Crap Towns / West Yorkshire / Cleckheaton
Cleckheaton
90/100Crap Score
99th crappest of 984 towns, and 13th 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
Who nicked the station?
Cleck's got vandals, fly-tippers and shit drivers. Locals reckon somebody nicked the railway station.
Cleckheaton used to have a folk festival and morris dancers. Now it's vandals, fly-tipping and bad driving, with lads hanging about round the bus station and the shops. Serious crashes run at nearly twice the typical town's rate, and people park wherever they fancy.
Car crime's nearly three times the typical town's and burglary more than twice, so lock up. There's been 10 serious pollution incidents round here since 2016, the latest one paint in the water. There's no swimming pool and 1 hairdresser. Lovely Victorian town hall, mind. Nobody's nicked that yet.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Cleckheaton's 90 for serious road collisions means it's crapper than 90% of towns.
- Serious road collisions90/1004.3 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Air pollution88/10013.2 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.5 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Criminal damage and arson84/10010.5 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires83/10015.6 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Fly-tipping82/10019.7 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Kirklees council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Anti-social behaviour76/10013.3 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Rain70/100144 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Sewage spills64/100480 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Broadband40/1007.8% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 4.8% across the Kirklees council area
- Food hygiene3/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 124 food businesses with a rating
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 9 | Batley | 94 |
| 10 | Wakefield | 93 |
| 11 | Pontefract | 92 |
| 12 | South Elmsall | 91 |
| 13 | Cleckheaton | 90 |
| 14 | Leeds | 89 |
| 15 | Castleford | 88 |
| 16 | Baildon | 84 |
| 17 | Mirfield | 81 |
Cleckheaton by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 125 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 1.6x 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: 2.6 per 10,000 people, 24% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 10 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2026
What's left on the high street
- 13 pubs, 1 hairdresser, 1 charity shop, 4 banks, 2 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 0.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (0 of 29) Better: Against the typical town's 4.0%
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Worse: 8.6 per 100,000 people, 2.5x the typical town's 3.4
- 1 public toilet on the map (October 2026) Worse: 0.9 per 10,000 people, 44% lower than 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
- 11.45pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.8% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 1.6x the typical town's 0.5%
- 2.4% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 85% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,360 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
Cleckheaton 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.