Crap Towns / County Durham / Consett
Consett
63/100Crap Score
360th crappest of 984 towns, and 10th in County Durham. 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
Consett. It's snowing again.
The steelworks turned the snow red. Then they shut, and now it's just snow.
Consett sits on top of a hill in County Durham, and it snows there when it's sunny everywhere else. The steelworks used to cover the town in red dust. They shut, and took most of the town centre with them. Now it's empty shops, bother round the bus station and a nickname, Costa del Consett, that's taking the piss.
The air's clean now, which is what happens when you shut the thing everyone worked at. There's rain on 135 days a year when it isn't snowing, and 15.7% of homes still can't get gigabit broadband, so there's not even much to do indoors. 2 swimming pools have shut since 2010. Bring a coat.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Consett's 86 for deliberate fires means it's crapper than 86% of towns.
- Deliberate fires86/10016.9 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Broadband84/10015.7% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 14.6% across the County Durham council area
- Sewage spills76/100741 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Anti-social behaviour69/10018.4 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Criminal damage and arson65/1008.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Rain62/100135 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Fly-tipping56/10010.5 incidents per 1,000 people a year, County Durham council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Food hygiene54/1002.7% rated 0 to 2, of the 146 food businesses with a rating
- Air pollution10/1004.7 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.3 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Serious road collisions10/1001.3 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | Spennymoor | 74 |
| 7 | Stockton-on-Tees | 73 |
| 8 | Peterlee | 71 |
| 9 | Durham | 70 |
| 10 | Consett | 63 |
| 11 | Seaham | 60 |
| 12 | Newton Aycliffe | 58 |
| 13 | Billingham | 52 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.14 | Egglescliffe | 24 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Consett by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 71.7 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 6% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 1 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Better: 0.3 per 10,000 people, 91% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 3 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2021
What's left on the high street
- 21 pubs, 23 hairdressers, 7 charity shops, 3 bookmakers, 2 vape shops, 3 banks, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 3.3% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (1 of 30) Better: 18% lower than the typical town's 4.0%
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 About the same: 3.3 per 100,000 people, about the same as the typical town's 3.4
- 5 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 1.7 per 10,000 people, 6% higher than the typical town's 1.6
- 2 public swimming pools open; 2 closed for good since 2010 About the same: 0.7 per 10,000 people, about the same as the typical English town's 0.7
- 1 place on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.35am last bus out on a Wednesday Better: Later than 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%
- 25.8% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 1.7x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,461 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
County Durham council
Have a crap-off
Consett 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.