North-south divide - Does the north really have it so bad?

Recent surveys have continued to highlight the growth in the north-south divide, and the supposed 'rough-ride' that people living in the north suffer compared to their southern counterparts. However, a new report, compiled by marketing and business intelligence company EuroDirect, shows that when it comes to Council Tax, northerners are much better off!

EuroDirect's CAMEO Property system helps rank areas in the UK by the average amount of Council Tax paid per year. The bottom 20 areas, all paying less than £914 per year are all located in the north.

Looking at those who pay least, Newport heads the table with the average yearly Council Tax bill standing at only £795.77. In second position is Swansea with an average bill of £816.62 per year, and Motherwell is placed third paying £818.75. Alongside Swansea and Motherwell, Wales, Scotland and the largest northern cities feature prominently in the top 20 with a total of twelve regions placed including Manchester, Leeds, Hull, Cardiff, Kirkwall and Wick, and Kilmarnock; all paying below £900 per year.

20 Lowest Council Tax Areas (Positions ranked from lowest to highest council tax):

Position	Region	Post Area	Average Council Tax Bill Per Year (£)
1	Newport	NP	795.77
2	Swansea	SA	816.62
3	Motherwell	ML	818.75
4	Llandudno	LL	824.94
5	Cardiff	CF	831.70
6	Wakefield	WF	847.15
7	Kirkwall and Wick	KW	855.54
8	Sunderland	SR	862.42
9	Tweed (Galashiels)	TD	862.88
10	Kilmarnock	KA	874.31
11	Dundee	DD	876.80
12	Hebrides	HS	881.40
13	Kirkcaldy	KY	883.61
14	Bradford	BD	886.30
15	Manchester	M	889.25
16	Falkirk	FK	889.86
17	Llandrindod Wells	LD	892.55
18	Leeds	LS	897.58
19	Hull	HU	912.61
20	Wigan	WN	913.61

At the other end of the scale southern regions pay the highest Council Tax rates. Kingston-Upon-Thames features at the end of the report, with households paying an average of £1,455.97 per year in Council Tax. Second to this is Twickenham with an average bill of £1,405.45, and Harrow is placed third from the bottom paying £1,390.12. Of these 20 regions only one, Harrogate, is in the north of the country with an average Council Tax payment of £1,234.16.

There is a staggering difference 55% different between the lowest and highest paying regions, which equates to a saving of up to £660 in the yearly Council Tax bills for every household in the lowest paying areas.

20 Highest Council Tax Areas (Positions ranked from lowest to highest council tax):

Position	Region	Post Area	Average Council Tax Bill Per Year (£)
101	Harrogate	HG	1234.16
102	Slough	SL	1235.13
103	Oxford	OX	1236.26
104	Reading	RG	1240.68
105	Croydon	CR	1244.50
106	London, North West	NW	1256.03
107	Sutton	SM	1257.93
108	Chelmsford	CM	1259.99
109	London, North	N	1261.51
110	Enfield	EN	1261.79
111	Tonbridge	TN	1262.84
112	London, West Central	WC	1265.73
113	Hemel Hempstead	HP	1286.57
114	Redhill	RH	1303.21
115	Watford	WD	1318.79
116	Guildford	GU	1334.49
117	St. Albans	AL	1346.47
118	Harrow	HA	1390.12
119	Twickenham	TW	1405.45
120	Kingston-Upon-Thames	KT	1455.97

The most recent north-south study from Sheffield University highlighted the growing divide and the raw deal northerners face:

Poverty is generally higher further away from the south-east
The south has a higher graduate population
There are higher rates of long-term illness in the north and Wales compared to the south-east

But as the EuroDirect's CAMEO Property system reveals, people in the north do have something to be happy about.

The report has been compiled from EuroDirect's CAMEO Property Classification system that is used for customer and market analysis in direct marketing and network planning

Further details from the full report are available on request.

John Dobson, Managing Director of EuroDirect, who happily resides in Leeds, one of the most exciting and fastest growing cities in the UK says:
"There are so many stories about it being 'grim' up north, but EuroDirect's CAMEO Property system proves that the real standard of living, taking more than earnings and property price into account is very good in many areas of the North. "

ENDS

Notes to Editors

About the Callcredit Information Group
Callcredit Information Group (www.callcreditgroup.com) brings together experts across the fields of credit referencing, marketing services, interactive solutions and consultative analytics to enable our client base of businesses and consumers to make informed decisions using our innovative products and services. The group is made up of two complementary divisions:

Marketing Solutions, providing specialist knowledge in customer analytics, consumer targeting, database building and hosting, marketing communications, business modelling and market analysis through three market leaders in their own fields: EuroDirect, Broadsystem and GMAP Consulting.

Credit Solutions, encompassing Callcredit, Legatio and DecisionMetrics - specialists in credit risk, ID verification services and tracing tools.

About EuroDirect
EuroDirect (www.eurodirect.com), the marketing services business within Callcredit information group and is one of the UK's leading marketing suppliersThe company is well established in the field of direct marketing. Clients include over 40% of the UK's top 1,000 companies, including three of the top five largest multi nationals Examples are Npower, Airmiles, Capital One, Scottish and Southern, Barclaycard and HBOS. EuroDirect is a prime supplier of consumer data, targeting and segmentation systems, credit marketing services and software and technologies to help marketers undertake consumer profiling, analysis, targeting, data management, market analysis and decision support. EuroDirect also works internationally and has developed a suite of international segmentation tools under the CAMEO brand.