Ridgewell

19°CPatchy rain nearby

• Today: 22° / 17° · 73% rain
• Tomorrow: 25° / 16° · Patchy rain nearby

Source: WeatherAPI

Sunrise 06:27Sunset 19:19

12h 52m of daylight today

Next bank holiday: Christmas Day, Fri 25 Dec

Source: sunrise-sunset.org · gov.uk

14US AQI · Good

Main pollutant: ozone

Source: WAQI · Southend-on-Sea, United Kingdom

1 reported · July 2026▼ 67% YoY

• Violence & sexual offences1

Neighbourhood team: Halstead North · Essex

Source: data.police.uk (within ~1 mile)

235 reported road collisions (2024)

67 killed or seriously injured · 294 casualties · 15.1 collisions per 10,000 residents

Source: DfT reported road collisions (STATS19)

8 food businesses within 2 miles

• 8 rated 4–5 ★ (8 top)
• 0 rated 0–2 (poor)

Source: Food Standards Agency

• Nearest station: Castle Hedingham (6.0 km)
• 0 bus stops within ~½ mile

Source: OpenStreetMap, National Rail

£330,637 average▲ 2% YoY

Across Braintree · to 2026-06

Source: UK House Price Index (HM Land Registry)

£1,217 average monthly rent▲ 2.8% YoY

• 1 bed £853
• 2 bed £1,103
• 3 bed £1,359

Source: ONS Price Index of Private Rents · to 2026-07

9.2× house price to earnings

A typical home costs 9.2 times median annual pay (10.0× for cheaper homes vs lower pay).

Source: ONS house price to workplace earnings ratio · 2025

• Cheapest petrol: 169.9p · Esso (6.6 km)
• Cheapest diesel: 191.9p · Esso (6.6 km)

2 stations within ~8 miles

Source: CMA fuel price scheme

3 charging locations within ~8 km

• 1 with rapid charging (50 kW+)
• Fastest nearby: 50 kW
• Nearest: Haverhill Arts Centre Car Park, Haverhill (7.7 km)

Source: Open Charge Map

• Sports pitches1
• Playgrounds2

Source: OpenStreetMap (within ~1 mile)

• Braintree District Council supports Recycle Week 2026 and calls residents to rescue their recyclables· 11 Sept 2026
• Braintree District Council Leader Cllr Tom Cunningham’s open letter to Essex County Council Leader Cllr Peter Harris on Operation Vanguard and Wethersfield Asylum Accommodation Centre· 11 Sept 2026
• Braintree Town Hall to host inspiring wedding fayre this September· 11 Sept 2026
• New community centre completed in Witham· 8 Sept 2026
• Man prosecuted for operating as a scrap metal dealer without a licence· 4 Sept 2026

Source: Braintree Council

155,270 residents in Braintree · 254/km²

• Under 16: 18%
• 16–64: 61%
• 65+: 20%

Source: ONS Census 2021 (local authority)

Less deprived than the average in England

Ranked 203 of 317 English local authorities (1 = most deprived)

Source: English Indices of Deprivation 2019

£2,280 a year · Band D, 2026-27

Most homes here are Band C (29% of 71,120)

Source: VOA council-tax stock · MHCLG band levels 2026-27

68 schools · 21,326 pupils

52 primary · 8 secondary · 8 other

Ofsted: 30 of 33 graded schools rated Good or Outstanding (91%)

63inspected under Ofsted’s 2024+ framework (graded by area, no single overall grade)

Source: DfE Get Information about Schools · Ofsted · Braintree

1,571 CQC-registered services

• Care homes407
• GP practices230
• Dentists309
• Homecare agencies475
• Hospitals & hospices39

CQC ratings: 87% of rated services Good or Outstanding · 17 Inadequate

Source: Care Quality Commission · Essex

• Not in the Green Belt
• 51 listed buildings within ~1.5 km

Source: planning.data.gov.uk (England)

215 applications decided

85.6% granted · 184 granted, 31 refused

Source: MHCLG planning statistics (PS2) · 2026 Q1

Sir James Cleverly

Conservative

Braintree

Source: UK Parliament

Conservative majority

• Lab 9
• Con 25
• Grn 4
• Ref 1
• Oth 10

Source: Open Council Data UK (CC BY-SA)

• Schools1

Source: OpenStreetMap (within ~1 mile)

7,490 active business enterprises in the area

Source: ONS UK Business Counts (2025)

£826 median full-time weekly pay

2.7% of residents aged 16–64 claim unemployment-related benefits

£26,019 disposable income per head (2024)

Source: ONS / Nomis (claimant count · ASHE) · ONS regional GDHI

48% of homes rated EPC C or above

Most common band: D · 68,719 certificates

10.1% of households were in fuel poverty (2023)

Source: MHCLG EPC statistics · DESNZ sub-regional fuel poverty

56% low-carbon electricity

Gas 42% · Nuclear 23% · Solar 23% · Biomass 6%

173 gCO₂/kWh · high intensity

Latest estimate for East England · National Grid ESO

Life expectancy: 83.9 yrs women · 80.5 yrs men

75% of adults overweight or obese

Source: OHID Fingertips · 2025

• Life satisfaction7.3
• Feeling worthwhile7.7
• Happiness yesterday7.6
• Anxiety yesterday (lower is better)3.1

Average rating out of 10 · ONS personal well-being 2022-23

Open UK Parliament petitions most signed in Braintree:

• Ban anyone convicted of terrorism offences from standing for public office462 local signatures · 205,058 nationwide
• Make a public animal abuser register & automatically ban ownership441 local signatures · 242,705 nationwide
• Review the evidence and fund the addition of SMA to the Newborn Screening Test428 local signatures · 151,287 nationwide
• Do not ban social media for under 16s329 local signatures · 217,501 nationwide
• Change surrogacy law to recognise intended parents from birth295 local signatures · 112,809 nationwide

Source: petition.parliament.uk · as of 2026-08-06

• 
  Ridgewell · 0.4 km

  Ridgewell is a village and civil parish in the Braintree district of Essex, England, about six miles from Haverhill on the main road between Haverhill and Braintree. At the 2021 census the parish had a population of 573.

• 
  RAF Ridgewell · 0.7 km

  Royal Air Force Ridgewell or more simply RAF Ridgewell is a former Royal Air Force station located at Ridgewell, 7.5 miles (12.1 km) north west of Halstead, Essex, England.

• 
  Ashen, Essex · 1.7 km

  Ashen is a village and civil parish in Essex, England. It is located about 8 km (5.0 mi) east-southeast of Haverhill and is 36 km (22 mi) north from the county town of Chelmsford. The village lies to the south of the…

• Whitley railway station · 1.7 km

  Whitley railway station was a temporary station on the former Colne Valley and Halstead Railway, three-quarters of a mile (1.2 km) to the east of the village of Birdbrook, Essex. It opened in 1862 and closed in Octobe…

• 
  Baythorne End · 2.2 km

  Baythorne End is a hamlet in the English county of Essex, England. It is located directly on the border with Suffolk. The hamlet is within the civil parish of Birdbrook and forms a part of the Braintree parliamentary…

• 
  Stoke College · 2.3 km

  Stoke College in Stoke-by-Clare, near Clare, Suffolk, England, was a co-educational day school for children aged 11 to 18, with boarding for children aged 11 to 18. It was built on the site of a major medieval monasti…

Source: Wikipedia (text under CC BY-SA)