Photo: Richard Law · CC BY-SA 2.0Church Stretton has less crime per resident than three in four UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people
On violence it beats 67% of UK towns, and on burglary, vehicle crime and damage 70%. Out of every 1,000 residents, 18.1 violent and sexual offences and 7.1 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage are reported annually. Recorded violence held steady 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 Church Stretton
Less crime than many places its size
Of 539 UK towns of 3,000 to 5,000 people, Church Stretton has the 152nd lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Penllergaer, St Agnes and Swanmore, higher than Woodstock, Chickerell and Llangennech. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
The B+ for Church Stretton, and how it is built
A fairly firm grade. Built on 270 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Church Stretton 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
Violence & sexual offences and anti-social behaviour sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 54 | 15.1 | 22.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 12 | 3.4 | 8.8 |
| Other theft | not graded | 11 | 3.1 | 3.2 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 7 | 2 | 1.9 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 6 | 1.7 | 1.8 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 6 | 1.7 | 4.5 |
| Public order | not graded | 5 | 1.4 | 3.6 |
| Other crime | not graded | 5 | 1.4 | 1.5 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 4 | 1.1 | 2 |
| Drugs | not graded | 2 | 0.6 | 1 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 1 | 0.3 | 0.1 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 1 | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Robbery | Violent | 0 | 0 | 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 Church Stretton’s neighbourhoods rank in England
100% 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.
Church Stretton’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 Church Stretton identify a suspect less often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 85% of Church Stretton’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 12% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (71% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 1% of violent and 2% 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. 130 crimes.
Towns its size: Church Stretton comes 152nd of 539
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bailrigg Lancashire | 4,788 | 4.7 | 2.5 | 7.9 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 149 | Woodstock Oxfordshire | 3,522 | 18.6 | 6.5 | 6.9 | B+ |
| 150 | Chickerell Dorset | 3,973 | 18.8 | 6.3 | 3.8 | B+ |
| 151 | Llangennech Dyfed | 4,278 | 20.1 | 5.1 | 2.2 | B+ |
| 152 | Church Stretton Shropshire | 3,576 | 18.1 | 7.1 | 8.1 | B+ |
| 153 | Pen-pedair-heol Gwent | 3,787 | 19.1 | 6.2 | 1.7 | B+ |
| 154 | Fernhill Heath Worcestershire | 3,295 | 17.5 | 7.8 | 4.8 | B+ |
| 155 | Woburn Sands Buckinghamshire | 4,315 | 15.4 | 10 | 7 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 363 | Ellesmere Shropshire | 4,268 | 29.7 | 8.8 | 14.5 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 378 | Highley Shropshire | 3,305 | 29.1 | 11.1 | 2.6 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 414 | Gobowen Shropshire | 3,046 | 31.9 | 11.4 | 9 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 539 | Eastchurch Kent | 3,381 | 132 | 13.9 | 3.5 | 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 Church Stretton, and others in Shropshire.
Crime in Church Stretton 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 5 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 5 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
How crime in Church Stretton has moved
“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 +0% (towns its size +1%), shoplifting and theft -57% (towns its size +2%).
Where in Church Stretton police recorded crime
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Petrol stations | 40 | 80% shoplifting & theft |
| Police stations | 25 | 72% violent |
| Supermarkets | 25 | 64% shoplifting & theft |
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 Church Stretton. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
One person died in collisions on Church Stretton’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 11 collisions with injuries inside Church Stretton in five years, in which one person died (1 was a pedestrian). 2 people were killed or seriously injured: 1 on foot and 0 on a bicycle.
Most UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people (81%) had no road deaths in these five years, so with numbers this small a single collision changes the picture; Church Stretton’s one death is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Church Stretton’s size at the median for UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people would see about 3 people killed or seriously injured in five years; Church Stretton had 2.
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 Church Stretton’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Church Stretton
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Church Stretton | 3,576 | 18.1 | 7.1 | B+ |
| Craven Arms | 2,563 | 42.4 | 8.3 | C− |
| Pontesbury | 1,968 | 25.4 | 5.4 | B− |
| Minsterley | 1,719 | 27 | 8.7 | C+ |
| Bishop's Castle | 1,847 | 25.6 | 10.8 | C+ |
| Bayston Hill | 5,221 | 10.9 | 2.6 | A+ |
| Hanwood | 1,257 | 33.5 | 8.8 | C |
| Much Wenlock | 1,766 | 24.2 | 15.1 | C+ |
Church Stretton records more graded crime per resident than 1 of its 7 neighbours. Bayston Hill, 9.5 miles away, records 10.9 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Church Stretton’s 18.1.
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 Church Stretton 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 Church Stretton
Is Church Stretton safe?
Police recorded 18.1 violent and sexual offences and 7.1 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Church Stretton’s built-up area). That earns a B+ for safety: less crime per resident than 69% of UK towns. Among 539 UK towns of 3,000 to 5,000 people, Church Stretton is 152nd from the least crime.
Is crime going up in Church Stretton?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 31%, shoplifting and theft fell 57% and anti-social behaviour fell 25%. Across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Church Stretton?
Violence & sexual offences: 54 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came other theft (11) and burglary (7), with 12 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Church Stretton compare with Telford?
Telford records 44.8 violent and sexual offences and 13 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Church Stretton’s 18.1 and 7.1, 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.