My Area UK

Higher Folds

Higher Folds is a village in Greater Manchester, England, with a population of around 2,000. It has around 1 GP surgery, 2 pharmacies, 2 parks and greens, around 13 restaurants and cafés, 16 bus stops, and the nearest railway station is Trencherbone Platform, 2.7 km away. This page gathers weather, crime, food hygiene, transport, flood risk, house prices, population, deprivation and your local MP for the Higher Folds area — all from official UK open data.

On deprivation, the Wigan area is more deprived than the average in England (IoD2019). The wider council area has around 329,330 residents at roughly 1,750 people per km².

Council
Wigan
County
Greater Manchester
Constituency
Leigh
Police force
Greater Manchester
53/ 100

My Area Score

Good

Ranked 131st of 294 English council areas — better than 55% of them.

Low crime22
Home affordability85
Affordable rents87
Good schools86
Life expectancy17
Low deprivation30
Employment38
Low council tax93

A percentile blend of eight open measures (100 = best in England); bars show this area’s England-wide percentile on each. See the rankings · methodology

Weather

18°CLight rain shower

  • Today: 18° / 10° · 86% rain
  • Tomorrow: 20° / 14° · Overcast

Source: WeatherAPI

Daylight

Sunrise 06:36Sunset 19:35

12h 59m of daylight today

Next bank holiday: Christmas Day, Fri 25 Dec

Source: sunrise-sunset.org · gov.uk

Air quality

20US AQI · Good

Main pollutant: ozone

Source: WAQI · Glazebury, United Kingdom

Crime

No street-level crime recorded here.

Road safety

275 reported road collisions (2024)

109 killed or seriously injured · 337 casualties · 8.4 collisions per 10,000 residents

Source: DfT reported road collisions (STATS19)

Food hygiene

500+ food businesses within 2 miles

  • 323 rated 4–5 ★ (207 top)
  • 60 rated 0–2 (poor)

Source: Food Standards Agency · split of the nearest 500

Flood risk

No active flood warnings nearby.

Buses & trains

  • Nearest station: Trencherbone Platform (2.7 km)
  • 16 bus stops within ~½ mile

Live trains from Atherton (2.7 km):

Loading live departures…

Source: OpenStreetMap, National Rail

House prices

£195,557 average 6.6% YoY

Across Wigan · to 2026-06

Detached£319,223
Semi-detached£204,176
Terraced£158,418
Flat£106,731

Source: UK House Price Index (HM Land Registry)

Private rents

£745 average monthly rent 6.9% YoY

  • 1 bed £541
  • 2 bed £698
  • 3 bed £836

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

Affordability

5.9× house price to earnings

A typical home costs 5.9 times median annual pay (5.8× for cheaper homes vs lower pay).

Source: ONS house price to workplace earnings ratio · 2025

Fuel prices

  • Cheapest petrol: 151.9p · BP (3 km)
  • Cheapest diesel: 177.7p · Asda (2.9 km)

42 stations within ~8 miles

Source: CMA fuel price scheme

EV charging

39 charging locations within ~8 km

  • 14 with rapid charging (50 kW+)
  • Fastest nearby: 75 kW
  • Nearest: Leigh Infirmary (1.9 km)

Source: Open Charge Map

Sport & leisure

  • Gyms3
  • Swimming pools1
  • Sports pitches45
  • Golf courses1
  • Playgrounds10

Source: OpenStreetMap (within ~1 mile)

Population

329,330 residents in Wigan · 1,750/km²

  • Under 16: 18%
  • 16–64: 62%
  • 65+: 19%

Source: ONS Census 2021 (local authority)

Deprivation

More deprived than the average in England

Ranked 97 of 317 English local authorities (1 = most deprived)

16% of neighbourhoods are in England’s most deprived 10%

Source: English Indices of Deprivation 2019

Council tax

£2,153 a year · Band D, 2026-27

Most homes here are Band A (45% of 153,530)

A £1,435
B £1,674
C £1,913
D £2,153
E £2,631
F £3,109
G £3,588
H £4,305

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

Schools

144 schools · 48,372 pupils

99 primary · 19 secondary · 26 other

Ofsted: 51 of 53 graded schools rated Good or Outstanding (96%)

127inspected under Ofsted’s 2024+ framework (graded by area, no single overall grade)

Secondary schools:

