Plymouth Crowned Best UK City, Major Metros Lag Behind

Plymouth, the largest city in Devon, has been named Britain's best city in a recent study by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), one of the "Big Four" accounting firms. The annual index, which assesses economic performance and quality of life, has revealed significant disparities across the UK's urban landscape.

Following Plymouth in the rankings are Bristol, the largest city in South West England, Southampton, a major port city on the south coast, and Swindon, known for its railway heritage. These cities have demonstrated improvements in various areas, including income distribution, work-life balance, and employment opportunities.

The study evaluated cities based on 12 criteria, encompassing health, income, jobs, safety, skills, work-life balance, housing, commuting times, income equality, high street environment, and business start-ups. Notably, cities in eastern England showed marked improvement, with Lincoln, home to one of Europe's finest medieval cathedrals, York, an ancient walled city, and Hull, the UK City of Culture in 2017, making significant strides in income distribution and job markets.

In contrast, some of the UK's largest metropolitan areas found themselves at the bottom of the rankings. London, the capital and largest city of the UK, Birmingham, the second-largest city, and Manchester, known for its pivotal role in the Industrial Revolution, performed poorly due to extensive social housing waiting lists. London faces the most severe challenge, with over 300,000 people awaiting council housing, followed by Manchester with 100,000, and Newcastle upon Tyne and Birmingham each with approximately 25,000 on their waiting lists.

Rachel Taylor of PwC commented on the findings:

"Raising prosperity across the UK is needed more than ever as we continue to see growing inequality in housing, jobs and education. There is an increasing imbalance within and between neighbourhoods, which is being driven by disparities in access to quality education, jobs and housing. This is felt not only across different regions, but also between people living within the same postcodes in cities."

The report underscores the urgent need for addressing these disparities, particularly in access to quality education and housing. It highlights the complex challenges facing the UK's local government system, including city councils and metropolitan boroughs, in tackling these issues.

As the new government sets its legislative agenda to boost economic growth, Carl Sizer of PwC emphasized the importance of collaboration:

"The new Government is moving at pace setting out a legislative agenda that starts to pave the way for how we are going to turn the dial on key issues holding back the UK's economic growth, such as reform of the planning regime, improving work readiness of graduates and school leavers and investment in key national infrastructure and skills. However, this is against a backdrop of a challenging fiscal environment, so successful delivery will hinge on a level of close collaboration and innovation between national, local and regional governments, businesses, academia and the third sector that has historically rarely been seen."

This comprehensive study serves as a crucial indicator of the UK's urban landscape, highlighting both progress and persistent challenges in creating equitable and prosperous cities across the nation.