Telford beats rest of Shropshire in quality of life poll

The borough has been named as the 40th best place to live in the UK, 29 places above the Shropshire Council area, which is ranked 69th.

Shropshire has in fact dropped 33 places from the last time the Quality of Life Index study was conducted a year ago.

It looks at a series of factors including salaries, working hours, life expectancy and hours of sunshine.

Telford residents strongly agree that the town is a fantastic place to live.

Mayor of Telford, Leon Murray, moved to the area from Jamaica as a youngster.

He said: "I've lived in Shropshire and Telford since the 1960s and it is a beautiful place to live. Telford is full of history, we've got the Iron Bridge, the home of the Industrial Revolution.

"As a kid in Jamaica studying English history I never thought I would come to live near to the Iron Bridge.

"The people are very friendly and house prices are very reasonable.

"At the moment I am in Stratford-upon-Avon and I was looking at a house in the estate agents and it was £470,000 and it didn't even have parking."

But people from the rest of the county say they feel the placing was not right – and have questioned the way the study was carried out.

Councillor Tim Beckett, of Market Drayton Town Council, said: "I have lived in Shropshire all my life to date and personally think it is a great place to live.

"It seems disappointing it has moved down 33 places as the county hasn't got any worse to live in. If anything, with new jobs being created it is a better place to live."

Shrewsbury Mayor Councillor Miles Kenny said: "I am very surprised to find we have fallen 33 places in the table. A lot of people come here for career progression and they never move on because it is such a lovely place."

Shrewsbury's town crier Martin Wood meets thousands of tourists. He said "Many people have commented to me about how beautiful the area is and how they would like to live here. To rank us as 69th in the table is just wrong and I would like to know where they got their evidence from. It is a load of bunkum."

Helen Ball, clerk of Shrewsbury Town Council, said: "Quality of life of an area isn't about statistics but how the people feel about living there – and there are great things that make Shropshire so special; not least the friendliness of the people, the beautiful countryside and the great community spirit that is seen across the county.

"The report, however, does underlie the difficulties in providing infrastructure across big rural counties with fast speed broadband now being seen as a crux to quality of life and we should commend Shropshire Council for its continued rollout across the county."

Pauline Dee, Shropshire councillor for Wem, said: "With the amount of people wanting to live here I am surprised Shropshire is that far down. I have lived here since 1966 and think it's phenomenal.

"I have lived in a few counties but I think Shropshire is the best place to live. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else."

The uSwitch.com study assessed 138 areas for 26 different factors including salaries; disposable household income; the cost of essential goods, such as fuel, food and energy bills; working hours; life expectancy and hours of sunshine.

The mayor of Oswestry Peter Cherrington said: "In Shropshire we have lots of older people retiring here because it is such a beautiful county and they have a lot of disposable income.

"The cost of living here, I would say, is around a quarter of what it is in London and salaries are half so I would say financially we are better off.

"With the hours of sunshine, every time I come out they say here comes the mayor of sunshine, I've been walking through the park today and it is beautiful here.

"The only reason it is hotter in London is because of all the hot air coming out of the Houses of Parliament. Cities will always be hotter than anywhere else."