Crap Towns / East Sussex / Lower Willingdon
Lower Willingdon
14/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 14. 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
Eastbourne, basically.
Nice houses under the South Downs, and more of them going up on the fields every year.
Lower Willingdon is the quiet end of Eastbourne under the South Downs. Hardly any crime, no vandals, next to no fly-tipping. So the locals are livid about Mornings Mill, the new estate going up on the fields, and the drains that already can't cope.
They've got a point about the drains. The water company let sewage out nearby for nearly eight times as long as in the typical town. There's no public park either, and nearly half the place lives over 400 metres from a park or a swing. That's a lot of fuss about green fields from people who haven't got a park.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Lower Willingdon's 94 for sewage spills means it's crapper than 94% of towns.
- Sewage spills94/1002,130 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2024 to 2025
- Broadband89/10015.7% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 24.7% across the Wealden council area
- Food hygiene36/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 19 food businesses with a rating
- Rain36/100122 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Serious road collisions27/1001.6 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Air pollution26/1005.8 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.4 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Anti-social behaviour17/1009.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires16/1002.6 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Criminal damage and arson6/1003.5 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Fly-tipping6/1004.1 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Wealden council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | Bexhill-on-Sea | 54 |
| 6 | Brighton and Hove | 51 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.7 | Hailsham | 35 |
| 8 | Peacehaven | 30 |
| 9 | Polegate | 23 |
| 10 | Uckfield | 18 |
| – | Lower Willingdon | 14 |
| 11 | Crowborough | 9 |
| 12 | Seaford | 8 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Lower Willingdon by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 32.7 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 57% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 19 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 31.0 per 10,000 people, 9.1x the typical town's 3.4
What's left on the high street
- 2 pubs, 2 hairdressers on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 public toilet on the map (October 2026) About the same: 1.6 per 10,000 people, about the same as 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
- 12.12am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.0% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: Against the typical town's 0.5%
- 47.0% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space, and OS maps no public park here Worse: 3x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,802 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 18% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Wealden council
- £2,728 Band D council tax (2026-27) Worse: £336 more than the English average
- 18% of East Sussex County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 13% higher than England's 16%
- None ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Lower Willingdon 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.