PEOPLE in Beaconsfield are among the nosiest in the entire country, according to a survey published last month.

In the study, commissioned by Myhouseprice.com, experts labelled Beaconsfield residents as the third most inquisitive in England, behind Virginia Water and the nosiest of all, Cobham, both in Surrey.

Curtain twitchers in Beaconsfield are graded at 6.85 on the nosiness scale. Property price experts say that this means that people in the town are 6.85 times more likely to seek out information about their neighbours' homes than those across England and Wales.

Town and district councillor Graham Smith is not surprised by the nosiness tag. He found the results quite amusing and admitted that he has used the service himself.

He said: "I am guilty as charged I'm one of the Beaconsfield residents who has used the website."

Results are based on residents' desires to find out exactly how much neighbours paid for their homes.

Property prices are at a premium in Beaconsfield with many people living in the town regularly approached by development firms wanting to buy their homes.

Cllr Smith said: "My neighbours' house has just been sold for redevelopment. I actually used the service. I get a lot of developers ringing, asking me to sell. I was interested in the exact value."

Myhouseprice.com offers a paid-for service allowing anyone to find out the exact price paid for a house in any area a fact that few homeowners are willing to discuss, but many want to find out.

Property experts at the Edinburgh-based site trawled through more than 300,000 requests for the information, which costs £2 a time, to produce their findings.

The Conservative councillor said that people in Beaconsfield lead very busy lives so they don't really get a chance to talk to their neighbours very often.

He believes this leads to people using internet services like to find out information.

The experts said that affluent areas are renowned for neighbours being exceptionally interested in house prices in their street.

Cllr Smith joked: "It must be a coincidence that the three nosiest towns in the country are all Tory strongholds."