Chiltern Councillor Update Economic Profile of Common Ward

April 2014

Produced by Business First’s research department P a g e | 2

1.0 Introduction

Amersham Common is home to 2,581 people and provides 2,200 jobs in 52 businesses. Of these businesses, 20 (38.5 per cent) are Buckinghamshire Business First members.

There were 1,890 employed people aged 16-74 living in Amersham Common ward at the 2011 Census, 59 more than the 1,831 recorded in 2001. Over that period the working age population rose three to 1,671 while the total population rose 161 to 2,581. The number of households rose by 61 (6.3 per cent) to 1,025. This is a significant percentage increase and places the ward fourth out of all wards in Chiltern. Based on the increase in number of households, the ward ranks 33rd out of all wards in Buckinghamshire.

The largest companies in Amersham Common include:

 Lifetime training;  Amersham and Wycombe College;  Amersham School;  Kerry Foods Ltd;  Kavo Dental Ltd;  ; and  Stony Dean School.

There are 20 Amersham Common, representing 1.2 per cent of working age residents, including 15 claimants aged 25-49 and five who have been claiming for more than twelve months.

Superfast broadband is expected to be available to 93 per cent of premises in the Amersham Common ward by March 2016 with commercial providers responsible for 92 per cent. The Connected Counties project, run by BBF, deliver the remaining one per cent through its interventions in exchange area. BBF is seeking to deliver an extended superfast footprint via additional funding, adaptation of downstream technology and contract claw-back mechanism.

At the time of the 2001 Censusi, of the 1,553 employed residents, 302 people lived and worked in the ward, with the most common destinations by local authority district being:

 Chiltern (667, 49.0 per cent)  Wycombe (91, 6.7)  Westminster, City of (67, 4.9)  Hillingdon (67, 4.9)  South Buckinghamshire (57, 4.2)  City of (44, 3.2)  Dacorum (27, 2.0)  Aylesbury Vale (26, 1.9)

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2.0 Industrial structure

There are 52 businesses located in Amersham Common employing 2,200 people. Of these businesses, 39 are micro businesses, employing fewer than 10 people.

Amersham Common is over represented in Manufacturing which contributes to 45.5 per cent of employment in the ward. This ranks Amersham common 167th out of all wards for employment in the sector. Education is also over-represented in the ward employing over twice the national average, The proportion of employment in education is 22.1 per cent. This ranks Amersham Common 1,494th out of all wards for proportion of employment in the sector. The ward also has a high proportion of employment in the financial and insurance sector, the ward is ranked 341st out of all wards for employment in the sector.

Chart 1: Industrial Structure Index, 2012 (GB=100)

Manufacturing

Construction

Motor trades

Wholesale

Retail

Transport & storage

Accommodation & food services

Information & communication

Financial & insurance

Professional, scientific & technical

Business administration & support services

Education

Health

Arts, entertainment, recreation & other services

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 Source: BRES, ONS, 2013

Amersham Common is under-represented in a number of sectors including retail, transport and health. Retail employs only 2.1 per cent, this is surprising as the sector usually employs a significantly higher proportion. The ward is ranked 7,622nd out of all wards for employment in the sector.

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2.1 The Industrial Strategy and the Plan for Growth

Plan for Growth and the Industrial Strategy set out policies to realise this objective and to rebalance the economy, which include focusing on sectors expected to deliver strong growth. Chiltern -represented in these sectors, particularly aerospace, the information economy and professional and business services.

While Amersham Common provides jobs in these sectors, the industrial strategy sector where the ward delivers the highest share of national employment is education which accounts for 21.7 per cent of employment, ranking Amersham Common at 1,604th among English wards. The proportions of jobs in Amersham Common in Industrial Strategy sectors are presented in Table 1.

Table 1: Employment in selected industrial strategy sectors, 2012

Education Professionaland BusinessServices Construction Information Economy Chiltern 12.7 15.2 5.2 4.8 Buckinghamshire 9.3 15.0 5.5 4.4 4.6 12.9 4.6 3.0

Amersham Common 21.7 3.7 3.9 2.8 Source: BRES, ONS, 2013

At 3.9 per cent, the proportion of Amersham Common construction sector is the 5,111st highest of all wards in England, the proportion is below that of both the country level and the district level.

3.0 Labour market

At 69.3 per cent of 16-74 year olds, Amersham Common highest in the country. Amersham Common has a proportion of 47.8 per cent of its residents qualified to degree level or higher. Furthermore, 57.7 per cent work in managerial, professional or technical occupations.

In Chiltern the wards most similar to Amersham Common are Hilltop & Townsend, Newtown and with seven of the other 24 wards among the top thousand closest matches. The least similar ward in the district is Ridgeway, the only ward in Chiltern to rank lower than the 5,000th closest match.

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Table 2: Amersham Common

Self-employed 1-3 SOCs NVQ4+ age Working Employmentrate Ward Name Home from Work Amersham Common 6.6 13.1 57.7 47.8 64.7 69.3 Hilltop and Townsend 5.9 14.9 52.0 36.2 63.7 68.7 Newtown 5.4 15.1 47.4 35.0 66.0 67.8 Ashley Green, Latimer and 9.9 19.6 57.7 39.0 62.7 68.4 Amersham Town 7.4 13.3 60.0 46.1 61.3 71.0 Source: Census, 2011

Amersham Common has a fairly high level of those who work from home and are self- employed. Furthermore, as stated previously, the ward has a high level of those educated to degree level or higher and those working in managerial, professional and technical roles ranking in the top quartile for both. Amersham Common looks to have a high employment rate and reasonably high level of working age residents.

