Crap Towns / North Yorkshire / Skelton
Skelton
80/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 80. 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
Got something to say about Skelton? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Skelton. The services will follow.
A castle, the Cleveland Way and a lot of new houses with nowhere to go.
Skelton has a castle and the Cleveland Way, and a lot of new houses going up with no extra doctors, schools or shops to match. The traffic gets worse, and nobody knows what the speed limit is towards Boosbeck. There's a Greggs.
The fire brigade gets called to deliberate fires at nine times the typical town's rate, the bins at about nineteen times, and Redcar and Cleveland's fly-tipping is over four times the typical council's. 22.2% of homes can't get gigabit broadband and there's no swimming pool. New neighbours. Same old dickheads.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Skelton's 97 for deliberate fires means it's crapper than 97% of towns.
- Deliberate fires97/10051.1 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Fly-tipping97/10047.0 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Redcar and Cleveland council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Broadband89/10022.2% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 9.8% across the Redcar and Cleveland council area
- Criminal damage and arson84/10010.3 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Sewage spills80/100873 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Anti-social behaviour56/10016.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Rain55/100131 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Serious road collisions40/1002.1 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Food hygiene27/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 36 food businesses with a rating
- Air pollution9/1004.9 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.1 of fine particles, 2024 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middlesbrough | 96 |
| 2 | Eston | 86 |
| 3 | York | 85 |
| – | Skelton | 80 |
| 4 | Scarborough | 78 |
| 5 | Guisborough | 78 |
| 6 | Skipton | 74 |
| 7 | Redcar | 71 |
| 8 | Thornaby-on-Tees | 71 |
Skelton by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 80.7 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 6% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 6 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 8.7 per 10,000 people, 2.6x the typical town's 3.4
- Good Saltburn's bathing water rating, 2025
What's left on the high street
- 6 pubs, 1 charity shop, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- None public swimming pools open Worse: Against the typical English town's 0.7 per 10,000 people
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.02pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 2.4% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 4.8x the typical town's 0.5%
- 14.5% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 6% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,493 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
Skelton 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.