Swindon has been named as one of the best places in Britain to live and work.

Consultancy firm PwC looked at health, income, jobs, safety, skills, work-life balance, housing, commuting to work times, income equality, high street shops environment and business start-ups in 51 towns and cities around the country.

These 12 criteria were then totted up into an overall score and ranked from best to worst in terms of economic performance and quality of life.

Plymouth topped the table, followed by Bristol and Southampton, with Swindon placing a respectable fourth after improving its score from last year’s index.

The rest of the top 10 included Reading, Exeter, York, Norwich, Edinburgh, and Oxford, while London, Manchester, Birmingham fell to the lower end of the list as Swansea placed last in the Demos-PwC Good Growth for Cities report’s findings.

Swindon was considered to be above average in terms of jobs, income, health, transport, environment, safety, and – perhaps surprisingly – high street and shops.

Skills, housing, income distribution, and work-life balance were considered to be average, though the amount of new businesses in the area fell below average.

The research points to an “increasing imbalance” between neighbourhoods that is fuelled by disparities in access to quality education and housing in some areas of the country, the report warned.

Rachel Taylor, of PwC, said: “Raising prosperity across the UK is needed more than ever as we continue to see growing inequality in housing, jobs and education.

“There is an increasing imbalance within and between neighbourhoods, which is being driven by disparities in access to quality education, jobs and housing.

“This is felt not only across different regions, but also between people living within the same postcodes in cities.”

The firm reports that the disparity between and within UK cities calls for targeted, place-based development strategies so that local authorities can respond to these challenges.

Carl Sizer, of PwC, added: “The new government is moving at pace-setting out a legislative agenda that starts to pave the way for how we are going to turn the dial on key issues holding back the UK’s economic growth, such as reform of the planning regime, improving work readiness of graduates and school leavers and investment in key national infrastructure and skills.

“However, this is against a backdrop of a challenging fiscal environment, so successful delivery will hinge on a level of close collaboration and innovation between national, local and regional governments, businesses, academia and the third sector that has historically rarely been seen.”