Solihull has been named one of the country’s top areas for growing affluence, according to Lambert Smith Hampton’s (LSH) UK Vitality Index.
The national commercial property consultancy’s fifth annual report ranks Solihull in sixth place – behind Poole, Colchester, Bournemouth, Maidstone and Chelmsford – up from 15th last year in the Vitality Index rankings for growing affluence. This combines house price growth, wage growth and socio-economic demographic data.
The report also puts Dudley back in the top ten Greenest index – up from 25th last year and ninth in 2016 – which focuses on UK towns’ and cities’ environment and sustainability performance, including household recycling, energy consumption and CO2 emissions per capita.
Warwick features in the top 10 of two of the LSH Vitality Index categories. It is joint second with Oxford – behind Cambridge – in the Most Highly educated category, which reflects the level of educational attainment of residents and incorporates exam results, proportion of residents with a degree level or above and the presence of a university, scored by its position in the national league tables.
Warwick is also placed third, behind St Albans and Windsor and Maidenhead, in the Most Entrepreneurial index, which measures which towns and cities are the most supportive business environments, including metrics on business density and new enterprises.
For the third successive year, Cambridge has been the top-ranked UK location. This is due to strong growth in the local economy and property market and its university status and ability to attract inward investment and students to the area. Improvements are also being made to its transport infrastructure, with the new Cambridge North railway station, close to the Science Park, opening in May last year. There is also a proposal for an underground and light rail service.
The LSH Vitality Index assesses the UK’s 66 largest towns and cities outside London to identify which are best positioned for growth and provide the greatest opportunities for businesses expansion.
The results are based on the analysis of 20 datasets, with each location ranked within six separate sub-indices: most productive, fastest growing, most entrepreneurial, best educated, greenest and rising affluence.
Overall, the top 10 towns and cities in the UK Vitality Index 2018 are:
1. Cambridge
2. Oxford
3. Manchester
4. Brighton & Hove
5. Edinburgh
6. Guildford
7. Bristol
8. Reading
9. Milton Keynes
10. St Albans
Adam Ramshaw, regional director LSH Birmingham and East Midlands, said: “The Vitality Index shows that the West Midlands is a great and vibrant place for ambitious businesses and it’s especially satisfying to see Solihull appear in the top ten for the first time in the Affluence index and Dudley back in the top ten Greenest index.”