IT'S offical - York is one of the worst places in North Yorkshire to bring up kids.

It was ranked only 198th in a league table of Britain's most family-friendly areas.

But city councillors have poured scorn on the national survey and slammed its findings as "ridiculous".

The poll was conducted by Reader's Digest, who quizzed parents on which factors they felt most affected family life and how they thought their area scored in each one.

East Dunbarshire came top out of the 408 local authority areas, with Reading bringing up the rear, but York limped in below nearby Selby (63), Harrogate (84), Ryedale (121) and Scarborough (155).

Coun Steve Galloway, leader of City of York Council, questioned the results and said: "As far as I'm concerned, York is a great place for families.

"We've got an excellent education system and, although house prices are quite high, that doesn't influence bringing up a child.

"In February, we had the lowest ever crime figures for the city and unemployment is also very low. I find it very difficult to understand the results of this survey."

Coun Carol Runciman, head of children's services, found the survey equally baffling. She said: "I'm surprised because I expected York to be much higher than that. Everybody knows that York has got an excellent education system. We've got very good schools that get brilliant results and they're also accessible to everybody."

As part of the survey good local schools, affordable housing and a low crime rate were listed as the most desirable characteristics of a child-friendly area.

Housing services chief Coun Sue Sunderland admitted that York's shortage of affordable housing might have played a role in the survey results.

She said: "I am aware that we do have a slight lack of affordable housing in the city, but we are working hard to address the problem.

"We have some major brownfield sites coming up for affordable housing developments and we've got a number of very successful schemes, including Homebuy, which offers grants to assist people with the purchase of homes on the open market.

"We've also got the 50 per cent rule, whereby all planning applications for developments of more than 15 houses must provide 50 per cent affordable housing."

But she said: "I find the survey ridiculous.

"York has some of the top schools in the country and, personally, I wouldn't want to live anywhere else."

Alison Dodd is a single mum bringing up two children in Clifton Moor.

She moved to York from Blackpool six years ago and says she has no thoughts of returning there.

She said: "I much prefer York and I'm definitely going to stay here.

"I think it's a great place to bring up children and I wouldn't want to go anywhere else. My eldest son goes to Headlands Primary School in Haxby and he's very happy there. I think schools are very important for parents when deciding where they want to bring up their kids and York is lucky on that front. It's also a relatively safe place to live and that's always a big concern for parents."

But there are some things Alison feels York could do better and her number one gripe is the city's lack of facilities for young people.

She said: "There's not much for children to do here. You've got all the tourist places like York Dungeon, but they're expensive and children can't afford to go there.

"Housing is also a weak point. I think there's a real shortage of affordable housing and that's definitely a problem. I'm living in a council house and even that's not cheap."

  • We asked parents in York whether they agreed with the city's low ranking:

Cath Martin, 45, post office clerk, of Walmgate, said: "Crime is terrible in York. There are so many burglaries and muggings and I think that's why it's come out so low."

Mike Jones, 27, a university lecturer, of Lawrence Street, said: "I think 198th is a bit harsh. York is much safer than big metropolitan cities like Manchester and Leeds."

Stewart Scott, 31, unemploy-ed, of Lawrence Street, said: "Crime here is quite bad and there's not a lot for kids to do. But I can think of worse places to live."

Stephanie Carter, 38, a support assistant, of Lawrence Street, said: "When my kids were growing up they never had any problems with the schools here."