Crap Towns / Essex / Thundersley and South Benfleet
Thundersley and South Benfleet
32/100Crap Score
665th crappest of 984 towns, and 18th in Essex. 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
Gridlocked, again.
Something goes wrong on a main road nearby and the whole place stops.
Thundersley and South Benfleet have a hill called Bread and Cheese Hill, a nice common and creek walks, and hardly any bother. The trouble is the roads. Canvey's traffic comes through Benfleet, drivers rat-run through Thundersley, and when a main road goes wrong the whole place locks up.
There's about a quarter of the typical town's pubs per head, and 2 hairdressers between the lot of them. Over 40% of people live over 400 metres from a park or a swing, and the air's a third worse than the typical town's. The buses run all night, full of people going to Southend.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Thundersley and South Benfleet's 85 for air pollution means it's crapper than 85% of towns.
- Air pollution85/10011.0 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.5 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Serious road collisions72/1003.1 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Fly-tipping57/10010.7 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Castle Point council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Broadband54/1007.9% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 10.8% across the Castle Point council area
- Sewage spills52/100302 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Food hygiene39/1002.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 198 food businesses with a rating
- Deliberate fires29/1004.3 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Criminal damage and arson11/1004.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Anti-social behaviour5/1004.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Rain2/100108 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 14 | Chigwell | 43 |
| 15 | Loughton | 41 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.16 | South Ockendon | 37 |
| 17 | Buckhurst Hill | 37 |
| 18 | Thundersley and South Benfleet | 32 |
| 19 | Billericay | 29 |
| 20 | Witham | 28 |
| 21 | Harwich | 23 |
| 22 | Rochford | 22 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Thundersley and South Benfleet by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 43.6 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 43% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 9 reports of litter and bins on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 1.8 per 10,000 people, 2x the typical town's 0.9
- 3 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 6 pubs, 2 hairdressers, 1 bookmaker on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 0.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (0 of 33) Better: Against the typical town's 4.0%
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Better: 2.0 per 100,000 people, 41% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 4 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 0.8 per 10,000 people, 50% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 5 public swimming pools open; 1 closed for good since 2010 Better: 1.0 per 10,000 people, 43% higher than the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- All night buses on a Wednesday Better: The typical town's last bus goes at 12.14am
- 0.3% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 40% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 41.3% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 2.7x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,723 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 12% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Castle Point council
- £2,319 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £73 less than the English average
- 10% of Essex County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 38% lower than England's 16%
- None ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Thundersley and South Benfleet 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.