South Darwen & Whitehall
Blackburn with Darwen 017 · 6 sub-areas · 9,263 residents
Blackburn with Darwen 017 is a residential neighbourhood in Blackburn with Darwen, home to around 9,300 people. A typical two-bedroom home lets for about £655 a month — well under the national average and among the more affordable pockets in the North West. The area skews noticeably older than many comparable neighbourhoods, with a high rate of owner-occupation.
South Darwen & Whitehall is a mid-density neighbourhood of Blackburn with Darwen in the North West region. It sits between busier and quieter parts of the local authority and isn't dominated by a single use — there's a mix of workplaces, housing and local services. Most homes are owner-occupied, so turnover is low and many residents have been here a long time.
Overview
What's it like to live in South Darwen & Whitehall?
The area is unusually green for its density — 5 parks and 2 playgrounds sit within five minutes' walk of the centroid; there's effectively nothing within walking distance — eating out, drinking and shopping mean a drive; The streets feel safe by national standards — police-recorded crime is well below the country-wide median; rents are below the national norm, with a typical home letting at around £707 a month; gigabit broadband is effectively universal.
Generated from the latest May 2026 data · refreshed automatically
Figures are aggregated across 6 sub-areas — population-weighted means for rates, sums for counts. Sources cited beneath each section.
South Darwen & Whitehall in Blackburn with Darwen
Living in South Darwen & Whitehall
This part of Blackburn with Darwen sits at the affordable end of the North West rental market. Rents are well below what you'd pay in Manchester or elsewhere in the region, and the area is predominantly owner-occupied — nearly three in four households own their home. That gives the neighbourhood a settled, residential character that's quite different from the more transient rental-heavy parts of the borough.
The cost picture is one of the clearest reasons to consider this area. A 2-bed runs roughly £655 a month, which is significantly cheaper than the UK median of around £1,200. Even the upper end — a three-bedroom home at around £773 a month — would cost considerably more in most English cities. Rents did rise around 7% year-on-year, so the affordability advantage is narrowing slightly, but this remains genuinely inexpensive housing.
The population profile here is older than typical: over a fifth of residents are aged 50–64, and a further fifth are 65 or older. Couple that with a high ownership rate and low private rental share — just over 16% — and you get a neighbourhood that's more long-established community than transient rental market. Around 31% of households are single-person, which is a meaningful proportion, suggesting a mix of older residents living alone and younger professionals.
Practically speaking, the nearest rail station is roughly 1.8 km away — about a 22-minute walk. Most residents drive: nearly two in three commute by car, and just 3% use public transport. Working from home is also common here, with about 23% of residents doing so. See the streets and sub-areas below for more detail on specific pockets within the neighbourhood.
What you'll need on day one
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Frequently asked
- Is Blackburn with Darwen 017 a nice place to live?
- It depends what you're after. It's a quiet, predominantly owner-occupied neighbourhood with low crime and genuinely affordable rents. The trade-off is that the school quality ratings are well below the national average, and public transport is limited — you'll really need a car. For settled families or older residents who drive, it works well.
- What is the rent in Blackburn with Darwen 017?
- A one-bedroom home runs around £529 a month, a two-bed around £655, and a three-bed about £773. These are estimates scaled from borough-level data using local sale prices, so treat them as a guide rather than a precise figure. Rents rose around 7% year-on-year, so expect some movement.
- Is Blackburn with Darwen 017 safe?
- Yes, relatively. The crime rate is around 62 incidents per 1,000 residents a year, which is below the UK national average of roughly 80 per 1,000. It's not crime-free, but it sits in the safer half of the national distribution for residential neighbourhoods.
- What's the commute from Blackburn with Darwen 017 to Manchester?
- By public transport, Manchester takes around 60 minutes. That said, most residents drive rather than use public transport — only about 3% commute by bus or train. The nearest rail station is roughly 1.8 km away, about a 22-minute walk.
- Who lives in Blackburn with Darwen 017?
- Mostly older, long-established residents — over 40% are aged 50 or above, and nearly three in four households own their home. Around 31% of households are single-person. It's not a particularly young or transient neighbourhood; the private rental sector makes up just over 16% of tenures.
- What schools are near Blackburn with Darwen 017?
- There are 51 schools within 2 km of typical residents, so there's no shortage of options. The concern is quality: only around 20% of nearby schools are rated Good or Outstanding by Ofsted, significantly below the national average of around 89%. The nearest Outstanding-rated school is about 6.6 km away.
- How affordable is buying a home in Blackburn with Darwen 017?
- More affordable than most of England. The median house price is around £197,000, and on a typical local salary it takes roughly 3.6 years to save a deposit — one of the lower figures nationally. That said, rents still take up about 41% of typical take-home pay, which leaves limited room to save quickly.