Crap Towns / Tyne and Wear / Whitburn
Whitburn
25/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 25. 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
Quiet, but tipped on.
Whitburn is a pretty coastal village with no trouble. The fly-tippers have found it, mind.
Whitburn has a village green by the sea and a windmill that's had its sails taken off for repairs. It's quiet, and the vandals and troublemakers stay away. But there's nothing to do, the traffic comes straight through the village and the windmill repairs drag on. And the fly-tippers like it here more than they should.
There's no public park on the map, and 85.5% of the village lives more than 400 metres from a park or play space, so it's the green or the beach. The pool's shut. The village itself is a conservation area on the Heritage at Risk register. Some idiot sets the grass alight at five times the typical town's rate, which counts as entertainment round here.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Whitburn's 91 for fly-tipping means it's crapper than 91% of towns.
- Fly-tipping91/10027.9 incidents per 1,000 people a year, South Tyneside council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Deliberate fires83/10016.7 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Food hygiene59/1004.6% rated 0 to 2, of the 22 food businesses with a rating
- Broadband47/1008.2% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 7.1% across the South Tyneside council area
- Serious road collisions27/1001.6 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Air pollution26/1007.2 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.5 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Rain21/100118 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Anti-social behaviour12/1008.5 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Sewage spills8/1003.3 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Criminal damage and arson6/1003.5 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | Houghton-le-Spring | 73 |
| 11 | Birtley | 69 |
| 12 | Longbenton | 61 |
| 13 | Washington | 57 |
| 14 | Whickham | 53 |
| 15 | Killingworth | 50 |
| 16 | Shiney Row and Penshaw | 47 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.17 | Whitley Bay | 26 |
| – | Whitburn | 25 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Whitburn by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 49.1 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 36% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 1 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Better: 2.0 per 10,000 people, 41% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 1 of 2 bathing waters here or within 2 km rated Excellent in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 2 pubs, 1 hairdresser on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- None public swimming pools open; 1 closed for good since 2010 Worse: Against the typical English town's 0.7 per 10,000 people
- 1 place on England's Heritage at Risk register
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.29pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.1% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 80% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 85.5% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space, and OS maps no public park here Worse: 5.5x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,633 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 7% higher than the typical town's 1,532
South Tyneside council
- £2,434 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £42 more than the English average
- 15% of South Tyneside council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 6% lower than England's 16%
- 7 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Whitburn 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.