Photo: Necrothesp at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Balsall Common stands out for shoplifting: 5.1 times the rate of a typical town its size
Recorded violence fell 14% in a year. It has less violent crime than 83% of UK towns, but less burglary, vehicle crime and damage than only 45%. Taking everything together, Balsall Common scores B+ (#2 of 35 in West Midlands): less crime per resident than 73% of UK towns, measured on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area between September 2023 and August 2026. Behind the grade sit 13.5 violent and sexual offences and 10.2 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 people a year.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Balsall Common
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 14% less violent crime per resident in Balsall Common than in the year before; across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people violent crime held steady. Burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage fell 22% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
Less crime than most places its size
Of 546 UK towns of 5,000 to 10,000 people, Balsall Common has the 69th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Dromore, Kings Hill and Garstang, higher than Cookham, Bracebridge Heath and East Wittering. Towns its size ↓
Many neighbourhoods rank low for crime nationally
The government’s Indices of Deprivation 2025 rank every neighbourhood in England on recorded crime. 41% of Balsall Common’s residents live in one of the lowest-crime 10%, and 0% in one of the highest-crime 20%. Neighbourhood ranks ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
What’s behind Balsall Common’s grade
A fairly firm grade. Built on 501 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Balsall Common 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, Balsall Common runs highest on shoplifting (9.4 per 1,000 against 1.8), vehicle crime (3.4 per 1,000 against 2) and burglary (2.3 per 1,000 against 1.9). 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 | 84 | 11.8 | 22.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 67 | 9.4 | 1.8 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 24 | 3.4 | 2 |
| Public order | not graded | 21 | 3 | 3.6 |
| Other theft | not graded | 20 | 2.8 | 3.2 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 19 | 2.7 | 4.5 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 16 | 2.3 | 1.9 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 13 | 1.8 | 8.8 |
| Other crime | not graded | 8 | 1.1 | 1.5 |
| Drugs | not graded | 2 | 0.3 | 1 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 2 | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 1 | 0.1 | 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.
A third of Balsall Common residents live in one of England’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods
56% 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.
Balsall Common’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.
69th of 546: Balsall Common among towns its size
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Merley Dorset | 5,489 | 8.4 | 2.8 | 3.8 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 66 | Cookham Berkshire | 5,216 | 14.1 | 9.4 | 5.1 | B+ |
| 67 | Bracebridge Heath Lincolnshire | 5,794 | 17.4 | 6.2 | 7.9 | B+ |
| 68 | East Wittering West Sussex | 6,060 | 17.3 | 6.3 | 8.1 | B+ |
| 69 | Balsall Common West Midlands | 7,094 | 13.5 | 10.2 | 10.5 | B+ |
| 70 | Oundle Northamptonshire | 6,252 | 15.3 | 8.4 | 8.9 | B+ |
| 71 | Burley in Wharfedale West Yorkshire | 6,806 | 15.1 | 8.6 | 3.8 | B+ |
| 72 | Heathfield East Sussex | 7,663 | 16.2 | 7.6 | 6.6 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 143 | Pheasey West Midlands | 9,498 | 18 | 10.6 | 2.8 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 526 | Blackheath West Midlands | 6,950 | 63.9 | 22.1 | 46.2 | D− |
| … | ||||||
| 546 | 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 Balsall Common, and others in West Midlands.
How crime in Balsall Common 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 -14% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -22% (towns its size -1%), shoplifting and theft +57% (towns its size +2%), anti-social behaviour -64% (towns its size +0%).
Crime in Balsall Common 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 8 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 12 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 68% of Balsall Common’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 17% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (72% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 5% of violent and 3% 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. 178 crimes.
Where in Balsall Common police recorded crime
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Car parks | 126 | 49% shoplifting & theft |
| Petrol stations | 106 | 50% shoplifting & theft |
| Supermarkets | 84 | 58% 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 Balsall Common. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
No one died in a collision on Balsall Common’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 21 collisions with injuries inside Balsall Common in five years. 5 people were killed or seriously injured: 1 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 Balsall Common is one of them.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Balsall Common’s size at the median for UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people would see about 6 people killed or seriously injured in five years; Balsall Common had 5.
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 Balsall Common’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Balsall Common
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Balsall Common | 7,094 | 13.5 | 10.2 | B+ |
| Burton Green | 1,556 | 13.3 | 13.7 | B |
| Meriden | 2,203 | 27.8 | 28.1 | C− |
| Hampton in Arden | 1,867 | 16.8 | 18.3 | C+ |
| Knowle and Dorridge | 19,323 | 15.1 | 12 | B |
| Kenilworth | 22,239 | 15 | 10.2 | B+ |
| Kingswood | 1,197 | 12.6 | 11.4 | B+ |
| Leek Wootton | 1,003 | 7.3 | 4.3 | A+ |
Balsall Common records more graded crime per resident than 1 of its 7 neighbours. Leek Wootton, 5.9 miles away, records 7.3 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Balsall Common’s 13.5.
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 Balsall Common 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 Balsall Common
Is Balsall Common safe?
Police recorded 13.5 violent and sexual offences and 10.2 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Balsall Common’s built-up area). That earns a B+ for safety: less crime per resident than 73% of UK towns. Among 546 UK towns of 5,000 to 10,000 people, Balsall Common is 69th from the least crime. 41% of residents live in neighbourhoods in England’s lowest-crime 10%.
Is crime going up in Balsall Common?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 14%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 22%, shoplifting and theft rose 57% and anti-social behaviour fell 64%. Across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Balsall Common?
Violence & sexual offences: 84 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (67) and vehicle crime (24), with 13 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Balsall Common compare with Coventry?
Coventry records 47.6 violent and sexual offences and 23.7 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Balsall Common’s 13.5 and 10.2, 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.