Crap Towns / West Sussex / Littlehampton
Littlehampton
85/100Crap Score
153rd crappest of 984 towns, and the crappest in West Sussex. Higher scores are crapper.
Have your say
Crap Town of the Year 2026/27
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Letters from the locals
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agree it's crap have defended it
Littlehampton. Calls itself LA.
Locals call it LA. There's a long bench, and a lot of bookies.
Littlehampton calls itself LA, which takes some nerve. There's a river, a beach, a very long bench along the seafront and signs that won't tell you where any of it is. The town centre is bookies and charity shops, the street drinkers have the benches, and the drivers are a menace. Locals call it Shampton. Fair enough.
It gets 1,858 hours of sunshine a year, which mostly lights up the bookies, at three times the typical town's rate per head. Serious crashes come in at nearly twice the typical town's rate. It's the crappest town in West Sussex, and it still calls itself LA.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Littlehampton's 94 for serious road collisions means it's crapper than 94% of towns.
- Serious road collisions94/1004.6 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Broadband89/10018.7% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 17.7% across the Arun council area
- Anti-social behaviour82/10022.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Criminal damage and arson80/1009.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Sewage spills71/100640 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2024 to 2025
- Deliberate fires59/100
- Food hygiene57/1002.9% rated 0 to 2, of the 137 food businesses with a rating
- Fly-tipping42/1009.7 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Arun council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Air pollution28/1006.5 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.2 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Rain19/100117 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Littlehampton | 85 |
| 2 | Chichester | 82 |
| 3 | Crawley | 67 |
| 4 | Wick | 61 |
| 5 | Shoreham-by-Sea | 61 |
| 6 | Barnham | 60 |
| 7 | Southwick | 55 |
| 8 | Bognor Regis | 53 |
| 9 | East Grinstead | 45 |
Littlehampton by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 108 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 42% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 10 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 5.2 per 10,000 people, 1.5x the typical town's 3.4
- Good Littlehampton's bathing water rating, 2025
What's left on the high street
- 8 pubs, 9 hairdressers, 6 charity shops, 4 bookmakers, 2 vape shops, 2 banks, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 0.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (0 of 17) Better: Against the typical town's 4.0%
- 2 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 10.5 per 100,000 people, 3.1x the typical town's 3.4
- 8 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 4.2 per 10,000 people, 2.6x the typical town's 1.6
- 4 public swimming pools open Better: 2.1 per 10,000 people, 3x the typical English town's 0.7
- 1 place on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.07am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.3% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 40% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 5.5% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 65% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,858 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 21% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Arun council
- £2,487 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £95 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%
- 4 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Littlehampton 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.