Salisbury named in the top 10 places to live in the UK

Salisbury has ranked in the top 10 places to live in the UK for 2022, largely because of the city’s green credentials.

Salisbury has been ranked as the third best place to live in the UK in the annual league table compiled by Britain’s largest independent buying agent Garrington Property Finders.

The table ranks nearly 1400 cities, towns and villages across England
and Wales according to four criteria – natural beauty, architectural beauty, quality of life and environmental credentials.

The city scores the highest in the new ‘going green’ category, coming 18th out of 1372 settlements. This category scored areas on how many energy-efficient homes and cycle lanes they have, as well as the availability of public charging points for Electric Vehicles (EVs).

The ‘going green’ category is new for 2022, and its addition has certainly shaken up the rankings. Just six of last year’s top 20 made it into the class of 2022, with Salisbury rising from 129th place in 2020 to 3rd in 2022.

A Garrington spokesperson said, “With pure EV sales surging by 196.3% between February 2021 and the same month this year, having somewhere to charge them is now a key consideration for increasing numbers of homebuyers.”

Next, Salisbury scored 186 for natural beauty, 413 for quality of life and 107 for architectural beauty.

Wiltshire and Lancashire are the best-represented counties in the league table, each claiming three of the top 20 spots. In Wiltshire, Salisbury, Wilton and Malmesbury made it into the top 20.

The report reads, “In a similar vein to last year, small market towns dominate the listings.

“Just three locations are home to more than 20,000 households. Only Lyme Regis and Wilton featured in the 2020 top 10, Salisbury and Hadleigh in no small part making the top ten in 2021 due to their green credentials.”

Garrington’s interactive league table is available to view here.

Do you agree with the report’s findings? Send us your opinion at hello@lovesalisbury.co.uk.