Crap Towns / Essex / Runwell
Runwell
14/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 14. 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
Quiet. That's about it.
A village outside Wickford with a spring behind the name and not much else to go on about.
Runwell is a quiet village outside Wickford, named after a spring. It's got 1 pub, some playing fields and no public park, so for a night out you get the bus, which to be fair runs all night. Meanwhile somebody keeps treating Meadow Lane as a tip, and building rubble keeps turning up in the serious pollution incidents round here.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Runwell's 76 for air pollution means it's crapper than 76% of towns.
- Air pollution76/1009.6 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.4 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Criminal damage and arson55/1007.4 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Food hygiene50/1002.5% rated 0 to 2, of the 40 food businesses with a rating
- Anti-social behaviour42/1009.3 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires40/1005.2 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Broadband38/1003.8% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 12.1% across the Chelmsford council area
- Sewage spills30/10094.4 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Serious road collisions20/1001.5 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Fly-tipping5/1003.9 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Chelmsford council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Rain3/100108 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 22 | Rochford | 22 |
| 23 | Braintree | 21 |
| 24 | Stanford-le-Hope | 17 |
| 25 | Brentwood | 17 |
| – | Runwell | 14 |
| 26 | Great Dunmow | 13 |
| 27 | Halstead | 12 |
| 28 | Rayleigh | 11 |
| 29 | Chelmsford | 9 |
Runwell by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 73.0 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
- 3 reports of litter and bins on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 3.7 per 10,000 people, 4.1x the typical town's 0.9
- 6 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2024
What's left on the high street
- 1 pub on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 public toilet on the map (October 2026) Worse: 1.2 per 10,000 people, 25% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 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
- All night buses on a Wednesday Better: The typical town's last bus goes at 12.14am
- 0.4% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 20% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 36.0% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space, and OS maps no public park here Worse: 2.3x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,705 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 11% higher than the typical town's 1,532
Chelmsford council
- £2,300 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £92 less than the English average
- 10% of Essex 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
Runwell 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.