Booming Edinburgh is new population magnet

Scottish capital is sucking in newcomers, while English Home Counties are losing residents, according to new Europe-wide survey

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A choice of walking home to a big flat or a trek to a tiny one

Leading article: Moving on

Edinburgh has been named the most attractive city in Europe by a survey which found that more people were moving there than to anywhere else in the EU.

A survey published yesterday by the EU's Statistical Office in Luxembourg found that the area around Edinburgh had the highest "positive migration" figure in the union, while Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire were identified as losing the most residents. The survey also found that for every 1,000 residents, eastern Scotland is gaining 37 immigrants from the United Kingdom and elsewhere. The three counties in southern England, long been associated with wealth and tranquility, lost 76 per thousand.

Edinburgh City Council claimed that the booming financial sector, increased investments in neighbouring Silicon Glen industries and the thriving tourist scene, combined with the quality of life, were sucking in newcomers. Donald Anderson, the leader of Edinburgh City Council, said: "We presently have a population of 453,430 people and that is predicted to increase to 472,121 within the next 15 years. The surrounding area of Lothian, which has a population of 783,600 is also expecting a rise in numbers, to 830,595, in the same period.

"We have one of the best employment records in the country," he said. Unemployment in Edinburgh had fallen from about 17,000 in 1995 to less than 7,000 this year and there were only 12 people aged between 16 and 25 who had been out of work for more than a year.

Mr Anderson described Edinburgh as "one of the world's most beautiful cities" and said incomers were attracted the range of jobs and high standard of living.

"We don't yet have the same problems that many places in the south east England have, such a traffic congestion," he said. "We have a mixed economy of education, a higher proportion of restaurants and theatres per head of population than anywhere else, and some of the most scenic countryside on our doorstep."

Simon Fairclough, of Edinburgh Solicitors Property Centre, who used to live in the Home Counties, said there were signs that the city, where the average price of a property is £105,000, would continue to enjoy the boom. "We have had 30 years of rising property prices and there has never yet been a dip in the market."

He added: "Edinburgh's position, its architecture, the fact that it is quite small, and its city centre is focused, all add up to a good quality of life. People want to live here because there is lots of very attractive and affordable housing in the heart of the city near to restaurants and theatres, but at the same time it's very easy to get out into the hills.

"I used to live in Windsor for five years and commuted into the city, and now I live eight minutes walk away from my office. If that's not a lifestyle change for the better, what is?"

In the survey, Edinburgh and its surrounding area beat off tough competition from some of the most successful economies in mainland Europe, such as Flevoland in the Netherlands which is next on the list with a "migration balance" of plus 34. The next most popular destinatins were also in the United Kingdom: Surrey and East and West Sussex (plus 23); Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire (plus 22); inner London (plus 18); and East Anglia (plus 13).

However regions in England were also identified as the least popular, suffering the biggest drops in population migration. After Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Oxfordshire, the least popular areas in Europe were Lincolnshire (minus 37); North Yorkshire (minus 28); Northumberland, Tyne and Wear (minus 14); and Shropshire and Staffordshire (minus 11).