Only you can really decide which you'd prefer, Electric or Nitro, personally I went electric for the reasons you've stated and knew nothing about Nitro (didn't know anything about electric though either) but also you can fly in many more places and I'm lucky enough to have a few places nearby that I can take an electric to but wouldn't be able to with a Nitro.

First off it would be worth going to the clubs and deciding if you're going to go that route and always go to a club or if you've somewhere near to you that you can fly as this will probably affect your choice of plane.

If at 1st you're only going to fly with instructon at a club and have got some simulator practice would go straight to a 4 channel with ailerons and some electric possibles are GWS E-Starter at the more budget end or Mutiplex MiniMag which can be set up as 3 channel to start and get used to and then takes about 5 mins to plug in the aileron servo's and make it 4 channel, both of these once you've got some experience and feel confident flying on your own could be flown in a park. A bigger alternative could be the Multiplex Mentor which will handle wind better, is easier to see but bigger costs more and you probably wouldn't want to be flying that in your local park.
If you are going to be self taught then the ones mentioned earleir would probably be best although if you were quite good with your 2 channel ones maybe the MiniMag set up as 3 channel to start.

The E-Sky simulator is quiet reasonable and IMO excellent value at the price with a TX http://www.heliguy.com/Flight-Simula...nd-controller/
Later on you can go into some sites and download more advanced / aerobatic planes

All the planes I've mentioned so far are Foam as they're easier to repair and generally a bit more robust than balsa, if you need any more help let us know, see yo're in the UK if you wanted to talk at all buzz me a PM with a number and I'll give you a call.