Crap Towns / Lincolnshire / Washingborough and Heighington
Washingborough and Heighington
10/100Crap Score
People from here are Yellowbellies.
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 10. 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
Nowt to report
Limestone cottages, a riverside cycle path and a beck that floods.
Two villages stuck together to make up the numbers, and both annoyingly decent. Limestone cottages, a cycle path along the Witham into Lincoln, and hardly any crime at all. Bike theft barely registers. Nobody's even bothering with the shops.
The water's the problem. Heighington's beck floods, and when it does the water comes up through the ground as well. The storm overflows round here spill for 1.6 times as long as the typical town's, so it's not all rainwater either. And 27 premises can't get the legal minimum broadband, which is about as close to a scandal as it gets.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Washingborough and Heighington's 79 for broadband means it's crapper than 79% of towns.
- Broadband79/10012.2% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 17.1% across the North Kesteven council area
- Sewage spills62/100452 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Air pollution45/1005.5 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.3 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Food hygiene35/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 20 food businesses with a rating
- Fly-tipping32/1008.0 incidents per 1,000 people a year, North Kesteven council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Serious road collisions30/1001.7 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Deliberate fires21/1003.1 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Rain18/100117 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Anti-social behaviour4/1006.5 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Criminal damage and arson0/1001.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 9 | Spalding | 64 |
| 10 | Grantham | 53 |
| 11 | Stamford | 46 |
| 12 | Sleaford | 45 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.13 | Humberston and New Waltham | 32 |
| 14 | Barton-upon-Humber | 32 |
| 15 | Bourne | 15 |
| 16 | North Hykeham | 13 |
| – | Washingborough and Heighington | 10 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Washingborough and Heighington by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 22.4 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 71% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 166 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 260 per 10,000 people, 76.5x the typical town's 3.4
- 1 serious pollution incident within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2020
What's left on the high street
- 4 pubs, 3 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
- 11.34pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 2.6% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 5.2x the typical town's 0.5%
- 34.9% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 2.3x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,638 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 7% higher than the typical town's 1,532
North Kesteven council
- £2,338 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £54 less than the English average
- 21% of Lincolnshire County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 31% higher than England's 16%
- None ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Washingborough and Heighington 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.