Photo: Flaming Ferrari · CC BY-SA 4.0Milford and Witley beats 84% of UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people on crime per resident
Violent crime was down 25% in a year. The yearly rates were 14.6 violent and sexual offences and 7.6 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 residents. On violence it beats 79% of UK towns, and on burglary, vehicle crime and damage 66%.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Milford and Witley
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 25% less violent crime per resident in Milford and Witley than in the year before; across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people violent crime held steady. Trend ↓
Less crime than most places its size
Of 481 UK towns of 5,000 to 9,000 people, Milford and Witley has the 47th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Whitnash, Bollington and Culcheth, higher than Chinnor, Wootton and Cranfield. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
How Milford and Witley comes out at A−
A fairly firm grade. Built on 432 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Milford and Witley against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
How crime in Milford and Witley 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 -25% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -35% (towns its size -1%), shoplifting and theft -25% (towns its size +2%), anti-social behaviour +41% (towns its size +0%).
How Milford and Witley’s neighbourhoods rank in England
30% 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.
Milford and Witley’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.
Towns its size: Milford and Witley comes 47th of 481
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Merley Dorset | 5,489 | 8.4 | 2.8 | 3.8 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 5 | Wrecclesham Surrey | 7,312 | 11.2 | 4.9 | 4.3 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 8 | East Horsley Surrey | 5,843 | 9.2 | 7.5 | 5.5 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 17 | Lightwater Surrey | 6,539 | 11.3 | 7 | 11.3 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 44 | Chinnor Oxfordshire | 7,268 | 15.5 | 6.5 | 5.1 | A− |
| 45 | Wootton Bedfordshire | 7,567 | 16.4 | 5.6 | 2.6 | A− |
| 46 | Cranfield Bedfordshire | 7,053 | 15.1 | 7 | 4.4 | A− |
| 47 | Milford and Witley Surrey | 6,489 | 14.6 | 7.6 | 6.6 | A− |
| 48 | Steyning West Sussex | 5,513 | 14.1 | 8.2 | 22.1 | A− |
| 49 | Lower Willingdon East Sussex | 6,126 | 15.6 | 6.8 | 5.8 | A− |
| 50 | Kibworth Beauchamp and Kibworth Harcourt Leicestershire | 7,329 | 15.7 | 6.7 | 2.8 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 56 | West End and Chobham Surrey | 8,877 | 15 | 7.7 | 7.2 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 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 Milford and Witley, and others in Surrey.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Milford and Witley runs highest on shoplifting (2.2 per 1,000 against 1.8). Criminal damage & arson and violence & sexual offences sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 79 | 12.2 | 22.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 41 | 6.3 | 8.8 |
| Public order | not graded | 24 | 3.7 | 3.6 |
| Other theft | not graded | 21 | 3.2 | 3.2 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 17 | 2.6 | 4.5 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 14 | 2.2 | 1.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 11 | 1.7 | 1.9 |
| Drugs | not graded | 8 | 1.2 | 1 |
| Other crime | not graded | 8 | 1.2 | 1.5 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 7 | 1.1 | 2 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 1 | 0.2 | 0.4 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 1 | 0.2 | 0 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 0 | 0 | 0.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 0 | 0 | 0.2 |
“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.
Crime in Milford and Witley 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 6 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 Milford and Witley identify a suspect less often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 76% of Milford and Witley’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 16% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (61% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 9% 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. 157 crimes.
No one died in a collision on Milford and Witley’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 42 collisions with injuries inside Milford and Witley in five years. 6 people were killed or seriously injured: 3 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 Milford and Witley is one of them.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Milford and Witley’s size at the median for UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people would see about 5 people killed or seriously injured in five years; Milford and Witley had 6.
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 Milford and Witley’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Milford and Witley
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Milford and Witley | 6,489 | 14.6 | 7.6 | A− |
| Godalming | 10,450 | 20.3 | 8.7 | B |
| Elstead | 2,261 | 23.9 | 9 | B− |
| Farncombe | 13,247 | 18.4 | 6.8 | B+ |
| Chiddingfold | 2,160 | 6.6 | 7.6 | A+ |
| Bramley and Wonersh | 4,193 | 11.8 | 7.2 | A |
| Hindhead | 6,444 | 16.3 | 7 | B+ |
| Shalford | 2,508 | 11.8 | 5.1 | A |
Milford and Witley records more graded crime per resident than 3 of its 7 neighbours. Chiddingfold, 3.3 miles away, records 6.6 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Milford and Witley’s 14.6.
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 Milford and Witley 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 Milford and Witley
Is Milford and Witley safe?
Police recorded 14.6 violent and sexual offences and 7.6 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Milford and Witley’s built-up area). That earns an A− for safety: less crime per resident than 78% of UK towns. Among 481 UK towns of 5,000 to 9,000 people, Milford and Witley is 47th from the least crime.
Is crime going up in Milford and Witley?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 25%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 35%, shoplifting and theft fell 25% and anti-social behaviour rose 41%. Across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Milford and Witley?
Violence & sexual offences: 79 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came public order (24) and other theft (21), with 41 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Milford and Witley compare with Guildford?
Guildford records 44.3 violent and sexual offences and 15.2 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Milford and Witley’s 14.6 and 7.6, 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.