Is Mitcheldean, Gloucestershire a nice place to live?

Is Mitcheldean a nice place to live or is Mitcheldean 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 Mitcheldean meets our criteria.

How likely are you to a victim of crime in Mitcheldean?

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Mitcheldean. 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 10 wards nearest to the centre of Mitcheldean. To pass this section, 8 out of 10 of these wards need to be above the English national average rank of 16422.5

#	Ward	Crime Rank
1	Mitcheldean, Ruardean & Drybrook	30258
2	Longhope & Huntley	30172
3	Penyard	28767
4	Lydbrook	28548
5	Westbury-on-Severn	27475
6	Kerne Bridge	26778
7	Newnham	23617
8	Cinderford West	21422
9	Cinderford East	21155
10	Newent & Taynton	20918

Is Mitcheldean a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Mitcheldean, 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 Mitcheldean 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	%
Tewkesbury	3.93
Herefordshire, County of	5.25
Forest of Dean (Mitcheldean)	5.46
Monmouthshire	5.65

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Mitcheldean. 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 10 wards nearest to the centre of Mitcheldean. To pass this section, 8 out of 10 of these wards need to be above the English national average rank of 16422.5.

#	Ward	Health Rank
1	Kerne Bridge (Best)	27084
2	Longhope & Huntley	26965
3	Newent & Taynton	24270
4	Penyard	23213
5	Cinderford East	19396
6	Westbury-on-Severn	18298
7	Newnham	18149
8	Mitcheldean, Ruardean & Drybrook	18000
9	Cinderford West	17689
10	Lydbrook (Worst)	17230

Is Mitcheldean rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Mitcheldean. 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, 8 out of 10 wards must have a ranking higher than the English average of 16422.5

#	Ward	Deprivation Rank
1	Longhope & Huntley	19085
2	Newent & Taynton	17950
3	Mitcheldean, Ruardean & Drybrook	17710
4	Westbury-on-Severn	16317
5	Penyard	16087
6	Cinderford East	15167
7	Kerne Bridge	15037
8	Lydbrook	14875
9	Newnham	13868
10	Cinderford West	12896

How affordable are the rents in Mitcheldean?

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, Mitcheldean rents for each size property have to be less than 5% more than the median rent for Gloucestershire.

Beds	Forest of Dean	Gloucestershire
1	£450	£585
2	£600	£725
3	£750	£895
4	£973	£1300

How much can I earn in Mitcheldean per week?

If you are thinking of moving to Mitcheldean, 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 Mitcheldean's local authority needs to be in first or second place compared to the three nearest local authorities.

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	Forest of Dean (Mitcheldean)	£724.40
2	Monmouthshire / Sir Fynwy	£695.30
3	Tewkesbury	£651.00
4	Herefordshire UA	£616.20

So, is Mitcheldean a nice place to live?

Mitcheldean has passed our core town assesment with a score of 4/5.  However, Mitcheldean does more pockets of deprivation than the average town.

* Probably.