The County Town - and officials promoting Kent as a great place for business - enter 2012 in buoyant mood after a quality of life survey placed it in the UK's top ten.

Enterprises thinking of investing in the council area will be impressed by Maidstone's eighth spot in the Halifax Quality of Life Survey.

It emerged ahead of Kent rivals for factors such as jobs, weekly earnings, housing, education, health, life expectancy, crime rate, weather, traffic flows and broadband access.

But the survey painted a good picture of Kent, with five other council areas in the county ranked in the top 50 - Tunbridge Wells (12), Ashford (27), Sevenoaks (38), Tonbridge and Malling (46) and Gravesham (49). Maidstone scored highest in the UK for employment with a rate of 84%.

Cllr Malcolm Greer, Maidstone council's cabinet member for economic development and transport said: "This is good news and confirms what many residents will know already, Maidstone is a very desirable location to live. But the council will not be complacent and our top priorities for the borough will remain economic prosperity and quality of life."

More than half of the top 50 areas (27) were in the south east, a further 15 in the east, and just four outside - Worcestershire (6), Rushcliffe, Nottingham (16), Rutland (22) and North Kesteven, Lincolnshire (36).

Hart in Hampshire topped the chart, followed by Elmbridge, Surrey.