The Sunday Times Best Places to Live Guide 2022: Why Ilkley's triumph provides inspiration for the nation - Greg Wright

It’s the epitome of the perfect settlement; with shops, clubs, restaurants and pubs in easy walking distance. And, when you seek moments of reflection, the moors can be reached within a 10-minute stroll from your front door, providing space for the most troubled mind to find calm.

The train station is handy and the road connections to the rest of West Yorkshire generally work well, roadworks permitting. If you’re retired or have time on your hands, there are plenty of clubs and community groups to keep you stimulated.

Ilkley used to be known as the graveyard of ambition because the stunning quality of life dissuaded people from seeking career advancement in London.

Today, with technology destroying regional barriers to growth, there is no reason why you can’t build a global business career while admiring views of Beamsley Beacon or the Cow and Calf. There has been an influx of dynamic small businesses. This is no sleepy commuter town.

Ilkley Moor remains a tourism hotspot, but given the moorland’s scale, it is relatively easy to leave the crowds and wander into the heart of a wilderness which has defied the encroachment of civilisation; although hopefully you won’t have a day out similar to that experienced by one walker in the 1980s who claimed to have encountered a group of aliens. Such tales add to Ilkley’s quirky charm.

I had the chance to tell Britain of my love for my adopted home town when I was interviewed by TalkRadio, which devoted a segment of a live show to the virtues of Ilkley.

It wasn’t hard to find positive things to say. Lockdown made people more conscious of the needs of their local community, and time after time, Ilkley people have risen to the challenge and campaigned hard for measures to protect the environment and improve their quality of life.

Local people have, for example, fought relentlessly to clean up the River Wharfe and make it safe for bathing. Food markets are often staged in the heart of the town, providing the chance to snap up local produce.

Mark Stidworthy, Ilkley Town Mayor, who was also interviewed by TalkRadio, said: “It really is a place where everybody looks out for other people.

“They care deeply about what’s going on.”

Mark, did however, acknowledge one factor that could stop people moving to Ilkley.

“It is an expensive place to live, the average property price is something like £428,000,” he said. “If we’re to keep our top spot we really need to be focusing on affordability.

“We perhaps need to be building some more affordable housing so that younger people in their twenties and thirties are still able to come and join us in the future.”

That in a nutshell is Ilkley’s only real weakness. It’s a place you never want to leave.

When property does appear on the market, it usually commands a price which is beyond the reach of anyone on an average income.

It’s a small, neat town with no aspirations to grow. Any new housing development could wreck the peace which makes Ilkley so popular and overburden local roads and schools.

The hefty price tag attached to many houses in Ilkley is simply another sign of the town’s success.

During a time of pessimism about the prospects for levelling up Britain’s economy, let’s simply pause and raise our hats to Ilkley.

It could easily have become a backwater, cut off from the cut and thrust of commercial life.

Determined locals have flexed their muscles to ensure they get a fair deal for transport and environmental services, while welcoming outsiders who have established an eclectic range of thriving independent businesses.

Ilkley provides a template for communities across Britain. If you love your town and are willing to collaborate, you can create a ripple effect that lasts for generations.