Crap Towns / Gwent / Pontllanfraith
Pontllanfraith
77/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 77. 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
No leisure centre, lots of sewage.
A Sirhowy Valley town that lost its leisure centre and can't work out its roundabout.
Pontllanfraith used to be a mining and railway town. Now the big local stories are the leisure centre the council shut, the Gelligroes roundabout nobody can work out, and the playing fields the council's own lot churned up.
The storm drains chuck out sewage for over 16 times as long as the typical town's. 43% of people live more than 400 metres from the nearest park or playground, so churning up the playing fields was a bold move. Not a lot else going on. Not a lot at all.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Pontllanfraith's 99 for sewage spills means it's crapper than 99% of towns.
- Sewage spills99/1004,439 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Rain84/100161 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Serious road collisions72/1003.2 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Criminal damage and arson69/1008.4 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Fly-tipping67/10014.3 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Caerphilly council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Food hygiene51/1002.6% rated 0 to 2, of the 38 food businesses with a rating
- Deliberate fires50/100
- Anti-social behaviour37/10013.0 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Air pollution34/1008.0 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.6 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Broadband32/1003.6% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 10.3% across the Caerphilly council area
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | Blackwood | 92 |
| 7 | Caerphilly | 88 |
| 8 | Pontypool | 86 |
| 9 | Ystrad Mynach | 85 |
| – | Pontllanfraith | 77 |
| 10 | Cwmbrân | 75 |
| 11 | Chepstow | 59 |
| 12 | Abergavenny | 57 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.13 | Monmouth | 31 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Pontllanfraith by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 65.4 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 14% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 9 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 9.6 per 10,000 people, 2.8x the typical town's 3.4
What's left on the high street
- 5 pubs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 public toilet on the map (October 2026) Worse: 1.1 per 10,000 people, 31% lower than the typical town's 1.6
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.40pm 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%
- 43.0% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 2.8x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,455 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 5% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Caerphilly council
Have a crap-off
Pontllanfraith 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.