WAVERLEY has come top in a UK index of the most prosperous regions in the country. The latest UK Prosperity Index published by the Legatum Institute ranked the borough first out of 389 local authorities across the country.

Mole Valley in Surrey was second, Guildford ninth and Woking 13th. The index takes into account economic quality, business environment, education, health, safety and security, social capital, and natural environment.

Harriet Maltby, head of policy research at the institute said: “The UK’s cities are letting down many of their residents by failing to turn their higher wealth into real prosperity, a prosperity, as much about well-being as wealth.

“They’re failing because they are struggling to provide basic life chances to the large numbers who live there.”