| 362 | Whitworth Lancashire | 6,713 | 35.1 | 14.2 | 7.4 | C− |
| 363 | Rothwell Northamptonshire | 8,623 | 37 | 12.4 | 6.2 | C− |
| 364 | Ruthin Clwyd | 5,700 | 39.8 | 9.6 | 8.3 | C− |
| 365 | Skelton (Redcar and Cleveland) North Yorkshire | 6,895 | 33.6 | 15.8 | 18.7 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 481 | City of London London | 7,820 | 252.8 | 111.5 | 710 | 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 Whitworth, and others in Lancashire.
Crime in Whitworth 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 7 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Violent crime held steady over the year
“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 -1% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -5% (towns its size -1%), shoplifting and theft +23% (towns its size +2%), anti-social behaviour -29% (towns its size +0%).
Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 69% of Whitworth’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 10% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (62% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 2% of violent and 1% 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. 310 crimes.
No one died in a collision on Whitworth’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 41 collisions with injuries inside Whitworth in five years. 15 people were killed or seriously injured: 5 on foot and 1 on a bicycle.
Most UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people (81%) had no road deaths in these five years, and Whitworth is one of them.
Counting serious injuries too, Whitworth had 44.7 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people (16.7).
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 Whitworth’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Whitworth
Whitworth records more graded crime per resident than 1 of its 2 neighbours; only Bacup records more. Weir, 4.6 miles away, records 19.1 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Whitworth’s 35.1.
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 Whitworth 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 Whitworth
Is Whitworth safe?
Police recorded 35.1 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 Whitworth’s built-up area). That earns a C− for safety: less crime per resident than 22% of UK towns. Among 481 UK towns of 5,000 to 9,000 people, Whitworth is 362nd from the least crime.
Is crime going up in Whitworth?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 5%, shoplifting and theft rose 23% and anti-social behaviour fell 29%. Across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Whitworth?
Violence & sexual offences: 243 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (47) and other theft (34), with 177 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.