Crap Towns / Bedfordshire / Wixams
Wixams
21/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 21. 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
Houses so far. Rest to follow.
A shiny new town with lakes and bright houses. The station, the doctor and the shops are still coming.
Wixams is a brand new town on an old munitions depot, with lakes and brightly coloured houses. The railway station keeps getting put back, there's no GP and no dentist, the town centre still hasn't been built and the supermarket was late. It's very new and very clean.
There's nothing to do, so somebody's making their own entertainment with a lighter. Deliberate fires run well above the typical town's, on a site that used to make explosives. And for a town that's barely finished, the share of homes that can't get superfast broadband is more than three times the typical town's.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Wixams's 82 for deliberate fires means it's crapper than 82% of towns.
- Deliberate fires82/10015.4 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Anti-social behaviour59/10016.5 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Broadband53/1005.7% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 14.6% across the Bedford council area
- Air pollution53/1007.5 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.1 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Fly-tipping44/10010.2 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Bedford council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Food hygiene42/100
- Criminal damage and arson32/1005.7 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Sewage spills17/10030.0 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Serious road collisions6/1000.7 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Rain2/100108 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Bedford | 61 |
| 3 | Houghton Regis | 60 |
| 4 | Dunstable | 40 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.5 | Kempston | 27 |
| – | Wixams | 21 |
| 6 | Sandy | 17 |
| 7 | Leighton Buzzard | 13 |
| 8 | Stotfold | 10 |
| 9 | Flitwick | 4 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Wixams by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 62.7 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 18% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 8 reports of broken street lights on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 13.2 per 10,000 people, 18.9x the typical town's 0.7
- 1 serious pollution incident within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2025
What's left on the high street
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.51am last bus out on a Wednesday Better: Later than the typical town's 12.14am
- 1.7% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 3.4x the typical town's 0.5%
- 0.0% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: Against the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,572 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Bedford council
Have a crap-off
Wixams 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.