Crap Towns / County Durham / Ushaw Moor and Bearpark
Ushaw Moor and Bearpark
67/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 67. Higher scores are crapper.
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Letters from the locals
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agree it's crap have defended it
Beautiful retreat, apparently.
Old pit villages in the Deerness Valley, with sewage spills and a name that promises rather too much.
Ushaw Moor and Bearpark are old pit villages near Durham, and Bearpark's name is supposed to mean beautiful retreat. Not any more. People moan about the speeding through Ushaw Moor and the school run parking everywhere, though serious crashes barely happen. The railway path is nice.
The storm drains nearby chuck out sewage for five and a half times as long as the typical town's. Fires get started on purpose at nearly six times the typical town's rate, the bins at over nine. A fifth of the place can't get gigabit broadband, and there's 1 pub. Beautiful retreat. Somebody was having a laugh.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Ushaw Moor and Bearpark's 93 for deliberate fires means it's crapper than 93% of towns.
- Deliberate fires93/10033.0 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Criminal damage and arson90/10011.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Sewage spills90/1001,532 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Broadband88/10019.6% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 14.6% across the County Durham council area
- Anti-social behaviour81/10022.0 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Fly-tipping56/10010.5 incidents per 1,000 people a year, County Durham council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Rain52/100129 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Food hygiene38/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 16 food businesses with a rating
- Air pollution9/1004.6 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.2 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Serious road collisions1/1000.3 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | Spennymoor | 74 |
| 7 | Stockton-on-Tees | 73 |
| 8 | Peterlee | 71 |
| 9 | Durham | 70 |
| – | Ushaw Moor and Bearpark | 67 |
| 10 | Consett | 63 |
| 11 | Seaham | 60 |
| 12 | Newton Aycliffe | 58 |
| 13 | Billingham | 52 |
Ushaw Moor and Bearpark by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
What's left on the high street
- 1 pub, 5 hairdressers 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
- 11.52pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 1.2% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 2.4x the typical town's 0.5%
- 23.3% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 1.5x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,501 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
County Durham council
Have a crap-off
Ushaw Moor and Bearpark 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.