My Area UK

Higham (Gravesham)

Higham (Gravesham) is a village in Kent, England. It has one pharmacy and four restaurants and cafés, 12 bus stops, and the nearest railway station is Higham, 1.4 km away. There were around 13 recorded street crimes in June 2026, most commonly violence & sexual offences. This page gathers weather, crime, food hygiene, transport, flood risk, house prices, population, deprivation and your local MP for the Higham (Gravesham) area — all from official UK open data.

On deprivation, the Gravesham area is more deprived than the average in England (IoD2019). The wider council area has around 106,900 residents at roughly 1,080 people per km².

Council
Gravesham
County
Kent
Constituency
Gravesham
Police force
Kent
46/ 100

My Area Score

Mixed

Ranked 181st of 294 English council areas — better than 38% of them.

Home affordability41
Affordable rents37
Good schools76
Life expectancy33
Low deprivation37
Employment27
Low council tax58

A percentile blend of eight open measures (100 = best in England); bars show this area’s England-wide percentile on each. Scored on 80% of the full weighting — some data isn't available here. See the rankings · methodology

Weather

Weather temporarily unavailable.

Daylight

Sunrise 06:28Sunset 19:19

12h 51m of daylight today

Next bank holiday: Christmas Day, Fri 25 Dec

Source: sunrise-sunset.org · gov.uk

Air quality

22US AQI · Good

Main pollutant: ozone

Source: WAQI · Chatham Roadside, United Kingdom

Crime

10 reported · July 2026 37% YoY

  • Criminal damage & arson2
  • Other theft2
  • Violence & sexual offences2
  • Anti-social behaviour1

Neighbourhood team: Higham & Shorne · Kent

Local policing priorities

  • Nuisance vehicles on Park Pale.
  • Fly tipping.

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

Road safety

198 reported road collisions (2024)

54 killed or seriously injured · 269 casualties · 18.5 collisions per 10,000 residents

Source: DfT reported road collisions (STATS19)

Food hygiene

104 food businesses within 2 miles

  • 93 rated 4–5 ★ (86 top)
  • 3 rated 0–2 (poor)

Source: Food Standards Agency

Flood risk

No active flood warnings nearby.

Buses & trains

  • Nearest station: Higham (1.4 km)
  • 12 bus stops within ~½ mile

Live trains from Higham (1.4 km):

Loading live departures…

Source: OpenStreetMap, National Rail

House prices

£345,369 average 2.4% YoY

Across Gravesham · to 2026-06

Detached£615,722
Semi-detached£398,638
Terraced£315,026
Flat£173,919

Source: UK House Price Index (HM Land Registry)

Private rents

£1,331 average monthly rent 5.9% YoY

  • 1 bed £906
  • 2 bed £1,196
  • 3 bed £1,458

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

Affordability

8.9× house price to earnings

A typical home costs 8.9 times median annual pay (9.3× for cheaper homes vs lower pay).

Source: ONS house price to workplace earnings ratio · 2025

Fuel prices

  • Cheapest petrol: 157.9p · Esso (8.6 km)
  • Cheapest diesel: 184.9p · Asda (9.8 km)

23 stations within ~8 miles

Source: CMA fuel price scheme

EV charging

22 charging locations within ~8 km

  • 8 with rapid charging (50 kW+)
  • Fastest nearby: 350 kW
  • Nearest: Tesco Superstore-Strood (3.2 km)

Source: Open Charge Map

Sport & leisure

  • Swimming pools20
  • Sports pitches5

Source: OpenStreetMap (within ~1 mile)

Local news

Population

106,900 residents in Gravesham · 1,080/km²

  • Under 16: 21%
  • 16–64: 62%
  • 65+: 17%

Source: ONS Census 2021 (local authority)

Deprivation

More deprived than the average in England

Ranked 119 of 317 English local authorities (1 = most deprived)

3% of neighbourhoods are in England’s most deprived 10%

Source: English Indices of Deprivation 2019

Council tax

£2,408 a year · Band D, 2026-27

Most homes here are Band C (34% of 45,060)

