Crap Towns / North Yorkshire / Norton-on-Derwent
Norton-on-Derwent
13/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 13. 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
Norton. Not Malton.
Racehorse yards, a level crossing that's always down, and drains that can't cope.
Norton-on-Derwent is full of racehorse yards and calls itself the Newmarket of the North. Malton station is actually in Norton, and Malton takes all the credit. The level crossing's always down and the streets flood when it rains. The horses seem happy.
The sewers nearby overflow for over thirteen times as long as the typical town's, which explains the drains. The map can't find a single public park, for all the room the horses get. The bus station's in Norton too, and the buses still leave about a ninth as often as the typical town's. Crime's next to nothing. Nobody's got the energy.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Norton-on-Derwent's 98 for sewage spills means it's crapper than 98% of towns.
- Sewage spills98/1003,597 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Broadband57/1005.1% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 17.4% across the North Yorkshire council area
- Food hygiene56/1003.9% rated 0 to 2, of the 26 food businesses with a rating
- Rain50/100128 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Anti-social behaviour19/10010.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Criminal damage and arson16/1004.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Air pollution13/1005.4 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.2 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Deliberate fires12/1002.2 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Fly-tipping12/1005.0 incidents per 1,000 people a year, North Yorkshire council area, 2023-24 to 2024-25
- Serious road collisions8/1000.9 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 11 | Selby | 51 |
| 12 | Huntington | 46 |
| 13 | Haxby | 40 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.14 | Catterick Garrison | 31 |
| 15 | Knaresborough | 25 |
| 16 | Harrogate | 16 |
| 17 | Ripon | 15 |
| – | Norton-on-Derwent | 13 |
| 18 | Ingleby Barwick | 8 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Norton-on-Derwent by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 44.0 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 42% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 1 reports of litter and bins on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 1.3 per 10,000 people, 44% higher than the typical town's 0.9
- 1 serious pollution incident within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2020
What's left on the high street
- 3 pubs, 6 hairdressers, 2 vape shops on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 public toilet on the map (October 2026) Worse: 1.3 per 10,000 people, 19% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 1 public swimming pool open Better: 1.3 per 10,000 people, 1.9x the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 9.11pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than 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%
- 29.1% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space, and OS maps no public park here Worse: 1.9x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,521 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
North Yorkshire council
- £2,544 Band D council tax (2026-27) Worse: £152 more than the English average
- 18% of North Yorkshire council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 13% higher than England's 16%
- 41 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Norton-on-Derwent 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.