Is March a nice place to live or is March a bit rough? For us there are a number of factors that make any town a nice place to live, like a low crime rate, low levels of deprivation, the good health of the residents, rent affordability and excellent wages. In this article we will see if March meets our criteria.
How likely are you to a victim of crime in March?
The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for March. They are a measure of how likely you are to be a victim of personal or material crime in an area, such as muggings or burglary. Naturally rural areas have less crime than urban areas, but for this part of our town assessment we've looked at the 9 wards nearest to the centre of March. To pass this section, 7 out of 9 of these wards need to be above the English national average rank of 16422.5| # | Ward | Crime Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Downham Villages | 27432 |
| 2 | Doddington & Wimblington | 25126 |
| 3 | Benwick, Coates & Eastrea | 22841 |
| 4 | March West | 20321 |
| 5 | Ramsey | 20132 |
| 6 | March East | 18108 |
| 7 | March North | 17651 |
| 8 | Elm & Christchurch | 16338 |
| 9 | Slade Lode | 13039 |
PASSED
Downham Market: from ex-cons in the flats by the train tracks to the Retreat Estate
Is March a healthy place to live?
If you are thinking of moving to March, you want to know if the place is likely to put you on a downward spiral of ill health. For this section of the town assessment, we've examined government health statistics from the 2021 Census General Health question and the Indices of Multiple Deprivation's health element.The table below shows what percentage of March residents answered saying their health was either bad or very bad. To pass this section, the local authority has to have a percentage score less than or equal to 7%.
| Local Authority | % |
|---|---|
| East Cambridgeshire | 4.14 |
| Peterborough | 5.11 |
| King's Lynn and West Norfolk | 5.93 |
| Fenland (March) | 6.38 |
The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for March. They measures the risk of premature death and the impairment of quality of life through poor physical or mental health, lovely! We've collated an average LSOA rank for 9 wards nearest to the centre of March. To pass this section, 7 out of 9 of these wards need to be above the English national average rank of 16422.5.
| # | Ward | Health Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Downham Villages (Best) | 28150 |
| 2 | Ramsey | 19696 |
| 3 | Doddington & Wimblington | 13959 |
| 4 | Benwick, Coates & Eastrea | 12553 |
| 5 | Slade Lode | 10631 |
| 6 | March West | 9747 |
| 7 | March East | 8626 |
| 8 | March North | 7642 |
| 9 | Elm & Christchurch | 7299 |
FAILED
Wisbech, knows as Wizzybekhistan by the locals
Is March rough?
Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 9 wards in and around March. In layman's terms, this is how rough the ward is based on mutiple measures of deprivation including; employment, income, health, crime, housing and outside space. To pass this section as the town assessment, 7 out of 9 wards must have a ranking higher than the English average of 16422.5
| # | Ward | Deprivation Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Doddington & Wimblington | 20637 |
| 2 | Downham Villages | 20531 |
| 3 | Ramsey | 18422 |
| 4 | Benwick, Coates & Eastrea | 14717 |
| 5 | March West | 14530 |
| 6 | Slade Lode | 12139 |
| 7 | March North | 11840 |
| 8 | March East | 11139 |
| 9 | Elm & Christchurch | 8774 |
FAILED
How affordable are the rents in March?
Every six months the Office for National statitics publishes a snapshot of rental costs. These market rental statistics are dated September 2023. We have used the median rental figure for this assessment as we believe this is a more realistic figure than the average (mean) that can be skewed by artificially low and high rents. To pass this section, March rents for each size property have to be less than 5% more than the median rent for Cambridgeshire.
| Beds | Fenland | Cambridgeshire |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | £500 | £795 |
| 2 | £650 | £850 |
| 3 | £750 | £1050 |
| 4 | £1000 | £1500 |
PASSED
How much can I earn in March per week?
If you are thinking of moving to March, you'll want to know how much you can earn in a job in the town. Every year the government publishes statistics on gross weekly pay, these figures are for September 2023. To pass this section March's local authority needs to be in first or second place compared to the three nearest local authorities.
| # | Local Authority | Median Pw |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | East Cambridgeshire | £704.40 |
| 2 | Fenland (March) | £679.00 |
| 3 | Peterborough UA | £667.70 |
| 4 | King's Lynn and West Norfolk | £650.60 |
PASSED
So, is March a nice place to live?
March has passed our core town assesment with a score of 3/5. However, March does more pockets of deprivation than the average town.YES
