Crap Towns / West Yorkshire / Morley
Morley
66/100Crap Score
337th crappest of 984 towns, and 26th in West Yorkshire. 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
Morley. It's not Leeds.
Morley has a town hall the size of a palace. It needs it for all the arguing about Leeds.
Morley has a massive domed town hall and will tell you it isn't Leeds, even though it's run by Leeds. There's a market, a lot of pubs and the bars at Morley Bottoms. Victoria Road is jammed every morning and the buses into Leeds take forever.
You can taste it. The nitrogen dioxide's nearly twice the typical town's. There's been 16 serious pollution incidents round here since 2016, smoke in 8 of them, and burglary is up at more than twice the typical town's. Morleians have 29 pubs to argue about Leeds in. And somebody keeps dumping their rubbish in the back lanes.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Morley's 94 for air pollution means it's crapper than 94% of towns.
- Air pollution94/10014.7 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.9 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Deliberate fires82/10014.0 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Fly-tipping79/10015.6 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Leeds council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Serious road collisions77/1003.3 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Criminal damage and arson68/1008.3 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Rain62/100135 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Sewage spills54/100324 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Anti-social behaviour45/1009.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Broadband4/1001.2% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 4.0% across the Leeds council area
- Food hygiene1/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 183 food businesses with a rating
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 22 | Todmorden | 70 |
| 23 | Normanton | 68 |
| 24 | Featherstone | 68 |
| 25 | Brighouse | 66 |
| 26 | Morley | 66 |
| 27 | East Ardsley | 63 |
| 28 | Ossett | 62 |
| 29 | Rothwell | 61 |
| 30 | Honley | 56 |
Morley by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 102 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 34% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 8 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Better: 2.5 per 10,000 people, 26% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 16 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2026
What's left on the high street
- 29 pubs, 13 hairdressers, 4 charity shops, 2 bookmakers, 2 vape shops, 1 bank, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 0.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (0 of 36) Better: Against the typical town's 4.0%
- 4 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 12.3 per 100,000 people, 3.6x the typical town's 3.4
- 3 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 0.9 per 10,000 people, 44% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 3 public swimming pools open Better: 0.9 per 10,000 people, 29% higher than the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.05am 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%
- 22.9% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 48% higher than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,368 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 11% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Leeds council
Have a crap-off
Morley 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.