conron

Can someone tell me what Poole is like. I read before to stay away from it as its full of "chavs" have no idea what that is- and is not safe?
is this true? because was reading a clip today from the Telegraph.co.uk that in dec 2014, Poole came in 2nd after St.Ives (cornwell) as Britain's ideal place to live?

BEVS

As with anywhere , it will all be about what part of Poole.

Poole is the town next to Bournemouth. They really run into each other via Parkstone.

Obviously I feel Bournemouth, Poole & Christchurch is a lovely area to live in. There again I am biased, being Bournemouth born and bred.

Editha

There's part of Poole that has extremely expensive housing -- multi-millionaires row. You won't be moving there unless you win the lottery. I haven't heard about Poole having a 'chavvy' part, but I suppose it is possible.

Moses2013

I'm sure Poole has it's good parts and bad parts like anywhere. I wouldn't go by what the Telegraph publish, because at the end of the day we are all different. Before deciding on an area, I would actually look at where you get a job offer and then start investigating what you can get for your money.

brits1

Hi,

I would of thought living in or near the South East would be the best option for less rain and construction work is always happening in or near to London, Suffolk Norfolk would be a good area to look at but you would have to look at "links" to and from that part of the world, even the East Riding of Yorkshire has quite dry weather. The problem is that most of the construction industry tends to be in the "Major" cities ie London, Birmingham, Manchester are were the bigger projects it depends on what your husband occupation is within the construction industry. Swansea is a nice city but it also gets a lot of rain at times. Choose the area and then you start looking at schools as there are usually excellent schools within most areas of the U.K.

Editha

Poole and St Ives are both very fashionable places for the extremely wealthy to buy seaside houses. But, unless you have the money to buy something like this or this, not worth considering.

rebs

I live to the East of Bournemouth on the Dorset/Hampshire border and previously lived in Poole for more than 10 years. My son is currently in the 6th form at the grammar school in Poole.

I have always enjoyed living in this area - plenty to do, reasonable facilities, good transport links to other areas (including the continent), lovely coast & countryside.

Schools in Poole are a mixed bag - some great, some not so great. I think I saw a news item the other day saying that overall Poole LEA was bottom of the league tables. That's not to say that there aren't good schools in amongst that.

I don't know anything at all about the construction industry - but there certainly seems to be plenty of building works going on all around.

As others have said - check out the job situations for your particular speciality and then drive the area search from that.

Moses2013

Well Poole certainly has a lot of areas that aren't that trendy The problem with St Ives is that it's mainly people buying 2nd homes and I believe the council want to stop that. In reality most locals can no longer afford to live in St Ives, because wages in Cornwall are very low. There are far too many so called posh areas. One thing I now like about Ireland is that you can live in a nice village without paying a fortune for housing and still be close enough to a city with employment. In the South of England it's becoming extremely difficult to find affordable areas and if you do, commutes are getting longer & longer.

Editha

Yes, I was wrong to say that Poole isn't worth considering. St Ives, though, is somewhere where the locals say they have difficulty finding somewhere to live because of the holiday home market.

I don't know how much construction work there is in the South-West generally. There doesn't seem much in North Devon where I live. There seem to be more sites marked for redevelopment than are actually being built on. But that is just my perception, the reality might be different. I do know a few people in the construction industry locally, and they seem to be fully employed, though they are often travelling for work down to Exeter or Plymouth.

So, I think that for the construction industry in the West Country, Plymouth and Exeter would be worth exploring, or making sure you are within travelling distance of those cities.

Pistolpete2

If inclined towards Somerset, which could allow for a home base in say Yeovil or Taunton area, the Hinkley Point nuclear power station infrastructure contract is coming on stream fairly soon with work for ten years - largest infrastructure construction contract in Europe.

Moses2013

A nuclear power station in the year 2015 Just shows you how stupid humans really are.

Pistolpete2

Well politicians, anyway.

It gets worse, so I wouldn't bother to check the details.

Anyhoo, plenty of steady high-paying construction jobs in darkest Somerset. Lots of other support jobs too, such as in catering for the 5,000 plus construction workers.

Pistolpete2

A couple of years back we went through the exercise on here of trying to find reasonable commutable (dormitory-type (Sevenoaks was the prime example)) towns/villages with access to London and in particular The City.

The going was tough if only because in order to find decent house prices one then had to pay sky-high train fares and still near-insufferable commute times.

Unfortunately, in the intervening period, those 'commutable' towns have borne the brunt of the price increases as investors seek 'value' outside Greater London.

If I were looking up East right now, I think I would focus on the area in the Kentish Weald around Selling between Faversham and Canterbury (as far south as Charing), a little off the beaten track and therefore not an ideal commute but still with access to plenty of good schools - no comment ref access to construction. Good access to the sea at Whitstable/Tankerton and the Creek in Faversham and at Oare.

Editha

Personally, I'm in favour of nuclear power, and I don't think it is a stupid decision at all.

Moses2013

I always thought that Canterbury was a nicer town in that area and did seem more affordable than other areas, but you are right with the commute. It's been a few years since I left, but I'm shocked when I see the property prices today. Maybe it only seems expensive to me, because I'm looking what I would get for my Euros and the exchange rate is pretty bad