Higham (Gravesham)

10°COvercast

• Today: 11° / 9° · 17% rain
• Tomorrow: 11° / 9° · Patchy rain nearby

Source: WeatherAPI

Sunrise 06:55Sunset 16:28

9h 33m of daylight today

Next bank holiday: Christmas Day, Fri 25 Dec

Source: sunrise-sunset.org · gov.uk

68US AQI · Moderate

Main pollutant: fine particles (PM2.5)

Source: WAQI · Chatham Roadside, United Kingdom

• 7.7 µg/m³ average fine-particle (PM2.5) concentration
• 5.8% of adult (30+) deaths estimated attributable to fine-particle pollution

Lower is better for both figures.

Source: OHID Fingertips · 2024

14 reported · August 2026▲ 56% YoY

• Violence & sexual offences5
• Criminal damage & arson4
• Anti-social behaviour1
• Burglary1

8 stop & searches · mostly controlled drugs

Neighbourhood team: Higham & Shorne · Kent

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

173 reported road collisions (2025)

40 killed or seriously injured · 227 casualties · 16.2 collisions per 10,000 residents

Source: DfT reported road collisions (STATS19)

101 food businesses within 2 miles

• 93 rated 4–5 ★ (84 top)
• 3 rated 0–2 (poor)

Source: Food Standards Agency

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

Source: OpenStreetMap, National Rail

£342,498 average▲ 0.3% YoY

Across Gravesham · to 2026-08

Source: UK House Price Index (HM Land Registry)

£1,336 average monthly rent▲ 5.3% YoY

• 1 bed £910
• 2 bed £1,201
• 3 bed £1,465

Source: ONS Price Index of Private Rents · to 2026-08

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

1,124 property sales in the last 12 months

12 months to May 2026

A busier or quieter market is not by itself good or bad. Monthly counts are small and volatile, so only the annual total is shown.

Source: HM Land Registry UK HPI, 12 months to 2026-05

• Cheapest petrol: 157.9p · Esso (8.6 km)
• Cheapest diesel: 189.9p · Esso (3.7 km)

13 stations within ~8 miles

Source: CMA fuel price scheme

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

• Swimming pools20
• Sports pitches5

Source: OpenStreetMap (within ~1 mile)

• Gravesend Borough Market leasehold opportunity· 21 Oct 2026
• Harbourside contamination statement· 19 Oct 2026
• Greener gateway completed at Gravesend Station· 1 Oct 2026
• There's no place like The Woodville this Christmas as The Wizard of Oz follows the yellow brick road to Gravesend· 23 Sept 2026
• More projects receive Pride in Place funding· 15 Sept 2026

Source: Gravesham Council

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

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

Source: ONS Census 2021 (local authority)

• Moves in from elsewhere in the UK7,056
• Moves out to elsewhere in the UK7,424
• Net moves−368

Residential moves between local authorities (counts of moves, not people) · ONS Internal migration, YE Jun 2025

More deprived than the average in England

Ranked 94 of 296 English local authorities (1 = most deprived)

9% of neighbourhoods are in England’s most deprived 10%

Source: English Indices of Deprivation 2025

£2,408 a year · Band D, 2026-27

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

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

44 schools · 21,357 pupils

27 primary · 7 secondary · 10 other

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

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

Source: DfE Get Information about Schools · Ofsted · Gravesham

1,676 CQC-registered services

• Care homes503
• GP practices222
• Dentists360
• Homecare agencies415
• Hospitals & hospices47

CQC ratings: 87% of rated services Good or Outstanding · 20 Inadequate

Source: Care Quality Commission · Kent

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

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

137 applications decided

78.8% granted · 108 granted, 29 refused

Source: MHCLG planning statistics (PS2) · 2026 Q2

Dr Lauren Sullivan

Labour

Gravesham

Source: UK Parliament

Labour majority

• Lab 22
• Con 12
• Ref 5

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

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

Source: OpenStreetMap (within ~1 mile)

4,670 active business enterprises in the area

Source: ONS UK Business Counts (2026)

£859 median full-time weekly pay

4.3% 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

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

55% low-carbon electricity

Wind 44% · Gas 31% · Imports 14% · Nuclear 8%

145 gCO₂/kWh · moderate intensity

Latest estimate for South East England · National Grid ESO

Life expectancy: 83.5 yrs women · 78.7 yrs men

Healthy life expectancy (Kent): 63.9 women · 62.5 men

70% of adults overweight or obese

Source: OHID Fingertips · 2025

• 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

4 GP surgeries · 4 pharmacies in ME3

• The Elms Medical Centre
• Highparks Medical Practice
• St. Werburgh Med.Practice

Source: NHS Organisation Data Service

Open UK Parliament petitions most signed in Gravesham:

• Mandatory suicide risk assessment for adolescents in hospital who express intent260 local signatures · 18,972 nationwide
• Remove sentence reductions for guilty pleas in controlling and coercive cases228 local signatures · 105,832 nationwide
• Stop a single Minister having the final say on national infrastructure projects223 local signatures · 15,667 nationwide
• Protect legal right to support for children with SEND215 local signatures · 111,357 nationwide
• Make catapult attacks against animals a standalone criminal offence193 local signatures · 55,084 nationwide

Source: petition.parliament.uk · as of 2026-10-05

• 
  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)