Crap Towns / Derbyshire / Eckington
Eckington
13/100Crap Score
Locals call it Ecky.
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 13. 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
Sheffield postcode. Derbyshire, though.
Eckington's got a Sheffield address and lovely woods. The shops are shutting, though.
Eckington is in Derbyshire but has a Sheffield postal address, and locals will put you right on that sharpish. It made scythes and nails, then dug coal. Now it's got the Moss Valley and Bluebell Wood, which are lovely, and a town centre where the shops keep shutting. Lloyds went in 2023.
There's no public park, so the firebugs make do with the open ground. The deliberate fires come in at nearly twice the typical town's rate and went up again last year. The old pool shut in 2017. They say they're rebuilding it. That's about your lot.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Eckington's 72 for deliberate fires means it's crapper than 72% of towns.
- Deliberate fires72/10010.3 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Rain60/100134 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Air pollution58/1007.9 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.1 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Anti-social behaviour37/10013.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Broadband36/1003.6% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 12.1% across the North East Derbyshire council area
- Criminal damage and arson35/1006.0 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Sewage spills34/100123 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Food hygiene21/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 48 food businesses with a rating
- Fly-tipping20/1006.2 incidents per 1,000 people a year, North East Derbyshire council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Serious road collisions9/1001.0 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 12 | Buxton | 42 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.13 | Hadfield | 36 |
| 14 | Long Eaton | 33 |
| 15 | Brimington | 22 |
| 16 | Glossop | 16 |
| 17 | Swadlincote | 14 |
| – | Eckington | 13 |
| 18 | Belper | 8 |
| 19 | Dronfield | 4 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Eckington by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 64.8 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 15% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 33 reports of litter and bins on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 44.4 per 10,000 people, 49.3x the typical town's 0.9
- 2 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2021
What's left on the high street
- 3 pubs, 3 hairdressers, 1 bookmaker, 1 bank on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Worse: 13.4 per 100,000 people, 3.9x the typical town's 3.4
- 1 public swimming pool open; 1 closed for good since 2010 Better: 1.3 per 10,000 people, 1.9x the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.52pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.9% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 1.8x the typical town's 0.5%
- 23.2% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space, and OS maps no public park here Worse: 50% higher than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,544 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
North East Derbyshire council
- £2,467 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £75 more than the English average
- 15% of Derbyshire County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 6% lower than England's 16%
- None ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Eckington 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.