Crap Towns / North Yorkshire / Saltburn-by-the-Sea
Saltburn-by-the-Sea
65/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 65. 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
Saltburn. Expensive for what it is.
Victorian pier, cliff lift and surf beach. Shame about the fly-tipping and the chip prices.
Saltburn is a pretty little Victorian seaside town with a pier, a cliff lift that runs on water and a surf beach. In summer there's nowhere to park, the motorhomes take the seafront for weeks and the fish and chips cost a fortune. The house prices are pushing locals out. Someone knits jumpers for the pier.
Behind the knitted pier, the bins go up in flames at over ten times the typical town's rate, and Redcar and Cleveland's fly-tipping is over four times the typical council's. Barclays has gone, and a major pollution incident put crude sewage in the water in 2022. Still, there's 2 swimming pools, so you don't have to surf in it.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Saltburn-by-the-Sea's 97 for fly-tipping means it's crapper than 97% of towns.
- Fly-tipping97/10047.0 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Redcar and Cleveland council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Deliberate fires93/10032.4 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Anti-social behaviour70/10018.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Sewage spills59/100397 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Broadband52/1007.9% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 9.8% across the Redcar and Cleveland council area
- Serious road collisions52/1002.5 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Criminal damage and arson49/1007.0 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Rain32/100121 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Food hygiene10/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 79 food businesses with a rating
- Air pollution8/1005.0 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.0 of fine particles, 2024 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | Guisborough | 78 |
| 6 | Skipton | 74 |
| 7 | Redcar | 71 |
| 8 | Thornaby-on-Tees | 71 |
| – | Saltburn-by-the-Sea | 65 |
| 9 | Whitby | 64 |
| 10 | Northallerton | 56 |
| 11 | Selby | 51 |
| 12 | Huntington | 46 |
Saltburn-by-the-Sea by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 78.7 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 76.2
- 4 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 6.8 per 10,000 people, 2x the typical town's 3.4
- 2 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2022
- Good Saltburn's bathing water rating, 2025
What's left on the high street
- 7 pubs, 3 hairdressers, 3 charity shops, 1 bookmaker on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 0.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (0 of 14) Better: Against the typical town's 4.0%
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Worse: 17.0 per 100,000 people, 5x the typical town's 3.4
- 3 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 5.1 per 10,000 people, 3.2x the typical town's 1.6
- 2 public swimming pools open Better: 3.4 per 10,000 people, 4.9x the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.44pm 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%
- 14.3% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 8% 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
Redcar and Cleveland council
- £2,544 Band D council tax (2026-27) Worse: £152 more than the English average
- 7% of Redcar and Cleveland council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 56% lower than England's 16%
- 3 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Saltburn-by-the-Sea 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.