Town · Cheshire West and Chester

Crime in Winsford

Winsford recorded 2,488 crimes in the 12 months to June 2026. That is 89.2 crimes per 1,000 residents, 2% below the England and Wales average of 91.2. Recorded crime is up 3.2% on the previous 12 months.

89.2 recorded crimes per 1,000 residents, year to June 2026
2,488 offences recorded in the same 12 months
+3.2% change on the previous 12 months
-2% below the England and Wales average

Of the 939 areas in England and Wales with a full year of data, Winsford has the 462nd highest recorded crime rate. That is higher than 51% of them. Within Cheshire West and Chester it has the 2nd lowest rate of the 4.

England & Wales average, 91Winsford, 89
Recorded crimes per 1,000 residents. The colours are used throughout this page: the further right, the further above the England and Wales average.

The safest and worst parts of Winsford

The safest part of Winsford is Winsford North, with 45.8 recorded crimes per 1,000 residents, about 50% below the England and Wales average. At the other end, Winsford Central recorded 159.9 per 1,000, roughly 1.8 times the national rate.

Neighbourhoods inside Winsford, by recorded crimes per 1,000 residents in the year to June 2026, shaded against the England and Wales average. Names are the House of Commons Library's, which are chosen to be the ones local people use.

The map needs JavaScript. The same figures are in the table beside it.

Against the England & Wales average less than half below about average above more than double no usable data

Select a neighbourhood on the map or in the list; the other follows.

Neighbourhoods in Winsford by recorded crime rate
Neighbourhood Per 1,000 vs England & Wales Offences Year on year
Winsford Central 159.9 above average 1,075 +5.8%
Winsford Over 84.2 about average 577 +5.3%
Wharton 72.3 below average 493 -12.6%
Winsford North 45.8 below average 343 +21.6%

Neighbourhoods here are Middle Layer Super Output Areas of around 7,000 residents. Each figure is an average over the whole neighbourhood, and the ones holding a town centre run high wherever daily visitors outnumber residents. How the figures work explains why these areas are used rather than electoral wards.

By type of offence

Recorded offences in the 12 months to June 2026, with the change on the 12 months before.

Set against the national mix of offences, public order stands out in Winsford: it makes up about 49% more of recorded crime here than it does nationally, with violence and sexual offences also over-represented. In the other direction, theft from the person, shoplifting, and vehicle crime all make up well under their national share.

Recorded crime in Winsford by offence type
Offence Offences Per 1,000 Share Year on year
Violence and sexual offences 1,261 45.2 50.7% 0.0%
Anti-social behaviour 292 10.5 11.7% +9.8%
Public order 255 9.1 10.3% -6.9%
Criminal damage and arson 153 5.5 6.2% -6.1%
Other theft 136 4.9 5.5% +13.3%
Shoplifting 87 3.1 3.5% +26.1%
Drugs 79 2.8 3.2% +107.9%
Other crime 70 2.5 2.8% -29.3%
Burglary 59 2.1 2.4% +55.3%
Vehicle crime 55 2.0 2.2% +52.8%
Possession of weapons 27 1.0 1.1% +8.0%
Robbery 6 0.2 0.2% -33.3%
Bicycle theft 6 0.2 0.2% -40.0%
Theft from the person 2 0.1 0.1% 0.0%
All recorded crime 2,488 89.2 100% +3.2%

Home Office recorded crime, data.police.uk. Rates use ONS mid-2024 population estimates (27,893 residents). Categories are the Home Office crime types as published; they are not comparable with court or conviction figures.

What happened to those crimes

Police recorded 2,196 offences other than anti-social behaviour in Winsford in the year to June 2026. By the time this data was published, about 22% had been closed with no suspect identified and 49% closed because a prosecution was not possible or not pursued. Around 17% had led to a charge, caution or other formal action, and 13% were still open.

Even its weakest figure is ahead of the national one: for other theft, 3.7% of cases here ended in a charge or other formal action, against 2.5% across England and Wales.

Police outcomes in Winsford, latest 12 months
Outcome Share Offences
Closed: no suspect identified 483
Closed: prosecution not possible or not pursued 1,072
Charge, caution or other formal action 366
Still open or no outcome published yet 275

Outcomes describe where each investigation stood when the data was published, so recent offences are naturally still open and the closed shares will edge up as cases conclude. Anti-social behaviour is left out entirely: police record no outcomes for it, and counting it would quietly flatter every percentage here. "Formal action" spans charges, summonses, cautions, penalty notices and community resolutions.

