My Area UK

Lower Higham

Lower Higham is a village in Kent, England. It has 1 pharmacy, 4 restaurants or cafés, 3 bus stops, and Higham railway station is 0.1 km away. There were around 10 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 Lower Higham area — all from official UK open data.

On deprivation, the Gravesham area is more deprived than the average in England (IoD2025). 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
44/ 100

My Area Score

Mixed

Ranked 189th of 294 English council areas — better than 36% of them.

Home affordability41
Affordable rents36
Good schools76
Life expectancy29
Low deprivation32
Employment26
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

10°CPatchy rain nearby

  • Today: 11° / 9° · 32% rain
  • Tomorrow: 12° / 7° · Overcast

Source: WeatherAPI

Daylight

Sunrise 06:58Sunset 16:24

9h 26m of daylight today

Next bank holiday: Christmas Day, Fri 25 Dec

Source: sunrise-sunset.org · gov.uk

Air quality

38US AQI · Good

Main pollutant: fine particles (PM2.5)

Source: WAQI · Stanford-le-Hope Roadside, United Kingdom

Air pollution (PM2.5)

  • 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

Crime

13 reported · August 2026▲ 86% YoY

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

Neighbourhood team: Higham & Shorne · Kent

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

Road safety

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)

Food hygiene

46 food businesses within 2 miles

  • 42 rated 4–5 ★ (39 top)
  • 0 rated 0–2 (poor)

Source: Food Standards Agency

Flood risk

No active flood warnings nearby.

Buses & trains

  • Nearest station: Higham (0.1 km)
  • 3 bus stops within ~½ mile

Live trains from Higham (0.1 km):

Loading live departures…

Source: OpenStreetMap, National Rail

House prices

£342,498 average▲ 0.3% YoY

Across Gravesham · to 2026-08

Detached£611,046
Semi-detached£395,086
Terraced£312,316
Flat£172,575

Source: UK House Price Index (HM Land Registry)

Private rents

£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

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

Property sales

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

Fuel prices

  • Cheapest petrol: 154.9p · Esso (10.9 km)
  • Cheapest diesel: 186.9p · Esso (10.9 km)

14 stations within ~8 miles

Source: CMA fuel price scheme

EV charging

21 charging locations within ~8 km

  • 8 with rapid charging (50 kW+)
  • Fastest nearby: 350 kW
  • Nearest: Tesco Superstore-Strood (4 km)

Source: Open Charge Map

Sport & leisure

  • Swimming pools12
  • Sports pitches3

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)

Internal migration

  • 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

Deprivation

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

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%)

38 inspected 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

1,676 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

Heritage & planning

  • Within the Green Belt
  • 15 listed buildings within ~1.5 km

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

Planning decisions

137 applications decided

78.8% granted · 108 granted, 29 refused

Source: MHCLG planning statistics (PS2) · 2026 Q2

Your MP

Dr Lauren Sullivan

Labour

Gravesham

Recent votes:

  • AyeRailways Bill: Carry-over extension (Motion)
  • NoSporting Events Bill [Lords] Report: Amendment 8
  • NoSporting Events Bill [Lords] Report: Amendment 6
  • NoSporting Events Bill [Lords] Report: New Clause 1

Source: UK Parliament

Council control

Labour majority

  • Lab 22
  • Con 12
  • Ref 5

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

Amenities nearby

  • Schools1
  • GPs & clinics1
  • Pharmacies1
  • Parks & greens216
  • Restaurants & cafés5

Source: OpenStreetMap (within ~1 mile)

Local businesses

4,670 active business enterprises in the area

Source: ONS UK Business Counts (2026)

Local economy

£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

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

45% low-carbon electricity

Gas 55% · Wind 34% · Nuclear 7% · Biomass 4%

221 gCO₂/kWh · high intensity

Latest estimate for South East England · National Grid ESO

Health

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

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

Health services

4 GP surgeries · 4 pharmacies in ME3

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

Source: NHS Organisation Data Service

Local petitions

Open UK Parliament petitions most signed in Gravesham:

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

Notable places nearby

  • Higham railway station (Kent) · 0.1 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.

  • Higham, Kent · 1.3 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…

  • St Mary's Church, Higham · 1.6 km

    St Mary's Church is a redundant Anglican church in the village of Higham, Kent, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building, and is under the care of the C…

  • Hoo Junction · 1.7 km

    Hoo Junction is a rail yard on the North Kent Line, near the village of Higham, Kent and Shorne Marshes, operated by DB Cargo UK; formerly the English, Welsh and Scottish Railway. It is between Gravesend and Higham st…

  • 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…

  • Gads Hill Place · 1.8 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.

Source: Wikipedia (text under CC BY-SA)

Compare Gravesham with nearby areas

Frequently asked questions

Where is Lower Higham?
Lower Higham is a town in Kent, England, in the Gravesham local authority.
How deprived is Lower Higham?
The Gravesham local authority, which includes Lower Higham, is more deprived than the average in England on the IoD2025.