Leicester has been ranked the best place to live in central England according to the latest Demos/PwC Good Growth for Cities Index. The annual report suggests the city outranks Nottingham, Derby and Lincoln – which were each well below the UK average – when it comes to key measures of economic well-being.
Overall, Leicester was among the top-performing cities in the UK, coming 16 out of 51, behind the likes of Belfast, Bristol, Exeter, Swindon and Southampton. It was also the highest performing East Midlands city in the previous year.
While it did well in areas such as work-life balance, skills, income distribution, transport links and new businesses, it did less well when it came to things such as overall income, housing costs and, notably, the state of its high streets and shops.
Generally the report found that households across the UK are struggling with the soaring cost of living and that families are prioritising work-life balance more than in previous years.
Bradford, London (and its surrounding boroughs) and Middlesbrough and Stockton were the worst-performing areas, with Birmingham only slightly ahead of them.
Alex Hudson, a senior partner for PwC in the East Midlands, said the outlook for the region was positive.
She said: “Aligned with the government’s Levelling Up agenda, local government and employers have a part to play in providing opportunities for people to grow their businesses, careers and skills right across the region.
“That said, the report highlights some areas in which the East Midlands performs behind the UK average, including income and house prices, as well as weaker predicted economic growth.
“This should be used as a map of opportunity, showing where continued support can have a real impact on improving aspects identified by the public as priorities.
“The East Midlands will also benefit from the recently announced investment zones, where we will receive £80 million of support over five years.
“The 2022 PwC economic outlook analysis showed that the region's economic output remained around 3.3 per cent smaller than pre-pandemic levels and identified the Midlands as one of the regions with the most potential for growth.
“One of the ways we will achieve sustained improvements in our economy in the East Midlands is continued investment in automotive and aerospace, medical and agriculture technologies that will provide economic benefits and opportunities for growth.”
Leicester mayor Sir Peter Soulsby said the city’s position reflected the amount of inward investment and focus on jobs and skills in the city over the past decade or so.
He said: “In recent years we’ve seen the development of the Space Park and Waterside area of the city, with a view to nurturing specialist industry skills within the city and retain the wealth of knowledge from our university graduates.
“The huge amount of work we’ve done under the Connecting Leicester programme, the Leicester Bus Partnership and the current proposals to radically improve our railway station all help to make the city more easily accessible for both work and leisure.
“Improving a city, both in physical redevelopment and in terms of jobs and skills, is continually a work in progress but the findings of this research show Leicester offers a good balance of life, work and transport that is the best in the region.”
Elsewhere in central England, Nottingham was ranked 36th out of 50, Northampton 42 nd , Lincoln 36th and Derby 24th. Peterborough was 23 rd .
