MP invites Phil and Kirstie to visit Hull

Hull North MP Diana Johnson today wrote to Phil Spencer and Kirstie Allsop, presenters of Channel Four TV's Location, Location, Location, inviting them to visit Hull.

The invitation was issued by the Hull North MP, and also on behalf of Hull West and Hessle MP Alan Johnson, on the eve of the 17 October screening of the annual Best and Worst Places To Live in the UK programme on Channel Four.

This year the programme makes the claim that Hull is the second worst place to live in the UK, after Middlesbrough.

Diana Johnson MP said: "Given the unfair and broadbrush nature of the research behind this programme, I believe that the least Channel Four can do is give Hull the opportunity to provide a more balanced view of what it is like to live and work in Hull.

"I would also like to show them some of the current and planned regeneration work that will improve Hull for the future.

"I hope that Phil and Kirstie, or at least one of them, will be able to join us!"

The full text of Diana's letter to Phil Spencer and Kirstie Allsop reads as follows:

"16 October 2007

Dear Phil and Kirstie,

I write on behalf of myself and Hull West and Hessle MP, the Rt Hon Alan Johnson, regarding the latest edition of the annual Best and Worst Places to Live in the UK survey, to be broadcast on Channel Four on 17 October 2007.

We understand that in this programme Kingston upon Hull is to be labelled as the second worst place to live in the UK.

There is a perception that these results, seen by many people in Hull as being compiled by London researchers from official statistics without proper research on the ground, present an unfair and unbalanced perspective of what it is actually like to live in Hull.

It is welcome that the Location, Location, Location website provides some information on how your league table is arrived at, using recent figures from the Home Office and Office of National Statistics. However, along with the bizarre way that Hull has fluctuated in and out of the top rankings of the UK's worst places to live in the past two years, this simply confirms the somewhat broadbrush nature of the methodology used, and perhaps an over-reliance on the recent performance data for local authority services.

Unfortunately, those who feel that the findings of this survey are somewhat unfair and unbalanced enjoy little right of reply outside of your internet messageboard. We would therefore like to invite you to visit Hull to see a more balanced view of life in the city, the challenges the city faces and the work that is going on to improve life and the local economy in Hull.

Like any city, Hull has areas that are more prosperous than others, but the label of the second worst place to live ignores the fact that Hull is for many - and can be for many more - a very pleasant place to live. The label is unfair to people who live and work in Hull, and especially the many people and organisations working hard to improve the city and its future prospects with the regeneration initiatives taking place in Hull.

Please contact my office to make the necessary arrangements if you would like to accept this invitation.

Many thanks

Yours sincerely

Diana Johnson

MP for Kingston upon Hull North"