Crap Towns / South Yorkshire / Wath upon Dearne
Wath upon Dearne
85/100Crap Score
146th crappest of 984 towns, and 12th in South Yorkshire. 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
Queen of Villages? Smell it first.
It calls itself the Queen of Villages. It smells of the waste plant and floods with fly-tipping.
Wath upon Dearne calls itself the Queen of Villages, which is a lot for an old pit town with a waste plant next door. The smell and the flies come over from Manvers, the lights on Biscay Way jam everything up and the roadworks never stop. Serious crashes run at twice the typical town's rate.
There's been 14 serious pollution incidents round here since 2016, and flies turned up in 2 of them, so it's not just moaning. 3.9% of homes fall short of even the legal minimum broadband. There's 1 public toilet and 8 pubs, and the storm overflows go off for about five times the typical town's hours. Some queen.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Wath upon Dearne's 95 for serious road collisions means it's crapper than 95% of towns.
- Serious road collisions95/1004.8 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Sewage spills88/1001,361 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Fly-tipping84/10020.3 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Rotherham council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Deliberate fires83/10015.3 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Air pollution75/1009.7 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.3 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Anti-social behaviour64/10017.2 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Criminal damage and arson55/1007.4 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Broadband49/10010.6% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 3.3% across the Rotherham council area
- Food hygiene17/1000.9% rated 0 to 2, of the 116 food businesses with a rating
- Rain9/100113 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 8 | Bentley | 91 |
| 9 | Wombwell | 91 |
| 10 | Doncaster | 88 |
| 11 | Hoyland | 88 |
| 12 | Wath upon Dearne | 85 |
| 13 | Swallownest and Aston | 80 |
| 14 | Conisbrough | 79 |
| 15 | Royston | 78 |
| 16 | Dunscroft and Hatfield | 76 |
Wath upon Dearne by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 87.6 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 15% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 3 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Better: 1.8 per 10,000 people, 47% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 14 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2026
What's left on the high street
- 8 pubs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 6.7% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (1 of 15) Worse: 1.7x the typical town's 4.0%
- 1 cash machine closure assessed by LINK
- 1 public toilet on the map (October 2026) Worse: 0.6 per 10,000 people, 63% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 2 public swimming pools open Better: 1.2 per 10,000 people, 1.7x the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.03am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- 4.0% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 8x the typical town's 0.5%
- 13.6% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 12% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,530 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Rotherham council
- £2,382 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £10 less than the English average
- 9% of Rotherham council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 44% lower than England's 16%
- 2 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Wath upon Dearne 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.