Cotgrave, Nottingham

[LonBon123]

Hello, I wondered if anyone could offer advice. We are thinking of relocating and have looked at cotgrave in nottingham as a location. We do not know anything about the local or wider area so it would be great to hear people's opinions. We have found the crime rates in cotgrave appear incredibly high. We are moving with a young family so are keen to move to a safe area for our children to grow and feel safe to let them play out as they get older.
Thank you in advance for any help. X

i can't really speak to the area itself as i've not been there (i live the other side of the city) but had a colleague who lived there and commuted into nottingham every day, was a nightmare - buses into the city expensive and infrequent.

I don’t live in the area anymore but my parents still do. Cotgrave is a bit rough - maybe look at Radcliffe-on-Trent or Ruddington or Shelford or Saxondale which are in the same area but a bit nicer.

Cotgrave is a little bit cheaper like many ex mining villages. The area just south of Nottingham is great though. Are there any other villages or suburbs of Nottingham that are affordable for you? I'll put a word in for Keyworth, Ruddington, Wilford, Edwalton etc

Is the crime really "incredibly high"? It might look a bit high compared with the rest of leafy Rushcliffe but it's one of the very few areas with affordable/social housing so it's a bit of an outlier. I'm can't imagine it feels unsafe in any day to day way. Were you looking on the police crime maps?

What is your budget like? I would recommend West Bridgford itself first of all then Edwalton, Wilford and even Gamston over Cotgrave to be honest, though it all depends on what you are after from an area? Did you want to be nearer Nottingham or near the A46? Are school catchments an issue? How important are cafes, bars shops etc?

Thank you for your comments, it helpful to hear of other areas. Need to be commuteable to Leicester. Yes school catchment is important for good schools, also ASD specialist schools.

West Bridgford is famous (and therefore competitive) for its good schools but some of the neighbouring areas are in catchment.

As a Nottingham resident it always takes longer than I think to get to Leicester, being no direct road. Any reason not to be nearer Leicester e.g. the Loughborough/M1/A6 area? There are some OK schools in Loughborough.

Okay in that case I guess it depends where abouts in Leicester to commute to are we talking city centre or another area? And how long of a commute you would be happy with? I've done West Bridgford to Leicester commute for 2 different jobs in two different areas, one took 40 minutes the other nearer an hour. I now live in Market Harborough and my commute can still take 35 minutes even though the mileage is a lot less so it's all relative. The a46 is a long but fast road, the m1 on the other hand is a pain in the ass.
If you can afford West Bridgford or the surrounding area and the commute time and distance works for you, it's honestly a no brainer. It has so much to offer - I would still live there now if my partner didn't work south in Northamptonshire.

I'd suggest West Bridgford or Ruddington if they are in your price bracket. If not, I'd suggest Keyworth or even
East Leake rather than Cotgrave. If you are going to have more links
To Leicester than Nottingham, how about Loughborough?

Have a look at Bingham. If you are commuting by car it is on the a46 so straight down to Leicester. Radcliffe, Saxondale all also close by. The closer you get towards West Bridgford adds to the commute time.

Really good connections into Nottingham as well.

I was going to say Bingham too.

Nice market town, but a range of cheaper and expensive housing and straight onto the a46.

Cotgrave has a bit of a reputation - a bit 'council' on the estate parts but there are a lot of new builds cropping up on the edges. You've got the country park there and Ash Lea school which is a special needs school. But I don't know much about the school.

I know people that live in Cotgrave and they get on ok. As others have said its an ex mining village so that has its good and bad points. If you are not from the area it seems an odd choice.. buses into town are a complete nightmare and not cheap either.
I would think about your budget, school requirements and public transport requirements. Commuting to Leicester from Notts is not really great. I would have thought you would be better to go Market Harborough or Loughborough?

Oh and my friend works at Ash Lea and the children that attend seem to need a lot of help.

Thank you all for your help.
We have family in Bourne in Lincolnshire, family in Derby and then job in Leicester so we are looking at areas between these 3 places! Open to any suggestions Nottinghamshire, lincolnshire and leistershire!!!

Bingham I reckon. Have you a budget?

DH's parents used to live in Bingham. They had a job that involved traveling all over the East Midlands, being sensible types, they sat down with a map and determined it was the perfect location.