Crap Towns / Surrey / New Haw, West Byfleet and Sheerwater
New Haw, West Byfleet and Sheerwater
51/100Crap Score
487th crappest of 984 towns, and 16th in Surrey. 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
New Haw and friends. Not much on.
A canal junction, a commuter station and a lot of boarded-up houses, all under one long name.
New Haw has the canal junction and the Broadway, and not much else. West Byfleet has the train to London, no nightlife whatsoever and a redevelopment that's mostly retirement flats. Sheerwater had a big regeneration, which stopped, so now there are boarded-up homes waiting for something to happen.
Over two in five people live further than 400 metres from a park or play area, and the air's got more nitrogen dioxide in it than the health guideline. There are less than half the typical town's pubs per head. The towpath walks are nice. Walk away along them.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
New Haw, West Byfleet and Sheerwater's 84 for air pollution means it's crapper than 84% of towns.
- Air pollution84/10011.5 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.4 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Serious road collisions77/1003.3 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Fly-tipping68/10014.4 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Runnymede council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Broadband67/1009.4% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 14.2% across the Runnymede council area
- Food hygiene65/1003.5% rated 0 to 2, of the 113 food businesses with a rating
- Sewage spills52/100298 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Deliberate fires21/100
- Anti-social behaviour18/10010.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Rain12/100114 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Criminal damage and arson10/1004.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 12 | Oxted | 57 |
| 13 | Weybridge | 55 |
| 14 | Tadworth and Epsom Downs | 54 |
| 15 | Ashford | 52 |
| 16 | New Haw, West Byfleet and Sheerwater | 51 |
| 17 | Guildford | 48 |
| 18 | Hersham | 46 |
| 19 | Caterham | 44 |
| 20 | Dorking | 44 |
New Haw, West Byfleet and Sheerwater by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 43.0 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 44% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 1,076 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 326 per 10,000 people, 95.9x the typical town's 3.4
- 4 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2021
What's left on the high street
- 7 pubs, 17 hairdressers, 3 charity shops, 1 bookmaker, 1 vape shop, 1 bank on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Better: 3.0 per 100,000 people, 12% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 7 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 2.1 per 10,000 people, 31% higher 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
- 12.12am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.8% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 1.6x the typical town's 0.5%
- 41.8% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 2.7x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,641 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 7% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Runnymede council
Have a crap-off
New Haw, West Byfleet and Sheerwater 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.