Crap Towns / Oxfordshire / Benson
Benson
7/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 7. 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
Frozen, flooded, no trains
Pretty Thames village. Freezing in winter, no station, and the river gets the sewage.
Benson turns up on the weather forecast whenever it's bitterly cold, which is its main brush with fame. Otherwise it's a nice Thames village, annoyingly. Hardly any crime, a lock, and play spaces at four times the typical town's per head. No station, mind.
The river gets the sewage. Storm overflows round Benson spilled for 5.3 times as long as the typical town's, and the nearest bit of the Thames you're meant to swim in is rated Sufficient. Nearly a third of premises can't get gigabit broadband, so you can't even stream the forecast. The RAF flies out of here. Can't say we blame them.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Benson's 96 for broadband means it's crapper than 96% of towns.
- Broadband96/10030.9% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 17.2% across the South Oxfordshire council area
- Sewage spills89/1001,461 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Food hygiene42/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 10 food businesses with a rating
- Air pollution36/1006.7 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.6 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Fly-tipping13/1005.1 incidents per 1,000 people a year, South Oxfordshire council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Rain10/100114 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Deliberate fires10/1001.6 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Serious road collisions9/1000.8 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Anti-social behaviour1/1003.7 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Criminal damage and arson0/1002.3 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | Abingdon-on-Thames | 15 |
| 5 | Didcot | 13 |
| 6 | Bicester | 12 |
| 7 | Henley-on-Thames | 7 |
| – | Benson | 7 |
| 8 | Carterton | 5 |
| 9 | Wantage | 5 |
| 10 | Thame | 5 |
| 11 | Kidlington | 2 |
Benson by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 30.7 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 60% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 164 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 313 per 10,000 people, 92.1x the typical town's 3.4
- 4 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2026
- Sufficient Wallingford Beach, River Thames's bathing water rating, 2025
What's left on the high street
- 3 pubs, 3 hairdressers, 1 charity shop on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 2 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 3.8 per 10,000 people, 2.4x the typical town's 1.6
- None public swimming pools open Worse: Against the typical English town's 0.7 per 10,000 people
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.52am last bus out on a Wednesday Better: Later than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.1% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 80% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 19.7% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 27% higher than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,469 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
South Oxfordshire council
- £2,598 Band D council tax (2026-27) Worse: £206 more than the English average
- 20% of Oxfordshire County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 25% higher than England's 16%
- 1 ombudsman complaint upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Benson 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.