Crap Towns / Lancashire / Cottam
Cottam
94/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 94. 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
Show homes and nowhere to go
Cottam is new houses with nowhere to go. The local kids have found their own entertainment.
Cottam is a big pile of new houses on the edge of Preston with sod all else. The school's full, the new one's late, and there are 3 pubs for all those houses, so a pint within walking distance is a gamble. There's a Greggs. That's the high street.
For a brand-new estate it's got a lot of old problems. People get killed or badly hurt on the roads at 2.3 times the typical town's rate, anti-social behaviour at twice, and the storm overflows spill for seven times as long. Preston council records three times the typical council's fly-tipping. They did build plenty of play areas, more than three times the typical town's, so the kids have got somewhere to cause the bother.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Cottam's 95 for serious road collisions means it's crapper than 95% of towns.
- Serious road collisions95/1005.5 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Fly-tipping94/10035.4 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Preston council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Anti-social behaviour93/10029.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Sewage spills93/1001,956 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Rain84/100160 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Criminal damage and arson61/1007.9 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Food hygiene33/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 24 food businesses with a rating
- Deliberate fires26/1003.5 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Air pollution26/1006.8 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.8 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Broadband17/1001.8% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 7.8% across the Preston council area
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 13 | Morecambe | 97 |
| 14 | Haslingden | 96 |
| 15 | Great Harwood | 96 |
| 16 | Oswaldtwistle | 95 |
| – | Cottam | 94 |
| 17 | Blackpool | 92 |
| 18 | Fleetwood | 91 |
| 19 | Skelmersdale | 85 |
| 20 | Fulwood | 82 |
Cottam by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 70.3 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 8% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 1 reports of litter and bins on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 1.8 per 10,000 people, 2x the typical town's 0.9
- 3 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 3 pubs, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 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
- 0.1% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 80% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 3.8% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 75% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,437 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 6% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Preston council
Have a crap-off
Cottam 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.