Crap Towns / Essex / Galleywood
Galleywood
2/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 2. 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
Quiet. Too bloody quiet.
A quiet village with a big common. The only racing now is on Watchouse Road.
Galleywood had a racecourse on its common once, and you can still see where the track went. These days it's quiet and tidy with hardly any trouble, no vandals, no fly-tipping and barely any rain. The racing now happens on Watchouse Road, where drivers fly through and churn up the verges.
The one thing that's slow is the internet. 6.3% of homes and businesses are stuck without superfast, more than 12 times the typical town's share, while the buses run till gone midnight. The bus into Chelmsford is quicker than the downloads. Sorry, Galleywood, you're boring.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Galleywood's 89 for broadband means it's crapper than 89% of towns.
- Broadband89/10021.6% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 12.1% across the Chelmsford council area
- Air pollution62/1008.3 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.2 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Sewage spills34/100120 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Food hygiene31/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 28 food businesses with a rating
- Serious road collisions24/1001.6 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Criminal damage and arson18/1004.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Fly-tipping5/1003.9 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Chelmsford council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Deliberate fires5/1001.0 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Anti-social behaviour3/1004.2 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Rain2/100107 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 26 | Great Dunmow | 13 |
| 27 | Halstead | 12 |
| 28 | Rayleigh | 11 |
| 29 | Chelmsford | 9 |
| 30 | Hockley and Hawkwell | 7 |
| 31 | Maldon | 6 |
| – | Galleywood | 2 |
| 32 | Saffron Walden | 1 |
| 33 | South Woodham Ferrers | 0 |
Galleywood 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
- 1 reports of broken street lights on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 1.6 per 10,000 people, 2.3x the typical town's 0.7
What's left on the high street
- 2 pubs, 1 hairdresser, 1 charity shop on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 2 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 3.1 per 10,000 people, 1.9x the typical town's 1.6
- 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
- 12.26am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- 6.3% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 12.6x the typical town's 0.5%
- 17.8% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space, and OS maps no public park here Worse: 15% higher than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,674 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 9% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Chelmsford council
- £2,300 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £92 less than the English average
- 10% of Essex County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 38% lower than England's 16%
- 2 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Galleywood 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.