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A SURVEY has confirmed that Cotswold residents are among the richest in Britain.

The study, by Savill's estate agents and auctioneers, placed Chipping Campden 18th in the list of Britain's 50 wealthiest towns because of its average house price of £431,801.

Stow was 33rd with £335,434, Moreton 42nd with £321,198 and Winchcombe 48th with £313,385.

James Hayman-Joyce, senior partner at Hayman-Joyce estate agents, said Cotswold house prices had been rising for about 10 years because the area has beautiful countryside, picturesque villages and is only 80 miles from London.

He said: "A lot of people from London come here, so we have a lot of wealthy people living in the Cotswolds.

"Probably five to 10 per cent of the sales we make each year are to people who have two homes, whether it's a holiday cottage or a principal home.

"If, perhaps, 40 years ago the government had banned people from owning second homes we would have had a lot of derelict homes in these villages.

"What these people do is spend a lot of money employing builders and tradesmen who do them up."

He added that prices of period Cotswold homes were holding steady but those of more modern properties had fallen by five to 10 per cent.

Michael Edwards, Guiting Power Parish Council chairman and a lifelong Cotswold resident, said people who recently moved into the village were getting involved with the community but other villages had no children and too many wealthy old people.

He said: "It looks beautiful and it looks better than it has for many years but it's soulless.

"Traditional services, like post offices and pubs, are going.

"People who do the ancillary jobs are not around any more."

Jonathan Perks, land agent at property company Carter Jones, meanwhile said the cost of Cotswold land had risen to around £5,000 an acre from £2,000-3,000 a couple of years ago.

n Sir Anthony and Carole Bamford, who live near Stow and respectively founded the JCB company and Daylesford Organic farm shop, were Gloucestershire's highest placed residents in the Sunday Times Rich List, which placed them at number 34.

12:06pm Thursday 8th May 2008

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