Crap Towns / West Sussex / Rustington
Rustington
15/100Crap Score
Locals call it Rusty.
833rd crappest of 984 towns, and 17th in West Sussex. 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
Not Littlehampton. Just.
Flint cottages, bungalows and free parking. They're very proud of the free parking.
Rustington is a seaside village of flint cottages and bungalows between Littlehampton and Worthing, and its big draw is free parking at the shops. Crime's about half the typical town's. Littlehampton creeps closer every year, and Rusty would very much like everyone to know it's a village.
There are 16 public toilets, nearly three times the typical town's per head, which tells you exactly who lives here. Barclays, Lloyds, NatWest and Santander have all shut a branch, so the pensioners park for free and then can't get any money out. They set world airspeed records over the seafront once. Nothing's moved that fast since.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Rustington's 88 for broadband means it's crapper than 88% of towns.
- Broadband88/10018.0% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 17.7% across the Arun council area
- 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 hygiene35/1001.8% rated 0 to 2, of the 165 food businesses with a rating
- Rain27/100120 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Air pollution25/1006.1 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 6.2 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Anti-social behaviour23/10010.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires20/100
- Criminal damage and arson15/1004.5 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Sewage spills9/1005.3 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2024 to 2025
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | Worthing | 44 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.11 | Haywards Heath | 37 |
| 12 | Burgess Hill | 36 |
| 13 | Horsham | 34 |
| 14 | Lancing and Sompting | 30 |
| 15 | Hassocks and Hurstpierpoint | 26 |
| 16 | Selsey | 16 |
| 17 | Rustington | 15 |
| 18 | Southwater | 7 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Rustington by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 40.8 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Better: 46% lower than the typical town's 76.2
- 12 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 About the same: 3.5 per 10,000 people, about the same as the typical town's 3.4
- 0 of 2 bathing waters here or within 2 km rated Excellent in 2025
What's left on the high street
- 11 pubs, 12 hairdressers, 8 charity shops, 1 bookmaker, 1 bank, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 0.0% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (0 of 17) Better: Against the typical town's 4.0%
- 4 bank branch closures announced since 2022 Worse: 11.8 per 100,000 people, 3.5x the typical town's 3.4
- 16 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 4.7 per 10,000 people, 2.9x the typical town's 1.6
- 1 public swimming pool open Worse: 0.3 per 10,000 people, 57% lower than the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.23pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier 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%
- 23.1% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 49% higher than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,865 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Better: 22% 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
Rustington 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.