Crap Towns / County Durham / Peterlee
Peterlee
71/100Crap Score
286th crappest of 984 towns, and 8th in County Durham. 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
Love the concrete thing? Somebody does.
A new town with a big concrete sculpture over a lake. And not much else.
Peterlee was built as a shiny new town, and its big landmark is the Apollo Pavilion, a slab of concrete over a lake. Some love it. Some want it knocked down. Meanwhile the town centre is boarded-up shops, Halifax and Lloyds have gone and off-road bikes buzz about. Sunny Blunts is a real place.
The firebugs are busy, at fourteen times the typical town's rate, the bins at about twenty-three times, and the vandalism's nearly three times the typical town's. There's 2 pubs and 3 Greggs, which tells you how Peterlee spends its evenings. The concrete's held up better than the town round it.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Peterlee's 99 for deliberate fires means it's crapper than 99% of towns.
- Deliberate fires99/10080.6 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Criminal damage and arson99/10020.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Anti-social behaviour86/10024.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Fly-tipping56/10010.5 incidents per 1,000 people a year, County Durham council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Sewage spills55/100336 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Food hygiene51/1002.5% rated 0 to 2, of the 79 food businesses with a rating
- Broadband46/1004.2% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 14.6% across the County Durham council area
- Rain41/100124 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Serious road collisions32/1001.9 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Air pollution24/1006.8 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.6 of fine particles, 2024 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | Hartlepool | 79 |
| 5 | Chester-le-Street | 77 |
| 6 | Spennymoor | 74 |
| 7 | Stockton-on-Tees | 73 |
| 8 | Peterlee | 71 |
| 9 | Durham | 70 |
| 10 | Consett | 63 |
| 11 | Seaham | 60 |
| 12 | Newton Aycliffe | 58 |
Peterlee by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 131 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 1.7x the typical town's 76.2
- 2 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Better: 1.0 per 10,000 people, 71% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 3 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2023
What's left on the high street
- 2 pubs, 9 hairdressers, 8 charity shops, 2 bookmakers, 2 vape shops, 2 banks, 3 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 0.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (0 of 21) Better: Against the typical town's 4.0%
- 2 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 10.1 per 100,000 people, 3x the typical town's 3.4
- 3 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 1.5 per 10,000 people, 6% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 2 public swimming pools open Better: 1.0 per 10,000 people, 43% 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
- Under 0.1% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: Far lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 14.0% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 10% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,541 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
Peterlee 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.