Crap Towns / Bedfordshire / Cranfield
Cranfield
3/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 3. 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
Clever lot. Can't load a web page.
A university full of rocket scientists, with jet engines outside and patchy broadband at home.
Cranfield is a quiet village with a university full of very clever people and an airfield full of jet engines. They can test a jet but they can't sort the broadband. A quarter of the place can't get gigabit, and 75 premises don't even get the legal minimum. Rocket science, but not the internet.
No crime, no vandals, no sewage trouble. There are play spaces everywhere, nearly three times the typical town's, so the kids have somewhere to go while the Wi-Fi's down. Just planes, all bloody day.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Cranfield's 92 for broadband means it's crapper than 92% of towns.
- Broadband92/10025.4% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 13.3% across the Central Bedfordshire council area
- Air pollution49/1007.2 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.0 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Fly-tipping40/1009.2 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Central Bedfordshire council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Deliberate fires37/1004.7 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Food hygiene32/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 25 food businesses with a rating
- Rain16/100116 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Serious road collisions13/1001.1 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Anti-social behaviour3/1006.3 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Sewage spills2/1000.0 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Criminal damage and arson2/1002.7 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | Houghton Regis | 60 |
| 4 | Dunstable | 40 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.5 | Kempston | 27 |
| 6 | Sandy | 17 |
| 7 | Leighton Buzzard | 13 |
| 8 | Stotfold | 10 |
| 9 | Flitwick | 4 |
| – | Cranfield | 3 |
| 10 | Biggleswade | 2 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Cranfield by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 31.7 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 58% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 143 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 203 per 10,000 people, 59.7x the typical town's 3.4
What's left on the high street
- 3 pubs, 2 hairdressers 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
- 12.22am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- 2.4% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 4.8x the typical town's 0.5%
- 4.0% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 74% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,551 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Central Bedfordshire council
- £2,516 Band D council tax (2026-27) Worse: £124 more than the English average
- 13% of Central Bedfordshire council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 19% lower than England's 16%
- 17 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Cranfield 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.