Selby offers a considerably better quality of life than York.
That’s the finding of an annual survey looking for the best places to live in Britain.
The Halifax Quality of Life survey looks at how local authority areas compare, and takes into consideration 26 different factors that home buyers may consider when choosing a place to live.
And Selby has stormed the top ten, coming in as Yorkshire’s highest-rated location at number six – one ahead of nearby Hambleton.
York, meanwhile, only just scraped into the top 50 – the city was placed at 48.
Only four in the North
East Hertfordshire has been crowned the UK’s best place to live, based on the survey factors which include employment, earnings, housing affordability, health and wellbeing, education, traffic and crime rates.
Selby (6th), Hambleton (7th), Ryedale (11th) and York (48th) – all in Yorkshire of course – are the only places in the North of England to make the top 50.
Just two London areas make the top 100, Richmond upon Thames (placed at 64) and Kensington and Chelsea (79th). And Wales’s highest placing is the Vale of Glamorgan at 126th.
MD of Halifax Russell Galley said:
- Everyone has different priorities when it comes to choosing a place to live, depending on time of life, and personal circumstances.
Affordability will always be one of the most important factors, with getting a foot on the property ladder still difficult for some people.
The top 50
1. East Hertfordshire, East of England
2. Fareham, South East
3. Hart, South East
4. Horsham, South East
5. Maldon, East of England
6. Selby, Yorkshire and the Humber
7. Hambleton, Yorkshire and the Humber
8. Babergh, East of England
9. St Edmundsbury, East of England
10. Wokingham, South East
11. Ryedale, Yorkshire and the Humber
12. South Derbyshire, East Midlands
13. South Cambridgeshire, East of England
14. Tonbridge and Malling, South East
15. Rugby, West Midlands
16. Runnymede, South East
17. Wychavon, West Midlands
18. Orkney, Scotland
19. Woking, South East
20. Warwick, West Midlands
21. South Oxfordshire, South East
22. Rushcliffe, East Midlands
23. Huntingdonshire, East of England
24. Newark and Sherwood, East Midlands
25. Rushmoor, South East
26. Forest Heath, East of England
27. Elmbridge, South East
28. Wiltshire, South West
29. Gedling, East Midlands
30. North Dorset, South West
31. Rutland, East Midlands
32. Tewkesbury, South West
33. Rochford, East of England
34. Winchester, South East
35. Bracknell Forest, South East
36. Cherwell, South East
37. Central Bedfordshire, East of England
38. Charnwood, East Midlands
39. Forest of Dean, South West
40. Vale of White Horse, South East
41. West Berkshire, South East
42. New Forest, South East
43. North Warwickshire, West Midlands
44. Guildford, South East
45. Swindon, South West
46. Lichfield, West Midlands
47. Suffolk Coastal, East of England
48. York, Yorkshire and the Humber
49. Basingstoke and Deane, South East
50. Erewash, East Midlands