Crap Towns / West Yorkshire / Havercroft and Ryhill
Havercroft and Ryhill
64/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 64. Higher scores are crapper.
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Crap Town of the Year 2026/27
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Letters from the locals
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agree it's crap have defended it
Who? Exactly.
Old pit villages, buses that vanish and a lot of sewage.
Havercroft and Ryhill are old pit villages that used to send coal everywhere. Now they can't get a bus to Barnsley that keeps the same route for a month. The railway's gone, the timetables keep changing, and some idiot keeps smashing up the learning centre. Get a lift. Or don't bother.
The overflows nearby run for nearly five times as long as the typical town's, and stuff gets torched at two and a half times the typical rate. Nobody shoplifts, mind, which might be because there's nowhere to shop. They had tramways taking the coal to the Barnsley Canal once. Now you can't get yourself to Barnsley.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Havercroft and Ryhill's 87 for sewage spills means it's crapper than 87% of towns.
- Sewage spills87/1001,290 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Deliberate fires80/10014.9 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Fly-tipping75/10016.7 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Wakefield council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Criminal damage and arson63/1008.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Food hygiene56/1003.9% rated 0 to 2, of the 26 food businesses with a rating
- Serious road collisions46/1002.3 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Air pollution44/1007.1 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.9 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Anti-social behaviour34/1008.4 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Broadband30/1005.9% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 4.7% across the Wakefield council area
- Rain24/100119 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 23 | Normanton | 68 |
| 24 | Featherstone | 68 |
| 25 | Brighouse | 66 |
| 26 | Morley | 66 |
| – | Havercroft and Ryhill | 64 |
| 27 | East Ardsley | 63 |
| 28 | Ossett | 62 |
| 29 | Rothwell | 61 |
| 30 | Honley | 56 |
Havercroft and Ryhill by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 74.2 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
- 2 reports of abandoned vehicles on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 3.8 per 10,000 people, 4.2x the typical town's 0.9
What's left on the high street
- 3 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
- 11.31pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- Under 0.1% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: Far lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 10.7% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 31% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,463 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Wakefield council
- £2,297 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £95 less than the English average
- 19% of Wakefield council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Worse: 19% higher than England's 16%
- 5 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Havercroft and Ryhill 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.