Outcomes by offence in Winsford

The share of cases ending in a charge, caution or other formal action, against the same figure for England and Wales. Offences with fewer than 30 recorded cases here are left out: a percentage of twelve cases moves several points on one decision.

Formal action rate by offence in Winsford, against England and Wales
Offence Cases Charged or dealt with England & Wales Difference
Violence and sexual offences 1,261 15.6% 10.8% +4.8 pts
Public order 255 13.7% 12.2% +1.5 pts
Criminal damage and arson 153 12.4% 8.2% +4.2 pts
Other theft 136 3.7% 2.5% +1.2 pts
Shoplifting 87 29.9% 25.6% +4.3 pts
Drugs 79 72.2% 53.4% +18.8 pts
Other crime 70 21.4% 16.9% +4.5 pts
Burglary 59 6.8% 5.9% +0.9 pts
Vehicle crime 55 3.6% 2.8% +0.8 pts

"Charged or dealt with" counts every outcome that is a formal action: charged, summonsed, cautioned, penalty notice, community resolution. Anti-social behaviour is excluded from both columns because it carries no outcome by design. A low rate is not necessarily a failing of the force here: some offences are far harder to detect anywhere, which is why every row is shown against the national figure for the same offence rather than against the other rows.

Over time

Recorded crime in Winsford peaked at 3,361 offences in 2020; the latest 12 months, at 2,488, are about 26% below that peak. That works out at roughly 7 a day.

12-month average Each month
1002003004000Covid lockdown207ConConLabLabConConLabLab20112013201520172019202120232025Jun 2026
Offences recorded each month in Winsford, Dec 2010 to Jun 2026. The coloured strip is the party holding the office that oversees the force; each break in it is an election.
Monthly figures (187 months)
Monthly recorded crime in Winsford
MonthRecorded crimes
Jun 2026 216
May 2026 246
Apr 2026 225
Mar 2026 190
Feb 2026 174
Jan 2026 209
Dec 2025 180
Nov 2025 208
Oct 2025 236
Sep 2025 213
Aug 2025 182
Jul 2025 209
Jun 2025 184
May 2025 191
Apr 2025 198
Mar 2025 183
Feb 2025 162
Jan 2025 168
Dec 2024 173
Nov 2024 195
Oct 2024 204
Sep 2024 206
Aug 2024 254
Jul 2024 292
Jun 2024 217
May 2024 250
Apr 2024 223
Mar 2024 292
Feb 2024 208
Jan 2024 188
Dec 2023 197
Nov 2023 206
Oct 2023 203
Sep 2023 216
Aug 2023 216
Jul 2023 190
Jun 2023 269
May 2023 268
Apr 2023 290
Mar 2023 316
Feb 2023 276
Jan 2023 254
Dec 2022 259
Nov 2022 303
Oct 2022 303
Sep 2022 290
Aug 2022 273
Jul 2022 256
Jun 2022 235
May 2022 263
Apr 2022 246
Mar 2022 246
Feb 2022 255
Jan 2022 214
Dec 2021 220
Nov 2021 284
Oct 2021 240
Sep 2021 286
Aug 2021 194
Jul 2021 303
Jun 2021 293
May 2021 262
Apr 2021 280
Mar 2021 284
Feb 2021 270
Jan 2021 240
Dec 2020 257
Nov 2020 324
Oct 2020 302
Sep 2020 277
Aug 2020 235
Jul 2020 302
Jun 2020 263
May 2020 319
Apr 2020 304
Mar 2020 272
Feb 2020 215
Jan 2020 291
Dec 2019 243
Nov 2019 235
Oct 2019 296
Sep 2019 274
Aug 2019 281
Jul 2019 301
Jun 2019 221
May 2019 213
Apr 2019 259
Mar 2019 264
Feb 2019 268
Jan 2019 307
Dec 2018 215
Nov 2018 258
Oct 2018 279
Sep 2018 185
Aug 2018 203
Jul 2018 263
Jun 2018 290
May 2018 281
Apr 2018 268
Mar 2018 212
Feb 2018 261
Jan 2018 256
Dec 2017 258
Nov 2017 309
Oct 2017 364
Sep 2017 254
Aug 2017 308
Jul 2017 266
Jun 2017 276
May 2017 299
Apr 2017 280
Mar 2017 255
Feb 2017 213
Jan 2017 212
Dec 2016 207
Nov 2016 249
Oct 2016 308
Sep 2016 247
Aug 2016 252
Jul 2016 250
Jun 2016 226
May 2016 208
Apr 2016 195
Mar 2016 180
Feb 2016 183
Jan 2016 190
Dec 2015 176
Nov 2015 244
Oct 2015 245
Sep 2015 216
Aug 2015 267
Jul 2015 212
Jun 2015 185
May 2015 220
Apr 2015 210
Mar 2015 251
Feb 2015 169
Jan 2015 188
Dec 2014 180
Nov 2014 250
Oct 2014 267
Sep 2014 216
Aug 2014 197
Jul 2014 225
Jun 2014 222
May 2014 191
Apr 2014 214
Mar 2014 205
Feb 2014 172
Jan 2014 202
Dec 2013 176
Nov 2013 227
Oct 2013 237
Sep 2013 235
Aug 2013 264
Jul 2013 251
Jun 2013 215
May 2013 179
Apr 2013 253
Mar 2013 226
Feb 2013 199
Jan 2013 242
Dec 2012 189
Nov 2012 224
Oct 2012 273
Sep 2012 258
Aug 2012 288
Jul 2012 282
Jun 2012 242
May 2012 236
Apr 2012 234
Mar 2012 309
Feb 2012 186
Jan 2012 269
Dec 2011 217
Nov 2011 271
Oct 2011 304
Sep 2011 276
Aug 2011 283
Jul 2011 298
Jun 2011 256
May 2011 250
Apr 2011 238
Mar 2011 276
Feb 2011 135
Jan 2011 126
Dec 2010 113

