Crap Towns / County Durham / Murton
Murton
70/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 70. 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
Murton. Pit heap shopping.
Murton was a pit village. Now it has outlet shopping on the old spoil heaps and lads causing bother.
Murton dug coal, and when the pit shut they built an outlet shopping centre on the spoil heaps. The traffic for it backs up onto the main road and cars belt through the village. There's a Greggs. Cheap trainers. What more do you want?
Shoplifting is up at five and a half times the typical town's rate, which for a village built round a shopping centre is about what you'd expect. Things get set on fire at over thirteen times the typical rate, the bins at about thirty-two times, and the vandalism is up at over three times. There's 1 pub and no swimming pool. Cheap coat, mind.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Murton's 99 for criminal damage and arson means it's crapper than 99% of towns.
- Criminal damage and arson99/10022.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires99/10076.5 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Anti-social behaviour82/10022.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Broadband75/10011.6% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 14.6% across the County Durham council area
- Sewage spills60/100410 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Fly-tipping56/10010.5 incidents per 1,000 people a year, County Durham council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Rain46/100126 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Serious road collisions35/1001.9 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Food hygiene30/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 29 food businesses with a rating
- Air pollution17/1005.6 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.5 of fine particles, 2024 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | Spennymoor | 74 |
| 7 | Stockton-on-Tees | 73 |
| 8 | Peterlee | 71 |
| 9 | Durham | 70 |
| – | Murton | 70 |
| 10 | Consett | 63 |
| 11 | Seaham | 60 |
| 12 | Newton Aycliffe | 58 |
| 13 | Billingham | 52 |
Murton by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 160 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 2.1x the typical town's 76.2
- 1 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Better: 1.4 per 10,000 people, 59% lower than the typical town's 3.4
What's left on the high street
- 1 pub, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 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
- 12.05am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.2% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 60% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 53.8% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 3.5x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,566 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
County Durham council
Have a crap-off
Murton 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.