Crap Towns / West Yorkshire / Crofton
Crofton
20/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 20. 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
Nothing wrong with it. Irritating.
Old pit village with a nice lake, no trouble and buses that don't turn up.
Crofton is an old pit village that's gone and turned out all right. Nice lake, nice walks, hardly any crime and careful drivers. The only things to moan about are the buses getting cancelled, the new houses clogging Doncaster Road and the old sewers struggling. That's not a lot to work with, Crofton. Cheers for nothing.
The local firebugs are setting fire to things at twice the typical town's rate, so it's not all lakeside strolls. Otherwise it's Coppers Lake, The Sidings and Nostell Miners Welfare on a Saturday, and gigabit broadband in almost every house. It's hard to stick the boot in when the place gives you nothing.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Crofton's 76 for deliberate fires means it's crapper than 76% of towns.
- Deliberate fires76/10011.9 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Fly-tipping75/10016.7 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Wakefield council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Sewage spills62/100444 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Air pollution55/1008.2 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.9 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Food hygiene32/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 26 food businesses with a rating
- Rain22/100118 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Serious road collisions18/1001.3 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Anti-social behaviour10/1005.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Criminal damage and arson8/1003.9 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Broadband2/1000.6% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 4.7% across the Wakefield council area
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 30 | Honley | 56 |
| 31 | Otley | 55 |
| 32 | Ilkley | 48 |
| 33 | Guiseley | 48 |
| 34 | Kippax | 44 |
| 35 | Yeadon | 43 |
| 36 | Garforth | 42 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.– | Crofton | 20 |
| 37 | Wetherby | 16 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Crofton by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 53.9 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 29% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 2 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 About the same: 3.3 per 10,000 people, about the same as the typical town's 3.4
- 1 serious pollution incident within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2016
What's left on the high street
- 4 pubs, 1 hairdresser 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
- 11.59pm last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as 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%
- 31.0% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 2x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,440 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 6% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Wakefield council
- £2,297 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £95 less than the English average
- 19% of Wakefield council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 19% higher than England's 16%
- 5 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Crofton 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.