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South East dominates ‘best places to work’ report – but Bristol makes Top 10 in Economy league table
The South East has once again dominated an annual report that seeks to identify the best places in the UK to live and work.
The health assessment of the UK’s largest towns and cities from property consultancy Lambert Smith Hampton saw the Berkshire borough of Windsor & Maidenhead return to the top of the Vitality Index, with neighbour Reading in seventh place.
Windsor & Maidenhead secured its status via high rankings across six of the pillar’s seven metrics including a first-place ranking for Economy and Business – which is measured by wage growth, workforce jobs growth in specific sectors, new enterprises and business density, GVA per capita, GVA growth and forecast and commercial property investment volume per capita – and second place for Health and Environment after Woking.
Jennifer Lamb, associate director in LSH’s Maidenhead office, said: “It’s great to see Windsor & Maidenhead at the top of this year’s Vitality Index, and to see it performing so well in terms of business and the economy, underlining the borough’s growing appeal among employers and office occupiers.
“The new developments of Tempo and One Maidenhead have brought both new workers and residents to Maidenhead, while new retailers moving into Windsor Yards has reinforced the town’s status as a top shopping destination.”
This year’s top ten was once again heavily biased towards locations in the South East, with eight of this year’s top locations located within the UK’s southernmost regions.
The top five are all located near London, with their success, said the authors, reflecting the strength of London’s economic influence.
“Regions including the South-West, East, Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber, North-East, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland are conspicuous by their absence and point towards a stubborn north/south divide that appears difficult to eradicate,” they note.
However, several locations in the South West saw notable improvements in their respective rankings since last year, including Bristol which climbed 15 places to 19th.
The city also came 10th in the Economy and Business Index, achieving the maximum score for investment into commercial property.
Meanwhile, Bath hung on to its Top 10 in the Living index, which incorporates house price growth, GCSE results, NVQ4+ attainment, households in specific MOSAIC categories, comparison goods retail spend and retail vacancy rate – but dropped eight places to 10th position.
It achieved strong scores for NVQ level 4+ and its retail vacancy rate, but fell back on house price growth.
Dr Steven Norris, head of planning, regeneration and infrastructure at LSH noted: “The dominance of South East locations in the top tier for vitality has been a consistent theme since we launched the index in 2013. But the paucity of representation from other parts of the country continues to underline the clear inequalities in health and wealth evident across the country.
“On a positive note, many of the UK’s urban locations witnessed improvements across a host of indicators over the last year and there appears to be a political will to effect change.
“In its mission to deliver a growth agenda, the new government is prioritising the urgent need to address these disparities and deliver opportunities for prosperity.
“Only time will tell whether devolution and other initiatives will help address the longstanding economic underperformance of places outside of London and the South East.”
Image by Peter Reed published under Creative Commons licence
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