Now in its fifth year, the Family Hotspots Report takes into consideration 71 sets of data under the categories of education, property, safety, childcare, amenities and population.
The survey by The Mutual One family compiled a list of the top 20 postcodes in England and Wales to raise children and Bury Bl8 comes in at number seventeen in a list that also includes other Lancashire towns Clitheroe Longridge and Burscough and Middlewich in Cheshire.
Vying with various places in Devon and Oxfordshire, the top post code is in Wokingham which is just 33 miles west of central London and has a high average salary (£27,362) and very low crime rates.
This year’s report has a more even countrywide spread across the top 20 locations than last year which saw postcodes in the North dominating. In 2014, there were no postcodes at all from the South West but this year’s Top 20 Hotspots includes a number of postcodes in the South West and an increase of those in the North West.
The most notable movement in the list this year is an increase in the number of postcodes in Devon with four towns appearing for the
first time. With its dramatic cliffs to the north and Jurassic coast in the south, Devon has easy access to a number of larger towns for commuting. And with house prices rising more slowly than in other parts of the country, locations in Devon postcodes are scoring as some of the most desirable in England and Wales.
This is what the report said about Bury
“On the banks of the River Irwell in Greater Manchester is the market town of Bury. Located on the edge of the West Pennines, access to Leeds, Preston and Liverpool
is under an hour via motorway. The Manchester Metrolink tram enables easy and convenient access to Manchester.
This proximity to towns with higher employment opportunities mean that
the average annual salary is relatively
high at £21,684 compared to the price
of a two bed property at £115,044. With crime rates below average at 0.13%, it’s fitting that a monument to one of Bury’s most famous residents, Sir Robert Peel, former Prime Minister and founder of
the Metropolitan Police, stands outside the parish church. Recent investment
has seen the development of a network
of characterful, independent shopping
at the Rock along with the famous Bury market, renowned for its black pudding. The education infrastructure is solid across all age ranges, with a variety of ‘good’ and ‘outstanding’ early years childcare settings and Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 4 results consistently above the national average.”