A £1,605
B £1,873
C £2,141
D £2,408
E £2,943
F £3,479
G £4,014
H £4,816

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

Schools

44 schools · 21,357 pupils

27 primary · 7 secondary · 10 other

Ofsted: 14 of 15 graded schools rated Good or Outstanding (93%)

38inspected under Ofsted’s 2024+ framework (graded by area, no single overall grade)

Secondary schools:

  • Mayfield Grammar School, GravesendOutstanding
  • Meopham SchoolGood
  • Northfleet Technology CollegeGood
  • Thamesview SchoolGood
  • Gravesend Grammar School
  • Northfleet School for Girls
  • St John's Catholic Comprehensive

Source: DfE Get Information about Schools · Ofsted · Gravesham

Care & health services

1,672 CQC-registered services

  • Care homes501
  • GP practices221
  • Dentists362
  • Homecare agencies415
  • Hospitals & hospices47

CQC ratings: 87% of rated services Good or Outstanding · 25 Inadequate

Source: Care Quality Commission · Kent

Heritage & planning

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

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

Planning decisions

137 applications decided

75.9% granted · 104 granted, 33 refused

Source: MHCLG planning statistics (PS2) · 2026 Q1

Your MP

Dr Lauren Sullivan

Labour

Gravesham

Recent votes:

  • NoTerminally 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 22
  • Con 12
  • Ref 5

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

Amenities nearby

  • Schools3
  • GPs & clinics1
  • Pharmacies1
  • Parks & greens265
  • Restaurants & cafés6

Source: OpenStreetMap (within ~1 mile)

Local businesses

4,555 active business enterprises in the area

Source: ONS UK Business Counts (2025)

Local economy

£859 median full-time weekly pay

4.2% of residents aged 16–64 claim unemployment-related benefits

£24,984 disposable income per head (2024)

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

Energy efficiency

45% of homes rated EPC C or above

Most common band: D · 47,366 certificates

11.4% of households were in fuel poverty (2023)

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

Grid electricity

15% low-carbon electricity

Imports 66% · Gas 20% · Wind 14% · Hydro 1%

129 gCO₂/kWh · moderate intensity

Latest estimate for South East England · National Grid ESO

Health

Life expectancy: 83.5 yrs women · 78.7 yrs men

70% of adults overweight or obese

Source: OHID Fingertips · 2025

Wellbeing

  • Life satisfaction7.5
  • Feeling worthwhile8.1
  • Happiness yesterday7.4
  • 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 Gravesham:

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

Notable places nearby

  • Higham, Kent · 0.4 km

    Higham is a village, civil parish and electoral ward in the borough of Gravesham in Kent, England. The village lies south-east of Gravesend and just north-west of Strood, in Medway. The civil parish had a population o…

  • Gads Hill Place · 0.5 km

    Gad's Hill Place in Higham, Kent, sometimes spelt Gadshill Place and Gads Hill Place, was the country home of Charles Dickens. Today the building is the independent Gad's Hill School.

  • Gad's Hill School · 0.5 km

    Gad's Hill School in Higham, Kent, England, is an independent school for day pupils, founded in 1924. It is set in the former Gads Hill Place, the country home of Charles Dickens.

  • Great Crabbles Wood · 1.3 km

    Great Crabbles Wood is a 33-hectare (82-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest north-west of Rochester in Kent.

  • Higham railway station (Kent) · 1.4 km

    Higham railway station is in the hamlet of Lower Higham in north Kent. The village of Higham is about 1 mile (1.6 km) to the south.

  • Thames and Medway Canal · 1.7 km

    The Thames and Medway Canal is a disused canal in Kent, south east England, also known as the Gravesend and Rochester Canal. It was originally some 11 km (6.8 mi) long and cut across the neck of the Hoo peninsula, lin…

Source: Wikipedia (text under CC BY-SA)

Compare Gravesham with nearby areas

Frequently asked questions

Where is Higham (Gravesham)?
Higham (Gravesham) is a town in Kent, England, in the Gravesham local authority.
How deprived is Higham (Gravesham)?
The Gravesham local authority, which includes Higham (Gravesham), is more deprived than the average in England on the IoD2019.