Crime and Safety in Burtonwood and Westbrook
Last updated: 07 Jun 2026
Burtonwood and Westbrook is among the top 5 most dangerous small towns in Cheshire, and is the 77th most dangerous overall out of Cheshire's 321 towns, villages, and cities. The overall crime rate in Burtonwood and Westbrook in 2026 is 53 crimes per 1,000 people. This compares favourably to Cheshire's overall crime rate, coming in 7% lower than the Cheshire rate of 57 per 1,000 daytime population. For England, Wales, and Northern Ireland as a whole, Burtonwood and Westbrook is the 333rd safest small town, and the 3,224th most dangerous location out of all towns, cities, and villages.
In March 2026, Burtonwood and Westbrook had the worst crime rate in Cheshire for theft from the person, with 1 crime reported and a crime rate of 0.08 per 1,000 daytime population. March 2025 was also a bad month for Burtonwood and Westbrook residents, when it was Cheshire's most dangerous area for robbery, recording 4 crimes at a rate of 0.31 per 1,000 daytime population. Burtonwood and Westbrook recorded 1 report of theft from the person during January 2021, making its crime rate of 0.08 the worst for theft from the person in Cheshire that month.
The most common crimes in Burtonwood and Westbrook are violence and sexual offences, with 266 offences during 2026, giving a crime rate of 20. This is 1.8% lower than 2025's figure of 271 offences and a difference of 0.49 from 2025's crime rate of 21. Burtonwood and Westbrook's least common crime is bicycle theft, with 2 offences recorded in 2026, an increase of 100% from 2025's figure of 1 crime.
Burtonwood and Westbrook 2026 Crime Scorecard
Top 5 Most Dangerous
Small Towns, Cheshire
22% higher, regional crime rate
North West
26% lower, national crime rate
England, Wales & NI
Local Crime in Context
As of April 2026, the crime rate in Burtonwood and Westbrook is 22% higher than the North West and 26% lower than the England, Wales & Northern Ireland overall figure.
Burtonwood and Westbrook Crime Rate Over Time
| Burtonwood and Westbrook | |
| North West | |
| England, Wales & NI |
Burtonwood and Westbrook Crime Map
Incidents mapped in Burtonwood and Westbrook represent the time frame between January 2016 and April 2026. Each point on the map represents an area where crimes have been recorded locally.
Use Crime Map
Hover over a point to see a breakdown of crime types recorded at that location. You can also filter by individual crime types, or use a combinations of offences to visualise the data you need.
See How Burtonwood and Westbrook Compares
You can compare Burtonwood and Westbrook's crime statistics against any other town, village, or city from across the country. Search for a location's name below to see how they stack up.
Introduction to Burtonwood and Westbrook's crime statistics
This crime profile provides a detailed view of crime and safety around Burtonwood and Westbrook up to April 2026, the most recent data release available. The crime figures and statistics have been calculated across each of Burtonwood and Westbrook's 300 postcodes using three area sizes for comparison:
- Within a Five-Minute Walk
- Within a Ten-Minute Walk
- Within a Fifteen-Minute Walk
Individual crime risk scores and index figures are for the 12-month period ending April 2026 unless otherwise stated.
CrimeRate Insights
Looking into a specific address in Burtonwood and Westbrook? CrimeRate Insights reports convert raw numbers into practical insight for any location, from single addresses and postcodes, up to major towns and cities.
Crime rates don’t happen by themselves; they follow people and patterns. Where crowds gather - near pubs and late-night venues, around the station, by supermarkets and forecourts - incidents naturally concentrate.
That doesn’t mean an area is "bad"; it usually means footfall is higher.
Your report explores these factors in a calm, non-judgemental way, putting the numbers in context and helping you spot what’s typical for places like this.
Crime Risk Scores
Burtonwood and Westbrook • 12 Months Ending April 2026
The typical five-minute walk within Burtonwood and Westbrook has a crime risk score of 497. This is based on analysis of 300 nearby areas within Burtonwood and Westbrook, with "most" referring to roughly two thirds of the nearby locations.
Crime risk scores are on a scale of 1 to 1,000 and consider the severity of the crimes involved, as determined by sentencing guidelines. A score of 1 represents the lowest risk, and 1,000 the highest risk. This approach ensures that - unlike overall crime rate figures - bicycle theft is not given the same importance in Burtonwood and Westbrook's risk scores as, for example, robbery, or violence & sexual offences.
Within a five-minute walk of the typical location in Burtonwood and Westbrook, crime risk scores are typically around 497, while in Cheshire they are average 486.
