Crap Towns / West Sussex / Crawley Down
Crawley Down
19/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 19. Higher scores are crapper.
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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
Crawley Down. Not Crawley.
A quiet village under the Gatwick flightpath. Quiet until the next plane, anyway.
Crawley Down used to host bare-knuckle prizefights. Now it's walks along the Worth Way, crime at about a third of the typical town's, and a plane over the roof every few minutes. Locals are fuming about the new houses and the flightpath.
For all the fuss about keeping it nice, the storm overflows round the village spilled for 4.4 times as long as the typical town's. Getting on for a third of premises can't get gigabit broadband. And there's 1 pub, which is fewer than they used to have fights.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Crawley Down's 97 for broadband means it's crapper than 97% of towns.
- Broadband97/10031.3% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 17.5% across the Mid Sussex council area
- Sewage spills86/1001,210 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2024 to 2025
- Rain51/100128 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Air pollution43/1007.3 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.7 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Serious road collisions40/1002.1 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Food hygiene39/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 15 food businesses with a rating
- Anti-social behaviour17/1009.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires15/100
- Fly-tipping2/1003.0 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Mid Sussex council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Criminal damage and arson0/1002.3 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 11 | Haywards Heath | 37 |
| 12 | Burgess Hill | 36 |
| 13 | Horsham | 34 |
| 14 | Lancing and Sompting | 30 |
| 15 | Hassocks and Hurstpierpoint | 26 |
| – | Crawley Down | 19 |
| 16 | Selsey | 16 |
| 17 | Rustington | 15 |
| 18 | Southwater | 7 |
Crawley Down by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 26.9 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 65% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 12 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 20.8 per 10,000 people, 6.1x the typical town's 3.4
- 1 serious pollution incident within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2021
What's left on the high street
- 1 pub 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
- 12.35am last bus out on a Wednesday Better: Later than the typical town's 12.14am
- 1.9% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 3.8x the typical town's 0.5%
- 20.1% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 30% higher than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,667 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 9% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Mid Sussex council
- £2,474 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £82 more than the English average
- 19% of West Sussex County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 19% higher than England's 16%
- 1 ombudsman complaint upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Crawley Down 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.