Guides · 2026-10-27
Hucknall or Arnold: comparing two towns on Nottingham's northern edge
Hucknall and Arnold both sit just north of Nottingham. Arnold has twice as many schools in range and better broadband; Hucknall has twice the green space. Here is the full comparison from official data.
Hucknall, in Ashfield, and Arnold, in Gedling, are both towns on Nottingham's northern edge that end up on the same shortlists. They are closer on paper than you might think, but a few differences stand out.
Side by side
| Measure (about 3 km around the centre) | Hucknall | Arnold |
|---|---|---|
| Crime and anti-social behaviour per 1,000 residents a year | 99 | 88 |
| Open schools within 3 km | 15 | 31 |
| Bus stops within 800 m | 42 | 61 |
| Nearest GP | 0.3 km | 0.3 km |
| Homes able to get gigabit broadband | 91% | 97.1% |
| Green space within 3 km | 33.5% | 15.6% |
| Parks, playing fields and play areas | 39 | 68 |
| Shops and everyday services per square km | 6.6 | 13.3 |
| Postcodes with homes at medium or high flood risk | 3.6% | 0.6% |
| Modelled peak drive to the nearest major town or city | 18 min | 12 min |
What the numbers say
- Arnold has 31 schools within 3 km against Hucknall's 15, more bus stops close to the centre (61 against 42) and twice the density of shops and services.
- Hucknall has much more green space: 33.5% of the surrounding area is parks, woods or public green space, against 15.6% around Arnold.
- Arnold records slightly less crime per resident (88 against 99), and both have a GP 0.3 km from the centre.
- Gigabit broadband reaches about 97.1% of homes around Arnold and 91% around Hucknall.
If you want the most schools, shops and buses close by, Arnold has the edge. If you want woods and open space on the doorstep, Hucknall does. Put your own priorities in and PlaceFit will show which comes out ahead for you.
Crime figures are reports to the police per resident, not a measure of how safe a street feels. Each place is measured over the 2021 neighbourhoods centred within about 3 km, so neighbouring places share some of the same records, and anywhere close to a busy centre has a higher rate per resident because more people pass through than live there.
Hucknall in full · Arnold in full · Compare both against your own priorities
Figures as published on PlaceFit's area pages on 22 October 2026, measured over about 3 km around each place's centre unless stated. Sources: police.uk street-level crime and anti-social behaviour, September 2025 to August 2026, per Census 2021 resident; Get Information about Schools (DfE); NaPTAN bus stops (DfT), within 800 m; NHS England GP practices and branch surgeries (ODS), straight-line distance; Ofcom Connected Nations (broadband July 2025, by postcode district); OS Open Greenspace and OS Open Zoomstack; Environment Agency Risk of Flooding from Rivers and Sea. Shops from Overture Maps Places. Drive times are modelled on the OpenStreetMap road network with OSRM and a fixed peak-time allowance, not live traffic; routing uses OpenStreetMap data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.