Crap Towns / East Sussex / Polegate
Polegate
23/100Crap Score
753rd crappest of 984 towns, and 9th in East Sussex. 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
Polegate. It's behind the hedge.
A windmill, a roundabout that jams every day and road signs lost in the hedges.
Polegate has a windmill and a cycle path where the railway used to be. It also has the Cophall Roundabout, which jams every day, and hedges so overgrown you can't read the signs telling you you've arrived. The windmill's officially at risk. The library shut in 2018.
Sewage came out of the overflows round it for six times as long as in the typical town. There's no public park, no public pool and 2 pubs, and Wealden still charges £2,728 for a Band D. If you can find the town.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Polegate's 91 for sewage spills means it's crapper than 91% of towns.
- Sewage spills91/1001,656 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2024 to 2025
- Broadband67/1004.1% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 24.7% across the Wealden council area
- Anti-social behaviour39/10013.5 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Rain38/100123 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Serious road collisions36/1002.0 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Criminal damage and arson32/1005.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Air pollution29/1006.1 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.4 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Deliberate fires28/1004.0 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Food hygiene26/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 38 food businesses with a rating
- Fly-tipping6/1004.1 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Wealden council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | Eastbourne | 66 |
| 5 | Bexhill-on-Sea | 54 |
| 6 | Brighton and Hove | 51 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.7 | Hailsham | 35 |
| 8 | Peacehaven | 30 |
| 9 | Polegate | 23 |
| 10 | Uckfield | 18 |
| 11 | Crowborough | 9 |
| 12 | Seaford | 8 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Polegate by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 53.9 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 29% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 17 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 16.9 per 10,000 people, 5x the typical town's 3.4
What's left on the high street
- 2 pubs, 6 hairdressers, 3 charity shops, 1 bookmaker, 1 vape shop on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 library shut for good since 2010: Polegate Library (2018)
- 2 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 2.0 per 10,000 people, 25% higher than the typical town's 1.6
- None public swimming pools open Worse: Against the typical English town's 0.7 per 10,000 people
- 1 place on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.15am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.1% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 80% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 18.3% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space, and OS maps no public park here Worse: 18% higher than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,791 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 17% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Wealden council
- £2,728 Band D council tax (2026-27) Worse: £336 more than the English average
- 18% of East Sussex County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 13% higher than England's 16%
- None ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Polegate 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.