Crap Towns / County Durham / Wingate
Wingate
84/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 84. 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
Mind the quad bike.
Old pit village with off-road bikes, dumped rubbish and bins set alight.
Wingate is an old pit village with a Welfare Park and nice walking paths on the old railway lines. It also has off-road bikes tearing about, cars parked across every junction and dropped kerb at school time, and fly-tipping. The pit's gone. The trouble stayed.
Vandalism comes in at nearly four times the typical town's rate, and things go up in flames at nearly twelve times, the bins at about twenty. There isn't a single play space on the map, so the kids have the old railway paths and the bikes. Sewage comes out of the overflows nearby for nearly seven times as long as in the typical town. There's 2 pubs.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Wingate's 99 for criminal damage and arson means it's crapper than 99% of towns.
- Criminal damage and arson99/10026.9 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires98/10067.5 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Sewage spills92/1001,845 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Anti-social behaviour86/10023.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Food hygiene60/1005.3% rated 0 to 2, of the 19 food businesses with a rating
- Fly-tipping56/10010.5 incidents per 1,000 people a year, County Durham council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Rain54/100130 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Broadband46/1004.2% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 14.6% across the County Durham council area
- Serious road collisions38/1002.0 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Air pollution15/1005.6 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.4 of fine particles, 2024 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bishop Auckland | 95 |
| 2 | Stanley | 88 |
| – | Wingate | 84 |
| 3 | Darlington | 80 |
| 4 | Hartlepool | 79 |
| 5 | Chester-le-Street | 77 |
| 6 | Spennymoor | 74 |
| 7 | Stockton-on-Tees | 73 |
| 8 | Peterlee | 71 |
Wingate by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 105 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 38% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 1 serious pollution incident within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2017
What's left on the high street
- 2 pubs 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
- 11.19pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 2.4% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 4.8x the typical town's 0.5%
- 40.9% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 2.6x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,506 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
Wingate 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.