Crap Towns / Essex / Chigwell
Chigwell
43/100Crap Score
561st crappest of 984 towns, and 14th in Essex. Higher scores are crapper.
Have your say
Crap Town of the Year 2026/27
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Letters from the locals
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agree it's crap have defended it
Stone lions, dumped fridges
Footballers' mansions, stone lions on the gateposts, and fly-tipping round the back.
Chigwell is big houses, electric gates and stone lions, in case you weren't sure who had money. Nobody's kicking the bus shelter in, because there's an electric gate between them and anything that might. The lions aren't much use, though. Somebody keeps nicking the cars off the drives anyway.
Then the gates open and you breathe in. The nitrogen dioxide is 1.7 times the typical town's, and the fine particles are over the health guideline as well. The council area gets fly-tipped at more than twice the typical rate, and the storm overflows spill twice as long as the typical town's. Lovely pillars, mind. Very tasteful.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Chigwell's 96 for air pollution means it's crapper than 96% of towns.
- Air pollution96/10014.3 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 8.4 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Fly-tipping87/10023.4 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Epping Forest council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Sewage spills67/100553 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Broadband63/1009.4% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 11.9% across the Epping Forest council area
- Food hygiene52/1002.8% rated 0 to 2, of the 36 food businesses with a rating
- Serious road collisions45/1002.3 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Deliberate fires16/1003.0 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Criminal damage and arson16/1004.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Rain13/100115 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Anti-social behaviour3/1004.3 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | Canvey Island | 51 |
| 11 | Harlow | 48 |
| 12 | Epping | 47 |
| 13 | Grays | 46 |
| 14 | Chigwell | 43 |
| 15 | Loughton | 41 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.16 | South Ockendon | 37 |
| 17 | Buckhurst Hill | 37 |
| 18 | Thundersley and South Benfleet | 32 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Chigwell by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 52.9 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 31% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 2 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Better: 1.6 per 10,000 people, 53% lower than the typical town's 3.4
What's left on the high street
- 3 pubs, 2 hairdressers, 1 bank on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 2 public swimming pools open Better: 1.6 per 10,000 people, 2.3x the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 1.04am last bus out on a Wednesday Better: Later than the typical town's 12.14am
- 1.3% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 2.6x the typical town's 0.5%
- 24.1% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 1.6x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,598 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Epping Forest council
- £2,277 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £115 less than the English average
- 10% of Essex County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 38% lower than England's 16%
- 5 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Chigwell 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.