Crap Towns / West Sussex / Lancing and Sompting
Lancing and Sompting
30/100Crap Score
690th crappest of 984 towns, and 14th in West Sussex. 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 Lancing and Sompting? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
It's a town. Stop it.
Lancing reckons it's a village. North Sompting got called Mickey Mouse Town. Nobody asked them.
Lancing calls itself England's biggest village, which is what a town says when it's got nothing else going for it. North Sompting got called Mickey Mouse Town, which is worse. The high street is dull, there's nothing to do at night and the railway cuts straight through, so getting anywhere means the long way round.
It's got less than half the typical town's pubs per head, and 1,832 hours of sunshine a year not to drink in. The roads are worse than most for serious crashes. Widewater lagoon is nice. That's your lot.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Lancing and Sompting's 87 for serious road collisions means it's crapper than 87% of towns.
- Serious road collisions87/1003.7 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Fly-tipping60/10011.2 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Adur council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Air pollution49/1008.0 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.6 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Deliberate fires41/100
- Anti-social behaviour36/10012.9 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Criminal damage and arson30/1005.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Broadband22/1004.6% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 4.6% across the Adur council area
- Rain22/100118 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Food hygiene17/1000.9% rated 0 to 2, of the 117 food businesses with a rating
- Sewage spills5/1000.9 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2024 to 2025
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | Worthing | 44 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.11 | Haywards Heath | 37 |
| 12 | Burgess Hill | 36 |
| 13 | Horsham | 34 |
| 14 | Lancing and Sompting | 30 |
| 15 | Hassocks and Hurstpierpoint | 26 |
| 16 | Selsey | 16 |
| 17 | Rustington | 15 |
| 18 | Southwater | 7 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Lancing and Sompting by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 58.8 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 23% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 25 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 9.0 per 10,000 people, 2.6x the typical town's 3.4
- 6 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2023
- 1 of 3 bathing waters here or within 2 km rated Excellent in 2025; 1 rated Poor
What's left on the high street
- 6 pubs, 14 hairdressers, 5 charity shops, 2 bookmakers, 1 vape shop on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 0.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (0 of 31) Better: Against the typical town's 4.0%
- 5 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 1.8 per 10,000 people, 13% higher than the typical town's 1.6
- 1 public swimming pool open Worse: 0.4 per 10,000 people, 43% lower than the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- All night buses on a Wednesday Better: The typical town's last bus goes at 12.14am
- 0.8% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 1.6x the typical town's 0.5%
- 24.7% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 1.6x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,832 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 20% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Adur council
- £2,548 Band D council tax (2026-27) Worse: £156 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
Lancing and Sompting 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.