Berkshire - a place for the future
People seeking properties to rent in Berkshire might be well aware of the county's substantial history. After all, it is home to the royal residence of Windsor Castle and its countryside contains monuments and features dating back into prehistory.
Of course, for anyone setting up home there, historical attractions and many other points of interest will go along way to enrich the experience. But those involved in business will wish to see compelling reasons to live there now and in the near future.
This may have been amply supplied in a new report by Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Magazine, which has praised Berkshire in its European Cities and Regions of the Future report 2012-13, which judges locations based on several criteria: Economic potential, human resources, cost effectiveness, quality of life, infrastructure and business friendliness.
FDI's study noted that the best citiy of all in Europe is London, for the third year running. That in itself may be a good reason to move to Berkshire as the proximity of the capital is an advantage, one that is set to increase when the Crossrail system provides an extra link between the county and the heart of the city, plus the modern financial district around Canary Wharf in the east of the metropolis.
But the top ten also includes the best small city (defined as a population of under 500,000) in Bristol - which is easily reached from Berkshire by the M4 motorway. And best of all, two British 'micro cities' (population under 250,000) make the top ten. One of these is Cambridge but the other, the largest settlement in Berkshire, is Reading. Indeed, the latter is regarded as the number one European micro city of the future.
This news was welcomed by Thames Valley Berkshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), which was also pleased to note that another Berkshire town, Slough, was listed the best micro city for infrastructure and third best for quality of life.
LEP chair Steve Lamb remarked: "The results support our belief here at the LEP that Berkshire is the best place to live and work and an attractive place to do business."
Those who move to the county might soon find plenty of reasons to endorse this sentiment.
