Channel Four Best and Worst Places to Live 2006 cont.

Thursday this week saw a return of the Best & Worst Places to Live in the UK for 2006 on Channel Four. As promised, following on from yesterday’s mention of Phil & Sofie’s (this year) 10 Worst places to call home I have detailed Phil and Sofie’s verdicts on the ten Best places to live in the UK.

Contrary to my prediction of a home counties postcode sweeping the board, as it turns out Winchester came out on top, so it seems anyone whose anyone is/should be enjoying ‘vibrant’ living in Winchester these days???!!!

I do have to say that the program provides a cursory look at the UK property map as well as a ‘To Do List’ for the government in addressing some of UK society’s most pressing issues. The top 10 may have ticked all the boxes for a next to perfect life but they are not a realistic representation of where majority of people can afford to buy or may even wish to live, perhaps a next best alternative to each of the places listed would have made for a much more informative and helpful program, wouldn’t you agree?

The Top 10 Best Places to Live results:
1 Winchester                   A perfect blend of heritage and vibrant modern living.
2 Horsham                      Close to both the south coast and London.
3 Tunbridge Wells            Its residents clearly aren’t disgusted any more.
4 Harrogate                     Elegant living in the centre of the UK.
5 South Cambridgeshire   Fast growing country villages.
6 Orkney                         Escape the rat race in the rugged far north.
7 East Hertfordshire         A country-town feel close to London.
8 Epsom and Ewell           Was last year’s number one, but isn’t cheap.
9 Eastleigh                      Ugly, but with great employment prospects.
10 West Dorset               The picturesque rural and coastal district.

The Top 10 Worst Places to Live results as mentioned previously:
1 Hackney, East London                 High crime, bad education - our worst place to live.
2 Tower Hamlets, East London        The second most deprived borough in the UK.
3 Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales         Slowly improving since the steel industry died.
4 Newham, East London                 New hope has come in the form of the Olympics.
5 Islington, North London               Super rich lies next to super poor.
6 Middlesbrough, North East           The city’s dilapidated old housing lies empty.
7 City of Nottingham, East Midlands-Crime is down but it’s still burglary capital of Britain.
8 Strabane, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland 
                                                  The troubles still go on, but things are improving.
9 Blaenau Gwent, South Wales      Unemployment is rife since the steelworks closed.
10 Manchester, North West           Lots of investment but still not a nice place to live.

The study conducted by ICM interviewed 837 people across the UK from 18 to 65 and asked them to prioritise the what criteria would be most important to them if they were to consider moving home. The top 5 criteria were applied to each of the 434 UK local authorities:

1. Crime - total number of victim crimes expressed as a percentage of the population of each local authority.
2. Environment - local authority review on 5 factors: sunshine hours, rainfall volume, access to parks and open spaces, life expectancy and carbon emissions.
3. Lifestyle - measured the lifestyle each local authority offered in terms of access to culture and leisure, number of retail outlets, number of bars, cafes, restaurants, places of accommodation and sporting facilities.
4. Education - measured and compared the percentage of 15 year olds in each local authority achieving five or more GCSEs (or equivalent) at grades A*-C* in only LEA-maintained state schools, directly affecting catchment areas property prices.
5. Employment - We took figures for the percentage of economically active people in 2004-2005. ‘Economically active’ people are those that are in employment or who are fit to work and actively seeking employment. The category does not include those who are retired, on incapacity benefit, full time students (unless they have part-time jobs) or those who choose not to work (such as stay-at-home mothers).

The basis of property price commentary featured in Channel 4’s “Best & Worst Places to Live” and “Kirstie & Phil’s Where Best to Invest” is provided by Propertyforecasts.co.uk

If you missed the program or would like to rewatch a certain place again use the links below: 
Channel Four Best Places to Live 2006
Channel Four Worst Places to Live 2006