Southend is named one of the most caring places in England

The study, compiled by PensionBee, analysed 30 of the most populous towns across the country.

Southend came in ninth place in the analysis, which ranked the settlements on a number of factors in three categories - environment, community and charity.

• People enjoy the hot weather at Southend beach

Each of these categories collected data in several areas.

Here are Southend's scores:

Environment

• Recycling rate - 48.3%
• Fly tipping incidents - 490 per 100,000 people
• Number of electric vehicles per 100,000 people - 208

Community

• Happiness - 7.5 out of 10
• Animal shelters - 4.4 per 100,000 people
• Loneliness - 42.7%
• Homelessness rate - 2.6 per 100,000 households

Charity

• Charity shops - 8.7 per 100,000 people
• Registered charities - 181 per 100,000 people
• Volunteering searches - 814 per 100,000 people

The town's overall score was 48.8 putting it in 9th place in the research.

• People enjoying the good weather on the beach at Southend

It ranked particularly highly in the recycling category, coming in fourth place with a rate of 48 per cent.

The number of animal shelters also put it in fourth place in the rankings.

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Norwich was ranked top of the list with a score of 65.8, whilst Plymouth was bottom, with a score of 37.4.

Here is the top ten in full:

Southend named one of the 'most caring' towns and cities in the country

Romi Savova, CEO at PensionBee, said: “Our research highlights the caring nature of many residents in towns and cities across England, based on a range of factors relating to community, charity and the environment.

“The past year has been difficult, but it’s also brought many of us together and shown how caring our communities can be.

"We’ve seen people go out of their way to help vulnerable neighbours (and strangers) survive during tough periods of isolation, while furloughed workforces volunteered at local charities to support them through this challenging time.

"And lest we forget, the cheers that could be heard on Thursday evenings as streets across the country were filled with people standing on their doorsteps to clap for our NHS.

“When times are tough, communities will often pull together in a show of strength and solidarity.”

You can view the full findings here.