Veto story: Retired couple with pets

In the short interview they said someone has a mobility need and uses a stick, with about 400 metres the most they can comfortably walk. They said they have a cat, that getting older and being close to a GP matter, and that they won't be driving. Their priorities were quiet and a walkable street, and steep hills or no GP nearby would make them walk away.

So Veto looked at:

A walk with no hill in it. How steep the streets are around the door, and how far the nearest food shop, pharmacy and park are.

A doctor within reach. The nearest GP practice, how far away it is and how the practice was rated by the CQC.

Buses that go somewhere useful. The routes within a short walk, and how far the stop is.

A quiet road for the cats. How many vehicles a day use the nearest counted road, the modelled traffic noise at the address, and police-reported injury collisions within 500 metres.

Somewhere calm to live. Recorded crime nearby over two years, and which way it is heading.

Both addresses came back as a Fair match, 66 and 67, and neither is better outright. The first is the quiet one, with 131 motor vehicles a day on the nearest counted road. The second is the flat one, with a GP 156 metres away. The report sets the trade-off out in figures, the hill and the distance to a GP against the traffic and the walk to a pharmacy, which is the choice they would otherwise find out about by living there.

Written for their household, the report puts it plainly: that tension, not any single statistic, is what should decide it.

From the written report for address one:

You asked for two things above all: quiet, and a place you can walk around easily. You also told us two things would make you walk away: hills, and distance from a GP. On the dealbreaker evidence, this is a mixed result. The terrain check finds about 26 metres of rise within 150 metres, a 5.7% average gradient: that is noticeably hilly ground, and you told us you get around with a walking stick, so the approach to this property is not level. The nearest GP is about 1.5km away, rated Good by the CQC, with a pharmacy much closer at 498m. Both of your named dealbreakers are flagged against the distances you said work for you.

On what you said matters most week to week, the picture is better. Road noise modelling comes back lower here, and the nearest traffic count point, 246m away, carries a light 131 vehicles a day: this is a quiet property by the measures available. Walkability is mixed: you have a food shop, green space and a bus stop all within about 800m straight-line, and a bus stop at 90m, well inside the 400m you said you need. But the hill gradient and the GP distance both cut against the easy, everyday walk you're looking for. The match score of 66/100 reflects a property that is quiet and reasonably served, sitting on ground that works against both of your stated walk-away conditions. That tension, not any single area statistic, is what should decide this one.

Run the address before you book a viewing, so the viewing is spent on the house and not on finding out the street is steep.

Run your free trial report →

See an example report