Areas within a ten-minute walk typically see crime risk scores of 608 (475 for Cheshire), and scores within a fifteen-minute walk are most often around 668 (Cheshire 477).
Trends in Crime Risk
Burtonwood and Westbrook
Calculated via Seasonal and Trend decomposition using Loess, the Seasonality Adjusted line represents the original data with seasonality subtracted, and the Trend line has been plotted unadjusted. Overall trend direction has been identified using the Mann-Kendall trend test, and rate calculated from the slope of the best-fit line identified from linear regression.
The 10-year trend indicates a decrease of 12% in Burtonwood and Westbrook's crime risk score. This is potentially a strong signal of how the crime risk is evolving. Cross-referencing with major cultural events and Covid's impact during this time is advised.
Looking at the previous five years, the trend in Burtonwood and Westbrook's crime risk score is down by 27%. While potentially a good indicator of the overall risk trend, analysis may offer further insight when combined with the checks mentioned above.
Over the last year, Burtonwood and Westbrook's crime risk score has shown a downward trend of approximately 9%, indicating that the risk profile is going down. This is an extremely short time period for crime trend analysis, and caution should be exercised when interpreting this figure.
Crime Rates and Indexes
Burtonwood and Westbrook
The CrimeRate Index shows how crime rates compare against the national average.
1.0 equals the average
2.0 is double
3.0 triple
0.5 is half and
0.25 a quarter.
Highest Crime Rates
Burtonwood and Westbrook • 12 Months Ending April 2026
Excluding other crime and other theft because their geographic location is often not relevant, anti-social behaviour as its definition is too wide, and bicycle theft for its specificity.
Shoplifting offences have a crime rate of 12 reports per 1,000 people in Burtonwood and Westbrook, which is 1.62 times the national average. This figure is calculated from 152 crime reports logged by Cheshire Police during the 12-month period ending April 2026.
For the same period, Cheshire Police recorded 9 reports of Possession of Weapons in Burtonwood and Westbrook, resulting in a crime rate of 0.70 reports per 1,000, and a CrimeRate Index of 1.37.
The crime rate for Robbery is 1.15 times the national average at 0.23 reports per 1,000. This is from 3 crime reports reported to Cheshire Police.
Most Significant 3-Year Increases in Crime Types
Burtonwood and Westbrook
Excluding other crime and other theft, anti-social behaviour, and bicycle theft, and calculated with the same STL method described in Trends in Crime Risk, using CrimeRate Index figures to identify crime types that are trending above or below the national average, and the analysis timeframe limited to the last three years.
Shoplifting offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 2.27 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Shoplifting CrimeRate Index was 2.44 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 7% over this timeframe.
Public Order offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.63 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Public Order CrimeRate Index was 1.08 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 42% over this timeframe.
Most Significant 3-Year Decreases in Crime Types
Burtonwood and Westbrook
Calculated with the same methodology as the largest increases section above.
Burglary offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.33 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Burglary CrimeRate Index was 1.53 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 78% over this timeframe.
Criminal Damage and Arson offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.28 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Criminal Damage and Arson CrimeRate Index was 0.37 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 24% over this timeframe.
Crime Type Breakdown & Heat Map
Burtonwood and Westbrook • 12 Months Ending April 2026
Size and colour reflect the CrimeRate Index figures for each type of crime.