Download every month as CSV, including which months each force filed.

Streets and the crime map

The named streets with the most recorded offences in the year to June 2026, beside every mapped location in Winsford.

These are not the most dangerous streets. The police snap every offence to the nearest point on a fixed list of anonymised map points, so one point collects everything recorded around a cluster of addresses. A street with a station, a row of pubs or a shopping parade on it gathers the crime of everyone passing through. A point has no resident population, so there is no rate here, only a count.

Streets in Winsford with the most recorded crime
Street Relative scale Offences
On or near Barton Court Winsford Central 67
On or near Nat Lane Winsford Central 55
On or near Park Avenue Wharton 54
On or near High Street Winsford Central 50
On or near Bradbury Road Wharton 45
On or near B5355 Winsford Central 41
On or near Medina Avenue Winsford Central 39
On or near Wharton Road Wharton 33
On or near Hammletts Close Winsford Central 33
On or near Bostock Road Wharton 32
On or near Quantock Close Winsford Over 31
On or near Stephenson Walk Winsford Over 30

How safe does Winsford feel?

No aggregate yet: ratings are shown once at least five people have answered, because an average of two opinions is one household wearing a statistic.

Rate it yourself, 1 (unsafe) to 5 (safe)

Anonymous, one rating per person per area; rate again to change yours. The aggregate on this page refreshes within a day. Perception is not a crime figure and is never mixed into one, and it answers a question the recorded data cannot: how the place feels to the people reading this page.

Compared with nearby areas

Area Relative scale Per 1,000 Offences
Winsford 89.2 2,488
Widnes 90.5 5,259
Ellesmere Port 93.5 5,779
Macclesfield 81.8 3,807
Runcorn 96.9 5,424
Crewe 104.1 8,170
Congleton 72.0 2,191
Chester 110.3 9,108

Against the rest of the country

In the national table, where 1st is the highest recorded crime rate, Winsford was 700th of 713 in December 2010 and is 462nd of 939 today. It has moved 238 places towards the top: recorded crime here has risen relative to the rest of the country.

1st23446970493920102026rank
Position in the national table of every area at this level, each month. First place is the highest recorded crime rate, so the line is drawn with first at the top: a line that climbs is a place moving up the table, not down it. A place can move without changing at all, because the rank is relative to everywhere else.

Time of year

Recorded crime here peaks in October, about 29% above its quietest month, December.

avgJFMAMJJASOND
Each calendar month against this area's own average month, across every complete year of data. Indexed rather than counted, so a long-term fall does not flatten the shape of the year underneath it.

