Crap Towns / Oxfordshire / Carterton
Carterton
5/100Crap Score
931st crappest of 984 towns, and 8th in Oxfordshire. 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
Sorry, what? There's a plane.
Moved next to an RAF base. Furious about the planes. Absolute geniuses.
Carterton grew up next to RAF Brize Norton and still acts shocked when a plane goes over. No vandals, no yobs, crime at about half the typical town's. Just a town centre with no character, hardly any shops and a bloody great aircraft coming in over the roofs. They used to grow tomatoes here. The tomatoes had more about them.
There's 1 charity shop, 1 bookie, 1 vape shop and 1 Greggs, the full set, one of each. The last bus home is at 1.27am, which is the only thing in Carterton that stays out late.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Carterton's 63 for sewage spills means it's crapper than 63% of towns.
- Sewage spills63/100466 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Fly-tipping40/1009.5 incidents per 1,000 people a year, West Oxfordshire council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Food hygiene37/1001.6% rated 0 to 2, of the 64 food businesses with a rating
- Broadband33/1005.1% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 7.4% across the West Oxfordshire council area
- Rain32/100121 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Air pollution29/1006.4 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.3 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Deliberate fires16/1003.0 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Anti-social behaviour10/1005.4 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Criminal damage and arson8/1003.9 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Serious road collisions4/1000.9 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | Witney | 20 |
| 4 | Abingdon-on-Thames | 15 |
| 5 | Didcot | 13 |
| 6 | Bicester | 12 |
| 7 | Henley-on-Thames | 7 |
| 8 | Carterton | 5 |
| 9 | Wantage | 5 |
| 10 | Thame | 5 |
| 11 | Kidlington | 2 |
Carterton by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 40.2 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 47% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 443 reports of broken street lights on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 247 per 10,000 people, 352.9x the typical town's 0.7
- 2 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2021
What's left on the high street
- 5 pubs, 2 hairdressers, 1 charity shop, 1 bookmaker, 1 vape shop, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 0.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (0 of 16) Better: Against the typical town's 4.0%
- 4 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 2.2 per 10,000 people, 38% higher than the typical town's 1.6
- 2 public swimming pools open Better: 1.1 per 10,000 people, 1.6x the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 1.27am 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%
- 12.7% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 18% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,651 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 8% higher than the typical town's 1,532
West Oxfordshire council
- £2,567 Band D council tax (2026-27) Worse: £175 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
Carterton 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.