Peterborough named among worst cities in UK to raise a family

Cities across the UK have been ranked on six key factors, with Peterborough dropping down a further three places on last year's figures, according to new research.

Family-friendly living

MoneySuperMarket's annual Family Living Index ranks 35 cities across the UK on six criteria to help parents find the best location to meet their family requirements.

The six factors were:

- Local school rankings

- Access to green space

- Likelihood of burglary

- House prices

- Job opportunities

- Average salary

Peterborough was named among one of the worst places for families to live, ranking at number 32 overall - a drop of three places on 2018's number 29 rank.

The drop was attributed to the fact it has the fewest ‘outstanding’ rated schools in the country.

Bristol overtook London this year to be named as the least family friendly city, with the poor result also being attributed to cases of contents theft, which have seen a rise of 33 per cent.

Despite having the highest average income and level of disposable income, London remained near the bottom of the list due to high average house prices (£478,749).

Further research also reveals that two thirds (67 per cent) of Brits believe they have seen a change to their quality of life in the last five years, with health, a change in household bills, moving homes and and increase in salary among the top contributing factors.

Desirable destinations

On the other end of the scale, Bath took the top spot for a second successive year as the best place to raise a family, thanks to a high number of job opportunities and schools rated 'outstanding' by Ofsted per capita.

Wolverhampton also ranked highly, along with Newcastle and Sunderland in the north east.

The biggest climber for 2019 was Newry in Northern Ireland jumping 10 places to rank 12th overall, due to an increase in disposable income and a high number of 'outstanding' rated schools.

Stoke, this year's most affordable place to buy a home, Chester, Leeds and Brighton also all climbed seven places in the rankings.

Tom Flack, editor-in-chief at MoneySuperMarket, said, "If you're thinking of buying a home, it's worth looking at the bigger picture and taking things such as local amenities, job opportunities and green spaces into consideration.

"If you have young children, take a look at the schools and the catchment area - many people will pick the area they live in based on this alone."

Top five family-friendly cities in the UK:

- Bath - due to an increase in income

- Wolverhampton - benefits from other locations’ declining scores

- Newcastle - has the most ‘outstanding’-rated schools per capita

- Sunderland - due to improved income metrics

- Manchester - dropped one place due to a fall in income

Top five least family-friendly cities in the UK:

- Bristol - due to a rise in contents theft rate and high house prices

- London - due to high house prices

- Leicester - due to a decrease in average income

- Peterborough - due to having the fewest ‘outstanding’-rated schools in the country

- Edinburgh - due to an increase in contents theft rate claims