Crime in context

What deprivation would predict

Across every English district, deprivation explains much of the difference in recorded crime rates. On that relationship alone, Winsford's level of deprivation would predict a rate of about 121 per 1,000. It records 89.2, about 27% below it.

How tightly packed it is

1,525 people per square kilometre, across 18 km². England and Wales averages about 400 people per square kilometre. Density is the usual explanation for a high position in the national crime table: a rate divides the crime of everyone who passes through by the number who sleep there.

What a home costs

The median home sold in Winsford in 2025 went for £200,000, across 455 sales, up 5.3% on 2024.

Officers to record it

Cheshire Constabulary had 2,414 full-time equivalent officers as at 31 March 2026, 2.12 per 1,000 residents, below the England and Wales figure of 2.42. That is 25% above its low point of 1,925 in 2014. Recorded crime partly measures how much policing there is to record it, so a change in officer numbers moves the figures on this page even when nothing else does.

Officer numbers are full-time equivalents from the Home Office police workforce return, counted across the whole force area. Nothing in this section causes anything on this page: a correlation is not a cause.

Who oversees policing in Winsford

Policing in Winsford is overseen by the police and crime commissioner for Cheshire Constabulary. Dan Price (Labour) won that election in May 2024. Since that election, recorded crime here is down 6.4% (the latest 12 months of data against the 12 months up to the election).

Councils in England and Wales have no policing powers. The police force covering an area is answerable to a directly elected commissioner, or to the combined authority mayor where that office has taken the role on. The coloured strip under the trend chart shows these terms against the crime line.

The change column reports what recorded crime did across each term, because it is the first thing a reader wants from this table. It is what happened, not what the officeholder caused: recorded crime moves with reporting rules, how a force records what is reported, national policy and a pandemic, and those effects are far larger than anything one commissioner does in four years. The terms spanning 2020 and 2021 in particular contain the lockdowns, which cut recorded crime everywhere and handed the following term the rebound.

Elections to the office overseeing policing in Winsford
Election Elected Party Office Crime over the term
May 2024 Dan Price Labour Police and Crime Commissioner -6.4%
May 2021 John Dwyer Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner -19.4%
May 2016 David Keane Labour Police and Crime Commissioner +31.8%
November 2012 John Dwyer Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner -17.1%

These are election results, not terms of office: commissioners resign, die and are disqualified mid-term, and by-elections between the scheduled polls are listed here only where one has been held. For who holds the office today, the force's own website is the authority. The last column compares recorded crime in the 12 months ending at the handover (or the latest data) with the 12 months ending at the election itself; where a monthly return is missing, the window slides by up to four months to the nearest complete one. A dash means the term ran under a year or no complete window exists near it.

Questions

Is Winsford safe?

In the year to June 2026, the recorded crime rate in Winsford was 89.2 per 1,000 residents. That is close to the England and Wales average. A recorded crime rate measures what the police recorded, across a whole town. It says nothing about any particular street, and areas with busy town centres, shopping areas or nightlife record more crime per resident because far more people are present than live there.

What are the worst areas of Winsford for crime?

Going by recorded crime rates in the year to June 2026, the highest are in Winsford Central (159.9 per 1,000), Winsford Over (84.2 per 1,000) and Wharton (72.3 per 1,000). The top of the list usually marks the town centre, where daily visitors outnumber residents many times over.

What are the safest areas of Winsford?

The lowest recorded crime rates in Winsford are in Winsford North (45.8 per 1,000), Wharton (72.3 per 1,000) and Winsford Over (84.2 per 1,000). Full figures for every neighbourhood are in the table above.

Is crime in Winsford going up or down?

In Winsford, the latest 12 months are 3.2% higher than the 12 before. Over the full series, recorded crime here peaked at 3,361 offences in 2020 and the current total is about 26% below it.

What is the most common crime in Winsford?

The most commonly recorded offence in Winsford is violence and sexual offences, with 1,261 offences in the 12 months to June 2026 (51% of all recorded crime). The next most common is anti-social behaviour, with 292.

Where does this come from?

Police recorded crime open data, published at data.police.uk by the Home Office under the Open Government Licence. It covers offences the police recorded, which is not the same as offences committed: crimes that are never reported never appear. Rates use ONS mid-2024 population estimates. How the figures work sets out the calculation, the reporting lag and every known gap.

Figures cover the 12 months to June 2026, the most recent month any force has published; police data arrives roughly two months in arrears.