Our ‘top-class’ town has been called one of the UK’s best – but it’s hiding a dark secret
A SEASIDE resort named one of the best places to live in the UK is hiding a dark secret.
Folkestone was named as one of the best places to live in UK by the Sunday Times in their annual roundup.
The Kent coast town was praised for the multi-million pound regeneration which has transformed the area over recent decades.
But there is a dark side, with pockets of deprivation, crime and vandalism, reports Kent Online.
Town councillor Mary Lawes voiced concerns to the website during a recent tour of the town.
Cllr Lawes said: “You’ve seen some of the housing, some of the streets, the dirt of them. They’ve not changed, they get worse and worse and worse.
“What’s happening on the Harbour Arm, in the Creative Quarter, at the Quarterhouse, they don’t feel that’s anything to do with them.
“It doesn’t help them. It doesn’t do anything for their properties. It doesn’t help their children get on. Nothing.”
Cllr Lawes said many people living in her ward felt “abandoned” and she bemoaned what she thought to be a lack of investment
and maintenance in the streets.
Kent Online reported spots where rubbish has been fly-tipped, blocks of flats where damage has gone unfixed, and pavements and potholes are going un-repaired.
Cllr Lawes also said that many locals struggled to get a foot on the housing ladder.
She said :”They’re stuck in a rut – they can’t afford rents, they can’t afford to buy. It’s not for them any more.
“We used to have houses that the next generation would either buy or rent. Now they’re all Airbnbs. What is in it for them?
East Sussex’s market town of Wadhurst came out in first place, beating 71 other locations across the country.
The list, which named the best regions to live in the UK, was pulled together by The Sunday Times.
Judges considered a number of crucial factors including schools, transport and broadband to culture, green spaces and the health of the high street.