Crap Towns / North Lanarkshire / Motherwell
Motherwell
90/100Crap Score
Known as Steelopolis.
104th crappest of 984 towns, and the crappest in North Lanarkshire. 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 Motherwell? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Motherwell. Where the steel used to be.
Ravenscraig shut in 1992 and they've been regenerating the site ever since. It's still mostly fields.
Motherwell made steel, and Ravenscraig was the giant at the heart of it until it shut in 1992. They've been regenerating the site ever since, which so far means a college, some houses and a lot of grass. The town centre is a shopping centre that keeps losing shops, and three times the typical town's Greggs per head.
It's the crappest town in North Lanarkshire, and that's up against Coatbridge and Airdrie. Anti-social behaviour runs at 2.7 times the typical Scottish town's rate and it's still climbing. The bins get set alight at about four times the typical Scottish town's rate, and the storm overflows spill for over three times the typical town's hours. Even the Clyde's having a bad time.
The football team are still the Steelmen, decades after the steel. They hate Hamilton more than they hate the rain, and that's a lot of rain.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Motherwell's 99 for anti-social behaviour means it's crapper than 99% of towns.
- Anti-social behaviour99/10021.0 per 1,000 people a year, January 2023 to December 2025
- Deliberate fires94/10051.7 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Rain86/100163 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Criminal damage and arson84/10010.3 per 1,000 people a year, January 2023 to December 2025
- Sewage spills80/100883 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2025
- Serious road collisions62/1001.9 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Food hygiene54/1005.6% told to improve, of the 197 food businesses inspected
- Fly-tipping50/100
- Broadband33/1005.6% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 6.6% across the North Lanarkshire council area
- Air pollution30/1008.1 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.2 of fine particles, 2024 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Motherwell | 90 |
| 2 | Coatbridge | 85 |
| 3 | Airdrie | 83 |
| 4 | Wishaw | 75 |
| 5 | Bellshill | 73 |
| 6 | Kilsyth | 61 |
| 7 | Viewpark | 53 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.8 | Cumbernauld | 34 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Motherwell by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 82.7 crimes per 1,000 people a year (January 2023 to December 2025) Worse: 1.5x the typical Scottish town's 54.4
- 46 reports of litter and bins on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 13.9 per 10,000 people, 19.9x the typical Scottish town's 0.7
What's left on the high street
- 9 pubs, 5 hairdressers, 5 charity shops, 2 bookmakers, 2 vape shops, 2 banks, 3 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 6.5% of takeaways inspected told to improve (3 of 46) Better: 29% lower than the typical Scottish town's 9.1%
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Better: 3.0 per 100,000 people, 12% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 2 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 0.6 per 10,000 people, 63% lower than the typical town's 1.6
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.44am last bus out on a Wednesday Better: Later than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.4% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 20% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 5.0% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 68% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,305 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 15% lower than the typical town's 1,532
North Lanarkshire council
- £1,555 Band D council tax (2026-27) Better: £98 less than the Scottish average
- 33% of North Lanarkshire council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 8% lower than Scotland's 36%
- 119 ombudsman complaints decided in 2025-26, none upheld About the same: 34.9 per 100,000 residents, about the same as Scotland's 34.7
- 87.9% of the streets checked passed as clean (2025-26) About the same: About the same as Scotland's 92.2%
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Motherwell 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.