Crap Towns / West Yorkshire / Batley
Batley
94/100Crap Score
63rd crappest of 984 towns, and 9th in West Yorkshire. Higher scores are crapper.
Have your say
Crap Town of the Year 2026/27
See the raceThe public vote. It's separate from the Crap Score, and it closes on 31 December 2027.
Letters from the locals
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agree it's crap have defended it
Lovely warehouses. All empty.
Fly-tipping, dodgy kitchens and driving that'll put you in a hedge.
Batley made cloth out of old rags and called it shoddy. Fair enough, because shoddy is the word. The grand old warehouses are empty, and the high street is takeaways, barbers and nail bars. Halifax and Lloyds both shut up shop and left it a banking hub.
The driving'll put you in a hedge. Serious crashes run at nearly twice the typical town's rate, and the nitrogen dioxide's well over the typical town's too. Landfill leachate has turned up in the water 3 times since 2016. The sun's out for 1,368 hours a year, so the empty warehouses spend most of it looking grim in the drizzle.
Dewsbury fans think Batley's a shithole. Dewsbury fans live in Dewsbury.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Batley's 93 for serious road collisions means it's crapper than 93% of towns.
- Serious road collisions93/1004.3 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Air pollution89/10013.1 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.6 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Deliberate fires89/10019.3 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Food hygiene87/1005.2% rated 0 to 2, of the 329 food businesses with a rating
- Fly-tipping82/10019.7 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Kirklees council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Anti-social behaviour71/10012.4 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Criminal damage and arson67/1008.3 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Rain58/100132 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Sewage spills30/10092.7 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Broadband19/1003.9% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 4.8% across the Kirklees council area
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | Halifax | 97 |
| 6 | Heckmondwike | 95 |
| 7 | Huddersfield | 95 |
| 8 | Elland | 94 |
| 9 | Batley | 94 |
| 10 | Wakefield | 93 |
| 11 | Pontefract | 92 |
| 12 | South Elmsall | 91 |
| 13 | Cleckheaton | 90 |
Batley by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 98.9 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 30% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 3 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Better: 0.7 per 10,000 people, 79% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 9 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 17 pubs, 13 hairdressers, 3 charity shops, 5 bookmakers, 1 vape shop, 1 bank, 2 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 5.3% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (3 of 57) Worse: 33% higher than the typical town's 4.0%
- 2 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 4.5 per 100,000 people, 32% higher than the typical town's 3.4
- 5 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 1.1 per 10,000 people, 31% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 4 public swimming pools open; 1 closed for good since 2010 Better: 0.9 per 10,000 people, 29% higher than the typical English town's 0.7
- 1 place on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.17am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.3% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 40% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 13.8% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 11% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,368 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 11% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Kirklees council
- £2,441 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £49 more than the English average
- 22% of Kirklees council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 38% higher than England's 16%
- 22 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Batley against your mate's town, and a match ticket to rub it in.
- ?Fly-tippingper 1,000, council area?
- ?Anti-social behaviourper 1,000 people?
- ?Serious road crashesper 10,000 people?
- ?Sewage spillshours per 10,000 people?
- ?Food hygienerated poor?
- ?Criminal damageper 1,000 people?
- ?Dirty airµg/m³?
- ?No gigabitof premises can't get it?
- ?Deliberate firesper 10,000 people?
- ?Raindays a year?
Ten ingredients. One verdict. Who's crapper? The higher Crap Score takes it.