Crime in Rossendale: statistics, rates and trends

Violence and sexual offences (2,521), anti-social behaviour (1,362) and criminal damage and arson (547) made up 70% of all recorded crime. Its crime rate ranks 146th of the 302 districts covered by this site (1 = highest), in the upper half.

The year to August 2026 had the least recorded crime in Rossendale of any year here (6,369 crimes). Between the years to August 2018 and 2026 it fell 16%, while across England and Wales it fell 4%.

Month by month

No category with at least 20 crimes was notably above the England and Wales rate, and robbery (70% below) and drugs (48% below) were well below it. On the year before, shoplifting rose from 239 to 378 and public order rose from 296 to 349, while anti-social behaviour fell from 2,267 to 1,362 and robbery fell from 42 to 30.

What each category covers: crime categories.

4,835 crimes, excluding fraud, were recorded by the police in Rossendale in the year ending March 2026, according to the Home Office's police recorded crime statistics. That is 66.2 per 1,000 residents, lower than the England and Wales rate of 83.2. The total was up 1% on the year ending March 2025 (4,782), against a fall of 2% across England and Wales. Among the 272 districts of England and Wales with a figure for that year, Rossendale had the 104th lowest rate (the street-level ranking above is among the 302 districts with street-level pages on this site, over the 12 months to August 2026).

Of the crimes recorded in the Lancashire Police area in the year ending March 2026, 2.0% were not assigned to a district. Those crimes are counted in the force and England and Wales totals but in no district, so the figure for Rossendale is an undercount.

Offences recorded in Rossendale, the year ending March 2026

The largest category was violence without injury, with 814 offences (17% of the total). No category with at least 20 offences had a rate a quarter or more above the England and Wales rate. Rates were lowest relative to the national rate for robbery of personal property (0.38 times), trafficking of drugs (0.38 times) and possession of drugs (0.47 times).

The largest rises on the year were in non-residential burglary (+36%) and other sexual offences (+22%). The largest falls were in possession of drugs (−23%) and trafficking of drugs (−20%). Robbery of business property and shoplifting are not compared with the year ending March 2025: from April 2025 the Home Office Counting Rules were clarified so that a theft from a shop in which violence is used or threatened against staff or anyone else is recorded as robbery of business property rather than shoplifting (ONS).

Recorded crime in Rossendale since the year ending March 2019

The chart shows police recorded crime per 1,000 residents in each year ending March from 2019 to 2026. Rossendale's rate was above the England and Wales rate in 1 of those 8 years and below it in 7. The series starts in the year ending March 2019 because the share of crimes in the Lancashire Police area not assigned to a district moved from 0.5% in the year ending March 2018 to 1.7% in the year ending March 2019, which changes district totals without any change in crime.

Changes in how forces record crime move these figures as well as changes in crime (methodology).

Districts in the Lancashire Police area, the year ending March 2026

Of the 14 districts in the Lancashire Police area with a figure for the year ending March 2026, Rossendale had the 7th lowest rate.

Source: Home Office police recorded crime and outcomes open data tables (released 23 July 2026), gov.uk, Open Government Licence v3.0. Financial years, excluding fraud; how they differ from the street-level figures: methodology.

5 of the 8 nearest districts have a higher crime rate than Rossendale; the highest is Burnley district (141.4 per 1,000) and the lowest Ribble Valley (50.3).

Of the 17 areas within Rossendale, Longholme had the highest crime rate (122.5 per 1,000) and Edenfield the lowest (31.2), 4 times apart.

The 10 locations below account for 14% of the crime recorded in Rossendale over the 12 months to August 2026; the most were recorded at “Supermarket” (233).

Of the 5,007 crimes in Rossendale with a recorded outcome, 27% ended with the investigation complete and no suspect identified, against 35% across England and Wales; 3.4% were awaiting a court outcome (England and Wales: 5.2%). The 1,362 anti-social behaviour reports have no outcome and are left out.

Rossendale has an estimated population of 73,045 (ONS, mid-2024). Compared with England and Wales it has fewer students (5.6%, against 7.9%) and fewer households without a car (18%, against 23%). On the England IoD 2025, the small areas (LSOAs) that make up Rossendale average decile 4.4 (1 = most deprived), more deprived than average.

Police-recorded crime from data.police.uk (September 2017 to August 2026), ONS population estimates and Census 2021. Definitions and limitations: methodology.