Crap Towns / West Midlands / Rushall and Shelfield
Rushall and Shelfield
73/100Crap Score
271st crappest of 984 towns, and 10th in the West Midlands. 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
Grow old at the junction
Flooded limestone pits are the pretty bit. The junction is where you spend your life.
Rushall dug out limestone and left pits that flooded into a nature reserve, which is the bit they show visitors. Then there's Rushall junction: queues every day, lanes nobody understands and drivers jumping the reds. Walsall's own roads are in good nick, mind. It's the drivers that are knackered.
The food's a worry too. 5 of the 44 food places with a hygiene rating score 0 to 2, 4.8 times the typical town's share. The air's grubby, the Environment Agency has logged 13 serious pollution incidents round here since 2016, and landfill stink turned up in 6 of them. Rushall Library shut in 2017. The Pics are still going, which is more than you can say for the library.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Rushall and Shelfield's 90 for air pollution means it's crapper than 90% of towns.
- Air pollution90/10012.0 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.9 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Food hygiene89/10011.4% rated 0 to 2, of the 44 food businesses with a rating
- Fly-tipping77/10017.9 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Walsall council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Serious road collisions67/1003.0 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Deliberate fires61/1007.2 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Rain56/100131 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Criminal damage and arson55/1007.4 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Sewage spills53/100309 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Anti-social behaviour23/1007.1 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Broadband19/1003.4% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 5.8% across the Walsall council area
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | West Bromwich | 81 |
| 7 | Cradley Heath | 77 |
| 8 | Dudley | 76 |
| 9 | Willenhall | 74 |
| 10 | Rushall and Shelfield | 73 |
| 11 | Oldbury | 72 |
| 12 | Tipton | 72 |
| 13 | Darlaston | 71 |
| 14 | Smethwick | 70 |
Rushall and Shelfield by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 66.5 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 13% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 6 problems reported on FixMyStreet in the year to October 2026 Better: 4.7 per 10,000 people, 77% lower than the typical town's 20.4
- 13 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2026
What's left on the high street
- 4 pubs, 6 hairdressers on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 1 library shut for good since 2010: Rushall Library (2017)
- 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
- 12.50am last bus out on a Wednesday Better: Later than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.6% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 20% higher than the typical town's 0.5%
- 30.0% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 1.9x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,456 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Walsall council
Have a crap-off
Rushall and Shelfield 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.