Crap Towns / Derbyshire / Sandiacre
Sandiacre
49/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 49. 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
Somebody's double parked. Again.
Nice old mill on the canal. Roads full of lorries, school-run traffic and double parking.
Sandiacre has a grand old lace mill where the Erewash Canal meets the Derby Canal, and roads that don't work. Lorries cut through, the school run blocks Cloudside, people double park on Stanton Road and the buses get stuck behind them on Coronation Avenue. Serious crashes come in at 1.6 times the typical town's rate as well.
The canal's lovely to look at. Nobody wants to think about what's in it: the storm overflows round here spill at 6.2 times the typical town's rate. The air's no better, with nitrogen dioxide at 1.6 times the typical town's, and the map can't find a public park anywhere in the place. Plenty of hairdressers, though, so at least your hair looks nice in the queue.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Sandiacre's 91 for sewage spills means it's crapper than 91% of towns.
- Sewage spills91/1001,705 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Air pollution89/10013.0 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.6 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Serious road collisions86/1003.9 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Deliberate fires56/1006.2 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Food hygiene45/1002.1% rated 0 to 2, of the 48 food businesses with a rating
- Anti-social behaviour42/10014.1 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
- Criminal damage and arson30/1005.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Broadband9/1002.3% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 3.9% across the Erewash council area
- Fly-tipping1/1002.2 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Erewash council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | Shirebrook | 62 |
| 6 | Staveley | 61 |
| 7 | Matlock | 59 |
| 8 | South Normanton and Pinxton | 50 |
| – | Sandiacre | 49 |
| 9 | Ripley | 47 |
| 10 | Somercotes and Swanwick | 47 |
| 11 | Ilkeston | 43 |
| 12 | Buxton | 42 |
Sandiacre by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 61.6 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 19% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 23 reports of abandoned vehicles on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 24.5 per 10,000 people, 27.2x the typical town's 0.9
- 2 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2018
What's left on the high street
- 4 pubs, 11 hairdressers, 1 charity shop, 1 bookmaker, 1 vape shop 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
- 1 public swimming pool open Better: 1.1 per 10,000 people, 1.6x the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.40am last bus out on a Wednesday Better: Later than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.3% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 40% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 19.5% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space, and OS maps no public park here Worse: 26% higher than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,499 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Erewash council
- £2,361 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £31 less than the English average
- 15% of Derbyshire County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 6% lower than England's 16%
- None ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Sandiacre 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.