Crap Towns / Staffordshire / Rugeley
Rugeley
2/100Crap Score
968th crappest of 984 towns, and 18th in Staffordshire. 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
Go to Cannock Chase. Keep going.
The power station's been knocked down and the town centre's been left to rot.
Rugeley lost its pit, then its power station, then most of its shops. The cooling towers came down in a cloud of dust and the town centre has looked like the aftermath ever since: units empty for years, tired buildings, and charity shops in what's left. It once helped pioneer a telephone link across the Atlantic. Now it can't get a bus to Stafford on a Sunday.
And yet it's the least crap town in Staffordshire. Not because anything's good, but because nobody's doing much of anything, the vandals included. Gigabit gets to 99.0% of premises, so you can sit at home and buy everything from somewhere else. Cannock Chase is on the doorstep. Everyone's up there.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Rugeley's 59 for rain means it's crapper than 59% of towns.
- Rain59/100133 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Deliberate fires53/1005.9 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Air pollution47/1007.6 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.7 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Sewage spills30/10093.2 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Food hygiene28/1001.5% rated 0 to 2, of the 136 food businesses with a rating
- Criminal damage and arson23/1005.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Anti-social behaviour12/1008.7 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Serious road collisions9/1001.2 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Fly-tipping6/1004.0 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Cannock Chase council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Broadband0/1001.0% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 3.2% across the Cannock Chase council area
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | Wombourne | 17 |
| 11 | Uttoxeter | 16 |
| 12 | Tamworth | 15 |
| 13 | Cheadle | 14 |
| 14 | Stone | 13 |
| 15 | Lichfield | 10 |
| 16 | Burntwood | 6 |
| 17 | Cannock | 4 |
| 18 | Rugeley | 2 |
Rugeley by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 70.5 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 7% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 5 reports of litter and bins on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 1.9 per 10,000 people, 2.1x the typical town's 0.9
- 2 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2018
What's left on the high street
- 17 pubs, 16 hairdressers, 4 charity shops, 2 bookmakers, 1 vape shop, 4 banks, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 6.9% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (2 of 29) Worse: 1.7x the typical town's 4.0%
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Worse: 3.8 per 100,000 people, 12% higher than the typical town's 3.4
- 5 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 1.9 per 10,000 people, 19% higher than the typical town's 1.6
- 1 public swimming pool open; 1 closed for good since 2010 Worse: 0.4 per 10,000 people, 43% lower than the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 9.53pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.3% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 40% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 23.6% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 1.5x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,465 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Cannock Chase council
- £2,376 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £16 less than the English average
- 10% of Staffordshire County Council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 38% lower than England's 16%
- 2 ombudsman complaints upheld against the council in 2025-26
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Rugeley 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.