Reading tops economic growth list

Reading came out top of 56 of the country's largest towns and cities

Reading is the fastest-growing town in England, a new report has claimed.

The Berkshire town came top of a table assessing the performance of 56 of the country's largest towns and cities.

Bristol, Southampton, Cambridge and York were also in the top five, while Birmingham, Middlesbrough and Liverpool were found to be "lagging behind".

Think tank Centre for Cities, which measured employment, population and skills to create the table, claimed there is still a north-south divide.

Dermot Finch, director of Centre for Cities, said: "We have "two-track" cities in England.

There's a lot more work to do over next decade, to ensure that all our cities succeed Dermot Finch

"Over the past decade, some have done a lot better than others.

"Cities like Cambridge and Reading have performed very well, but others like Newcastle and Middlesbrough are lagging behind.

"Over the next decade, successful cities like Bristol and York will need to maintain their competitive edge and deal with challenges such as congestion, house price inflation and skills shortages.

"Meanwhile, lagging cities like Sunderland and Liverpool are struggling to catch up and will need to focus on expanding their business and employment base.

"There's a lot more work to do over next decade, to ensure that all our cities succeed."

London, Manchester and Leeds emerged as "middle ranking" cities in the research.