Crap Towns / West Sussex / Yapton
Yapton
56/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 56. 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
Got something to say about Yapton? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Doors open, roads flooded
Yapton is the village that never shuts its doors. The drains and the level crossing are the problem.
Yapton is famous for leaving its doors open, apparently so the smugglers could get away. Leave a door open anywhere nearby and you'll be asked if you were born in Yapton. These days the roads flood, the drains block, the pavements give out next to fast traffic and the level crossing queues.
Leaving your door open isn't the bright idea it was. Anti-social behaviour comes in at 1.8 times the typical town's rate and the vandals are busy too. There are over three times the typical town's play spaces per head, no public pool, and a lot of new houses with nothing to go with them.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Yapton's 88 for anti-social behaviour means it's crapper than 88% of towns.
- Anti-social behaviour88/10025.7 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Criminal damage and arson79/1009.6 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Broadband73/1009.2% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 17.7% across the Arun council area
- Deliberate fires71/100
- Serious road collisions53/1002.5 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Fly-tipping42/1009.7 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Arun council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Food hygiene38/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 16 food businesses with a rating
- Rain29/100120 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Air pollution22/1005.6 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.1 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Sewage spills21/10047.8 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2024 to 2025
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | Crawley | 67 |
| 4 | Wick | 61 |
| 5 | Shoreham-by-Sea | 61 |
| 6 | Barnham | 60 |
| – | Yapton | 56 |
| 7 | Southwick | 55 |
| 8 | Bognor Regis | 53 |
| 9 | East Grinstead | 45 |
| 10 | Worthing | 44 |
Yapton by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 78.4 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 76.2
- 4 reports of abandoned vehicles on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 6.3 per 10,000 people, 7x the typical town's 0.9
- 2 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2024
What's left on the high street
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.16am last bus out on a Wednesday About the same: About the same as the typical town's 12.14am
- 2.3% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 4.6x the typical town's 0.5%
- 19.7% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 27% higher than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,845 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 20% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Arun council
- £2,487 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £95 more than the English average
- 19% of West Sussex County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 19% higher than England's 16%
- 4 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Yapton 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.