Crap Towns / Hertfordshire / Stevenage
Stevenage
50/100Crap Score
Locals call it the Nidge.
497th crappest of 984 towns, and 5th in Hertfordshire. 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 Stevenage? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Concrete and roundabouts.
Britain's original new town. It's looking old.
Stevenage was the first of the post-war new towns, all concrete, underpasses and roundabouts, and it hasn't aged well. The shops moved out to the retail parks and left the centre with empty units and grey walls. Some call it St Evenage to make it sound posh. It doesn't work.
The fly-tippers have the run of the place, at nearly three times the typical council's rate. The council logged 3,058 incidents in a year, 113 of them tipper-lorry loads or bigger, and brought no prosecutions. Not one. The anti-social lot are half as busy again as the typical town's, and the planners left them grass everywhere to do it on.
The whole town has one Greggs. Says it all, really.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Stevenage's 92 for fly-tipping means it's crapper than 92% of towns.
- Fly-tipping92/10030.2 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Stevenage council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Anti-social behaviour80/10021.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Air pollution71/1009.4 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.2 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Deliberate fires63/1007.6 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Criminal damage and arson53/1007.2 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Broadband44/1007.5% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 7.4% across the Stevenage council area
- Food hygiene31/1001.8% rated 0 to 2, of the 381 food businesses with a rating
- Serious road collisions23/1001.8 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Rain22/100118 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Sewage spills2/1000.0 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Waltham Cross | 78 |
| 2 | Hatfield | 67 |
| 3 | Borehamwood | 50 |
| 4 | Hemel Hempstead | 50 |
| 5 | Stevenage | 50 |
| 6 | Baldock | 45 |
| 7 | Potters Bar | 43 |
| 8 | Bushey | 42 |
| 9 | Welwyn Garden City | 42 |
Stevenage by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 85.4 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 12% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 141 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 14.9 per 10,000 people, 4.4x the typical town's 3.4
- 3 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2024
What's left on the high street
- 24 pubs, 13 hairdressers, 6 charity shops, 5 bookmakers, 1 vape shop, 7 banks, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1.4% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (1 of 70) Better: 65% lower than the typical town's 4.0%
- 2 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Better: 2.1 per 100,000 people, 38% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 9 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 1.0 per 10,000 people, 38% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 4 public swimming pools open; 1 closed for good since 2010 Worse: 0.4 per 10,000 people, 43% lower than the typical English town's 0.7
- 2 places on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.06am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.6% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 20% higher than the typical town's 0.5%
- 3.1% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 80% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,582 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Stevenage council
- £2,392 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: The same as the English average
- 18% of Hertfordshire County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 13% higher than England's 16%
- 3 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Stevenage 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.