  • Golborne High SchoolOutstanding
  • Atherton High SchoolGood
  • Bedford High SchoolGood
  • Cansfield High SchoolGood
  • Lowton Church of England High SchoolGood
  • St Peter's Catholic High SchoolGood
  • The Byrchall High SchoolGood
  • The Westleigh SchoolGood
  • Dean Trust WiganRequires improvement
  • Dean Trust Rose Bridge
  • Fred Longworth High School
  • Hawkley Hall High School
  • Outwood Academy Hindley
  • Shevington High School
  • St Edmund Arrowsmith Catholic High School, Ashton-in-Makerfield
  • St John Fisher Catholic High School
  • St Mary's Catholic High School
  • Standish Community High School
  • The Deanery Church of England High School and Sixth Form College

Source: DfE Get Information about Schools · Ofsted · Wigan

Care & health services

257 CQC-registered services

  • Care homes59
  • GP practices62
  • Dentists57
  • Homecare agencies45
  • Hospitals & hospices8

CQC ratings: 97% of rated services Good or Outstanding

Source: Care Quality Commission · Wigan

Heritage & planning

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

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

Planning decisions

173 applications decided

76.3% granted · 132 granted, 41 refused

Source: MHCLG planning statistics (PS2) · 2026 Q1

Your MP

Jo Platt

Labour (Co-op)

Leigh and Atherton

Recent votes:

  • AyeTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill: Second Reading
  • AyeClosure motion
  • NoSocial Housing Bill [Lords]: Reasoned Amendment to Second Reading
  • AyeDraft Plant Health, Seeds, Seed Potatoes and Plant Propagating Material (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2026

Source: UK Parliament

Council control

Labour majority

  • Lab 42
  • Ref 25
  • Oth 8

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

Amenities nearby

  • Schools7
  • GPs & clinics2
  • Pharmacies3
  • Supermarkets2
  • Parks & greens15
  • Restaurants & cafés19

Source: OpenStreetMap (within ~1 mile)

Local businesses

10,775 active business enterprises in the area

Source: ONS UK Business Counts (2025)

Local economy

£727 median full-time weekly pay

3.6% of residents aged 16–64 claim unemployment-related benefits

£20,587 disposable income per head (2024)

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

Energy efficiency

43% of homes rated EPC C or above

Most common band: D · 148,093 certificates

11.6% of households were in fuel poverty (2023)

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

Grid electricity

86% low-carbon electricity

Wind 50% · Nuclear 32% · Imports 10% · Gas 4%

20 gCO₂/kWh · very low intensity

Latest estimate for North West England · National Grid ESO

Health

Life expectancy: 81.9 yrs women · 77.9 yrs men

Healthy life expectancy: 55.1 women · 54.6 men

74% of adults overweight or obese

Source: OHID Fingertips · 2025

Wellbeing

  • Life satisfaction7.6
  • Feeling worthwhile7.8
  • Happiness yesterday7.3
  • Anxiety yesterday (lower is better)3.0

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

Local petitions

Open UK Parliament petitions most signed in Leigh and Atherton:

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

Notable places nearby

  • Higher Folds · 0.1 km

    Higher Folds is a housing estate to the north-east of Leigh, in the Wigan district of Greater Manchester, England. It lies about 15 miles west of Manchester. In 2018 it had an estimated population of 2,770. Shaun Keav…

  • Leigh East (ward) · 0.8 km

    Leigh East is an electoral ward in Leigh, England. It forms part of Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council, as well as the parliamentary constituency of Leigh.

  • Bedford Colliery disaster · 0.9 km

    The Bedford Colliery disaster occurred on Friday 13 August 1886 when an explosion of firedamp caused the death of 38 miners at Bedford No.2 Pit, at Bedford, Leigh in what then was Lancashire. The colliery, sunk in 188…

  • Bedford Colliery · 0.9 km

    Bedford Colliery, also known as Wood End Pit, was a coal mine on the Manchester Coalfield in Bedford, Leigh, Lancashire, England. The colliery was owned by John Speakman, who started sinking two shafts on land at Wo…

  • Gin Pit Colliery · 0.9 km

    Gin Pit was a coal mine operating on the Lancashire Coalfield from the 1840s in Tyldesley, Greater Manchester then in the historic county of Lancashire, England. It exploited the Middle Coal Measures of the Manchest…

  • Nook Colliery · 1.0 km

    Nook Colliery was a coal mine operating on the Manchester Coalfield after 1866 in Tyldesley, Greater Manchester, then in the historic county of Lancashire, England.

Source: Wikipedia (text under CC BY-SA)

Compare Wigan with nearby areas

Frequently asked questions

Where is Higher Folds?
Higher Folds is a town in Greater Manchester, England, in the Wigan local authority.
How deprived is Higher Folds?
The Wigan local authority, which includes Higher Folds, is more deprived than the average in England on the IoD2019.