HARROGATE and Knaresborough has scored top marks in a county council profile which shows all seven secondary schools in the twin towns have been rated by OFSTED as either good or outstanding.

The 100 per cent pass compares with a figure of 79.7 per cent across the country as a whole.

Of Harrogate and Knaresborough’s 30 primary schools, 90 per cent have been rated as good with just one, Starbeck Community School, assessed as inadequate.

Older people would also appear to have benefitted from better education with only 17 per cent of Harrogate and Knaresborough residents holding no qualifications at all compared with 22 per cent in the rest of England.

The average Harrogate household is also comparatively well-off, enjoying a weekly income of £858 compared with £766 elsewhere in the country. Moreover, 82 per cent of Harrogate residents have access to a private car  compared with 74 per cent in the rest of the country.

But having a bright and affluent population has its costs. The factfile produced by North Yorkshire County Council shows Harrogate to be the most unaffordable place to live in the whole of Yorkshire and Humber; while traffic congestion is identified as an issue of concern with unacceptably high levels of pollution in three key blackspots.

Fortunately, if pollution (or anything else) causes health problems, residents are well-served by Harrogate District Hospital and 21 GP surgeries. which is reassuring since the survey also highlights the fact that 16 per cent of the population have a limiting, long-term illness; and 8 per cent of Harrogate’s children are classified as “living in poverty.”

The population of Harrogate and Knaresborough now stands at 88,250 with 22.2 per cent aged 65 or over, compared with the national average of 17.9 per cent.

There are marginally fewer men living in Harrogate & Knaresborough: 48.4 per cent as against 51.6 per cent women. There is also very little ethnic diversity with 90.6 per cent of residents identifying themselves as White British.