Burtonwood and Westbrook | Cheshire | North West | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crime Type | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| Anti-Social Behaviour | 58 | 4.43 | 0.34 | 7,389 | 5.65 | 0.40 | 68,604 | 7.93 | 0.56 |
| Bicycle Theft | 2 | 0.16 | 1.60 | 625 | 0.47 | 0.64 | 2,963 | 0.35 | 0.48 |
| Burglary | 19 | 1.46 | 0.56 | 2,485 | 1.90 | 0.61 | 13,151 | 1.50 | 0.48 |
| Criminal Damage and Arson | 18 | 1.39 | 0.26 | 5,329 | 4.07 | 0.65 | 34,232 | 3.94 | 0.63 |
| Drugs | 25 | 1.92 | 0.74 | 3,853 | 2.94 | 0.95 | 23,463 | 2.70 | 0.87 |
| Other Crime | 13 | 1.00 | 0.72 | 1,989 | 1.52 | 0.82 | 11,008 | 1.28 | 0.69 |
| Other Theft | 77 | 5.87 | 1.03 | 4,753 | 3.62 | 0.64 | 24,256 | 2.79 | 0.49 |
| Possession of Weapons | 9 | 0.70 | 1.37 | 829 | 0.64 | 0.75 | 4,543 | 0.53 | 0.62 |
| Public Order | 64 | 4.87 | 0.84 | 9,119 | 6.98 | 1.20 | 36,702 | 4.23 | 0.73 |
| Robbery | 3 | 0.23 | 1.15 | 458 | 0.35 | 0.30 | 3,301 | 0.38 | 0.32 |
| Shoplifting | 152 | 11.55 | 1.62 | 5,365 | 4.10 | 0.58 | 27,614 | 3.18 | 0.45 |
| Theft From the Person | 3 | 0.24 | 0.62 | 264 | 0.21 | 0.14 | 1,948 | 0.23 | 0.15 |
| Vehicle Crime | 44 | 3.35 | 0.78 | 2,191 | 1.67 | 0.39 | 14,353 | 1.67 | 0.39 |
| Violence and Sexual Offences | 266 | 20.24 | 0.67 | 37,331 | 28.56 | 0.94 | 178,380 | 20.58 | 0.68 |
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Total Crime by Year
Burtonwood and Westbrook | Cheshire | North West | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| 2026 | 695 | 52.98 | 0.80 | 74,591 | 57.03 | 0.79 | 375,914 | 43.36 | 0.60 |
| 2025 | 625 | 48.15 | 0.72 | 75,689 | 58.27 | 0.79 | 373,106 | 43.34 | 0.59 |
| 2024 | 621 | 47.52 | 0.68 | 76,482 | 59.44 | 0.79 | 380,165 | 44.52 | 0.59 |
| 2023 | 670 | 50.84 | 0.69 | 85,426 | 67.07 | 0.85 | 418,544 | 49.63 | 0.63 |
| 2022 | 751 | 56.88 | 0.79 | 75,838 | 60.39 | 0.79 | 410,255 | 49.27 | 0.64 |
| 2021 | 624 | 47.30 | 0.76 | 77,168 | 62.01 | 0.90 | 363,499 | 44.00 | 0.64 |
| 2020 | 771 | 58.31 | 0.83 | 84,160 | 68.11 | 0.92 | 388,434 | 47.29 | 0.64 |
| 2019 | 812 | 61.50 | 0.85 | 80,803 | 65.69 | 0.86 | 412,412 | 50.39 | 0.66 |
| 2018 | 992 | 75.18 | 1.13 | 81,117 | 66.34 | 0.93 | 361,592 | 44.45 | 0.63 |
| 2017 | 727 | 55.42 | 0.91 | 62,384 | 51.37 | 0.80 | 303,042 | 37.41 | 0.59 |
| 2016 | 185 | 14.12 | 0.85 | 15,857 | 13.13 | 0.69 | 87,310 | 10.80 | 0.57 |
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Burtonwood and Westbrook Compared to Nearby Small Towns
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
| Small Town | Total Crimes | Crime Rate | Rate Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nantwich | 1,378 | 74.75 | 41% more dangerous |
| Northwich | 1,996 | 75.46 | 42% more dangerous |
| Middlewich | 1,011 | 62.85 | 19% more dangerous |
| Upton-by-Chester | 443 | 48.53 | 8% safer |
| Burtonwood and Westbrook | 695 | 52.98 | - |
| Wistaston | 386 | 43.43 | 18% safer |
| Frodsham | 443 | 44.06 | 17% safer |
| Alsager | 712 | 44.56 | 16% safer |
| Culcheth and Glazebury | 324 | 38.88 | 27% safer |
| Sandbach | 1,161 | 46.06 | 13% safer |
| Poulton-with-Fearnhead | 855 | 42.87 | 19% safer |
| Neston | 632 | 39.22 | 26% safer |
| Appleton | 324 | 29.51 | 44% safer |
| Penketh | 206 | 25.20 | 52% safer |
| Poynton-with-Worth | 503 | 33.62 | 37% safer |
| Lymm | 456 | 33.34 | 37% safer |
| Great Boughton | 218 | 26.20 | 51% safer |
| Knutsford | 591 | 31.57 | 40% safer |
Comparing Burtonwood and Westbrook to the UK's Major Cities
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
| City Name | Crime Rate | Rate Difference |
|---|---|---|
| Burtonwood and Westbrook | 52.98 | - |
| Cardiff | 79.55 | 50% more dangerous |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | 82.69 | 56% more dangerous |
| Sheffield | 84.09 | 59% more dangerous |
| Leicester | 97.87 | 85% more dangerous |
| Bristol | 104.64 | 98% more dangerous |
| Birmingham | 105.05 | 98% more dangerous |
| Liverpool | 106.48 | 101% more dangerous |
| Leeds | 107.10 | 102% more dangerous |
| Nottingham | 107.74 | 103% more dangerous |
| Westminster | 125.00 | 136% more dangerous |
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Offences In and Around Burtonwood and Westbrook's Parks & Leisure Spaces
Limited to spaces in Burtonwood and Westbrook that are named and have had crimes recorded within their boundaries in the 12 months to Apr 2026.
