Kingsway Hall · Photo: Enchufla Con Clave · CC BY-SA 4.0For its size, Forest Town has less crime per resident than 80% of UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people
Violent crime was up 14% in a year. Taking everything together, Forest Town scores B− (#15 of 49 in Nottinghamshire): close to the middle of UK towns, measured on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area between September 2023 and August 2026. Recorded violent and sexual offences ran at 23.7 per 1,000 residents a year, and burglary, vehicle crime and damage at 8.5.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Forest Town
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 14% more violent crime per resident in Forest Town 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 12% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
Less crime than many places its size
Of 318 UK towns of 13,000 to 26,000 people, Forest Town has the 69th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Romsey, Belper and Calne, higher than Ripon, Newport and Bradley Stoke. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
What sits behind Forest Town’s B−
A firm grade. Built on 1,840 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Forest Town 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, Forest Town runs highest on other crime (3.3 per 1,000 against 1.8). Public order and shoplifting sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 461 | 24.2 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 196 | 10.3 | 12.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 85 | 4.5 | 6.2 |
| Other theft | not graded | 69 | 3.6 | 4.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 63 | 3.3 | 1.8 |
| Public order | not graded | 57 | 3 | 5.4 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 55 | 2.9 | 2.8 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 34 | 1.8 | 6.1 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 30 | 1.6 | 2.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 28 | 1.5 | 1.9 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 9 | 0.5 | 0.7 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 6 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
| Robbery | Violent | 4 | 0.2 | 0.5 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 2 | 0.1 | 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 Forest Town’s neighbourhoods rank in England
33% 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.
Forest Town’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.
How crime in Forest Town 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 +14% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles +12% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft -30% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour +17% (towns its size -4%).
Set against 318 towns its size, Forest Town is 69th
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kesgrave Suffolk | 14,947 | 13 | 3.3 | 2.7 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 66 | Ripon North Yorkshire | 16,593 | 23.9 | 8.1 | 9.5 | B− |
| 67 | Newport Shropshire | 14,191 | 24.7 | 7.3 | 9.1 | B− |
| 68 | Bradley Stoke Gloucestershire | 25,194 | 23.9 | 8.1 | 7.9 | B− |
| 69 | Forest Town Nottinghamshire | 19,015 | 23.7 | 8.5 | 9.3 | B− |
| 70 | Willerby and Anlaby East Riding of Yorkshire | 19,269 | 21.9 | 10.3 | 11.9 | B− |
| 71 | Wimborne Minster Dorset | 16,629 | 22.8 | 9.5 | 9.9 | B− |
| 72 | Oadby Leicestershire | 24,039 | 21.8 | 10.5 | 7.7 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 134 | Mansfield Woodhouse Nottinghamshire | 19,521 | 29.3 | 10.4 | 10.6 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 166 | Eastwood Nottinghamshire | 18,890 | 29.8 | 14.9 | 22.6 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 197 | Retford Nottinghamshire | 23,735 | 32.9 | 16.2 | 17.1 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 205 | Stapleford Nottinghamshire | 15,041 | 37.2 | 13.9 | 13.3 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 318 | Sheerness Kent | 13,253 | 87.2 | 32.8 | 27.3 | 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 Forest Town, and others in Nottinghamshire.
Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 72% of Forest Town’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 14% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (68% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 7% 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. 630 crimes.
Lowest recorded crime in Holly, Maun Valley and Edwinstowe & Clipstone; highest in Kingsway
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Holly | 3,055 | 9.5 | 4.3 | |
| Maun Valley | 3,481 | 16.1 | 5.6 | |
| Edwinstowe & Clipstone | 6,137 | 27 | 9.1 | |
| Newlands | 3,144 | 31.4 | 10.8 | |
| Kingsway | 3,198 | 31.7 | 11.8 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 353 | 68% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 177 | 34% violent |
| Petrol stations | 69 | 42% shoplifting & theft |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 32 | 38% 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 Forest Town. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Forest Town’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Crime in Forest Town 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 9 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 6 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
One person died in collisions on Forest Town’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 97 collisions with injuries inside Forest Town in five years, in which one person died (1 was a pedestrian). 27 people were killed or seriously injured: 7 on foot and 3 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 Forest Town’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Forest Town’s own rate (1.1) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Forest Town had 28.9 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 Forest Town’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Forest Town
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forest Town | 19,015 | 23.7 | 8.5 | B− |
| Mansfield Woodhouse | 19,521 | 29.3 | 10.4 | C+ |
| Mansfield | 63,448 | 56.4 | 22.2 | D− |
| Market Warsop | 6,970 | 36.4 | 12.3 | C− |
| Rainworth | 7,990 | 41.6 | 10 | C− |
| Church Warsop | 2,139 | 29.9 | 9.8 | C+ |
| Edwinstowe | 5,327 | 18.7 | 8.5 | B |
| Meden Vale | 2,095 | 30.4 | 15.9 | C |
Forest Town records more graded crime per resident than 1 of its 7 neighbours. Edwinstowe, 3.8 miles away, records 18.7 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Forest Town’s 23.7.
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 Forest Town 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 Forest Town
Is Forest Town safe?
Police recorded 23.7 violent and sexual offences and 8.5 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Forest Town’s built-up area). That earns a B− for safety: less crime per resident than 50% of UK towns. Among 318 UK towns of 13,000 to 26,000 people, Forest Town is 69th from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Forest Town?
By council ward, Holly, Maun Valley and Edwinstowe & Clipstone record the least violent and household crime per resident: 9.5, 16.1 and 27 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 31.7 in Kingsway.
Is crime going up in Forest Town?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 14%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 12%, shoplifting and theft fell 30% and anti-social behaviour rose 17%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Forest Town?
Violence & sexual offences: 461 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (85) and other theft (69), with 196 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Forest Town compare with Mansfield?
Mansfield records 56.4 violent and sexual offences and 22.2 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Forest Town’s 23.7 and 8.5, 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.