Crap Towns / South Glamorgan / Dinas Powis
Dinas Powis
8/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 8. 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
Got something to say about Dinas Powis? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Nothing wrong except Cardiff Road.
Nothing wrong with it except Cardiff Road. So Cardiff Road it is.
Dinas Powis is annoyingly decent. Low crime, safe roads, a village green, a ruined castle and a nickname, Dinky Poos, that nobody can say with a straight face. The only grief is Cardiff Road, solid every morning, and the bypass they promised that never got the money. So the commuters rat-run the lanes instead.
Past that you're scraping the barrel. There's no park on the map, and the storm overflows nearby spill more than they should. That's it. Dinky Poos.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Dinas Powis's 77 for sewage spills means it's crapper than 77% of towns.
- Sewage spills77/100760 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Rain74/100150 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Food hygiene69/1005.3% rated 0 to 2, of the 38 food businesses with a rating
- Deliberate fires50/100
- Air pollution30/1008.0 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.3 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Broadband29/1003.5% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 9.0% across the Vale of Glamorgan council area
- Criminal damage and arson11/1004.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Serious road collisions4/1000.7 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Anti-social behaviour2/1005.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Fly-tipping0/1001.7 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Vale of Glamorgan council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cardiff | 63 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.2 | Barry | 15 |
| – | Dinas Powis | 8 |
| 3 | Penarth | 8 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Dinas Powis by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 38.6 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 49% 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 Better: 2.5 per 10,000 people, 26% lower than the typical town's 3.4
What's left on the high street
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.11am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- 1.2% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 2.4x the typical town's 0.5%
- 10.9% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space, and OS maps no public park here Better: 30% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,684 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 10% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Vale of Glamorgan council
Have a crap-off
Dinas Powis 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.