| Name | ASB | Drugs | Public Order | Robbery | VSO | All Others |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Jousting Field | - | - | - | - | 1 | 0 |
| Mary Ann Meadows | 4 | - | 7 | - | 12 | 18 |
| Sankey Valley park | 4 | - | 1 | - | 18 | 10 |
| Sankey Valley Park | 19 | 4 | 9 | 1 | 17 | 8 |
| Twenty Acre Park | 1 | 2 | 7 | - | 16 | 8 |
| Sankey Valley Park | 8 | 8 | 6 | - | 50 | 17 |
Recent Crimes in Burtonwood and Westbrook
The 20 most recent crime reports in Burtonwood and Westbrook.
| Date | Crime Type | Location | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Aldridge Drive | |
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Heralds Green | |
| April 2026 | Burglary | On or near Granston Close | |
| April 2026 | Other theft | On or near Apollo Park | |
| April 2026 | Other theft | On or near Heralds Green | |
| April 2026 | Public order | On or near Colwyn Close | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Supermarket | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Petrol Station | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Supermarket | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Supermarket | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Europa Boulevard | |
| April 2026 | Vehicle crime | On or near Penny Lane | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Charon Way | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Lydbury Close | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Penmark Close | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Melrose Avenue | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Lydbury Close | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Newborough Close | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Willoughby Close | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Newborough Close |
Methodology & Data Sources
Burtonwood and Westbrook Crime Report
Data Sources & Processing
Every month, CrimeRate processes crime reports from data.police.uk, the UK's official provider of open crime report data. Each crime report includes anonymised coordinates, most often "snapped" to the middle of the nearest street, or to the nearest major landmark. The reports also include the month and year the crime was reported, as well as the type of crime.
Data releases on data.police.uk happen once a month, with a two-month delay. This means that, for example, crimes reported in Burtonwood and Westbrook during June 2026 will typically become available in August 2026. The latest release is for Apr 2026 and was released in Jun 2026. To provide current and historical crime statistics, CrimeRate processed 61,669,232 crime reports for the latest release.
Burtonwood and Westbrook Data Points
For Burtonwood and Westbrook, CrimeRate uses the geographic boundaries provided by The Office for National Statistics in the December 2023 release of their Parishes and Non Civil Parished Areas dataset, using the PARNCP23CD column value E04000321.
Due to the 2021 Census being conducted during a UK-wide Coronavirus lockdown, the daytime population figures released so far cannot be relied on for purposes such as comparing crime rates. Instead, CrimeRate uses Burtonwood and Westbrook's daytime - or "workday" - population of 13,317 from the ONS 2011 Census for calculations throughout the site.
All geographic boundaries use the full resolution - extent of the realm versions where provided to avoid missing crime reports near coastlines and rivers - the banks of the Thames in particular - that would otherwise not be included when using the clipped to the coastline datasets.
Calculating Crime Rates
CrimeRate locates the UK region, county, and town/city/village locality for each crime report, and calculates the crime rate by taking the sum of all crime reports, dividing it by the locality's daytime / "workday" population, and multiplying the result by 1,000 to get the crime rate per 1,000.
Crime Risk Score Calculations
CrimeRate calculates crime counts for local, nearby, and wider areas for every postcode in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The postcodes locations are deduplicated by a process that ensures distinct points are approximately 50 metres apart. This process removes the bias that would otherwise come from counting the same crimes several times in heavily populated areas.
Using a custom algorithm developed in-house, CrimeRate applies a crime severity weighting to each area's crime counts, based on the type of crime reported. This increases or decreases the crime count, or zeroes it out entirely, depending on the crime type. A separate crime severity rate is then calculated, standardised, and scaled to fit the crime risk score range of 1 to 1,000, with 1 being the lowest score, and 1,000 the highest.
Crime risk scores undergo further analysis per town, city, and village plus other areas including police forces and neighbourhoods. CrimeRate uses percentiles to work out the most common range of crime risk scores in each locality. This includes identifying the high and low bounds where approximately 68% of scores fall, and finding the median (50th percentile) for easy reference.
The crime types with a weight of zero are: Anti-Social Behaviour; Bicycle Theft; Other Crime; Other Theft; and Shoplifting. The highest weights to are assigned to Violence & Sexual Offences, and the lowest to Vehicle Crime.
Frequently Asked Questions
Crime in Burtonwood and Westbrook