Chart 2: Amersham Common 11

Work from Home 100

75

Employment rate 50 Self-employed

25

0

Working age SOCs 1-3

NVQ4+

Source: Census, 2011

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4.0 Occupational Structure

Amersham Common better remunerated occupations, with 57.7 per cent of working residents employed in managerial, professional and technical occupations, ranking in the top quartile nationally for each. In contrast Amersham Common ranks in the bottom quartile for other occupations, with only 2.8 per cent and 5.3 per cent of working residents employed in process plant & machinery operative and elementary occupations respectively.

Chart 3: Amersham Common

1. Managers, directors and senior officials 100

9. Elementary occupations 2. Professional occupations 75

50

8. Process plant and machine 25 3. Associate professional and operatives technical occupations

0

7. Sales and customer service 4. Administrative and secretarial occupations occupations

6. Caring, leisure and other 5. Skilled trades occupations service occupations

Source: Census, ONS, 2011

5.0 Deprivation

Buckinghamshire has the lowest level of economic deprivation of any Local Enterprise Partnership, with Chiltern having the 13th lowest economic deprivation of all 326 local authority districts in England, behind South Bucks (10th) but ahead of Aylesbury (37th) and Wycombe (69th). Chart 4 demonstrates the concentration of Chiltern least deprived in England with 12 of the 25 wards featuring among the least deprived 10 per cent of all wards in England and only three ranking among the most deprived half of English wards, a stark contrast to the London Borough of Newham where no ward ranks above halfway, highlighting the challenge Chiltern faces to attract resources to tackle deprivation.

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Amersham Common has the 734th lowest economic deprivation of the 7,707 wards in England and the 14th least economically deprived of the 25 Chiltern wards. Amersham Common is the 44th least economically deprived among the 108 ward in Buckinghamshire. The position of Chiltern ds in England is shown in below, with Amersham Common one of the 12

Chart 4: Relative economic deprivation of Chiltern wards by English decile, 2009 14

12

10

8

6

4

2

0 Most Least deprived deprived Source: DCLG, 2012

Amersham Common ranks 7,544th out of all wards in England based on the Index of Multiple Deprivationii; this makes it among the least deprived decile in England, well above Chiltern 6532nd, demonstrating that the ward is less deprived than the district as a whole.

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Chart 5: Comparative deprivation by IMD domain in Amersham Common

IMD 100.0

Living environment 75.0 Income

50.0

25.0

Crime 0.0 Employment

Housing Health

Education

Source: DCLG, 2010

The wards in Chiltern most closely matching Amersham Common deprivation profile are presented in Table 3. Nationally, the closest matches are Holybourne & Froyle (East Hampshire), Charlton Park (Cheltenham) and Amberly & Woodchester (Stroud), while Bois and Penn are the most similar in Chiltern ranking as the 72nd and 193rd most similar of all English wards. Of the 25 Chiltern wards 14 are among the 1,000 best matches, however Ridgeway is only the 5,087th closest match.

Table 3: Deprivation Nearest Neighbours

Income Employment Health Education Housing Crime Living environment Ward IMD Amersham Common 5.0 1.4 18.6 8.3 6.4 61.2 31.3 23.1 and Weedon Hill 4.2 6.0 2.3 5.6 9.6 68.2 30.5 31.2 Penn and Coleshill 17.7 22.3 19.2 27.0 42.3 61.6 37.2 7.8 Amersham Town 10.2 10.5 12.0 11.5 10.9 71.2 58.5 11.1 3.6 5.8 3.6 1.6 2.2 56.6 56.7 6.5 Austenwood 0.1 0.0 0.9 0.0 0.0 53.3 47.3 0.9 Source: DCLG, 2010

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6.0 Demography

At 39.4 years, Amersham Common below the 41.3 recorded across Chiltern as well as the county average of 41.0. This makes Amersham Common one of the younger wards in England as suggested by the over-representation of 25-44 year olds in Chart 6. In terms of age structure, two of the wards in Chiltern most similar to Amersham Common are Vale & Lowndes and Amersham-on-the-hill with average ages of 39.5 and 40.2 respectively.

Chart 6: Amersham Common age profile, 2011 (Chiltern = 100)

Working Age

0-15

16-24

25-44

45-64

65+

70.0 75.0 80.0 85.0 90.0 95.0 100.0 105.0 110.0 115.0 120.0 Source: Census, ONS, 2013

Amersham Common has a higher proportion of working age residents than Chiltern at 64.7 per cent. This ranks Amersham Common at 2,517th of all wards in England based on proportion of residents at working age. Amersham Common has a fairly high proportion of those aged 0-15 at 21.4 per cent. This ranks Amersham Common at 1,140th of all wards in England putting it among the central quintile of all wards in England for this age bracket.

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Table 4: Chiltern 0-15 16-64 65+ Chiltern 20.4 60.6 19.0

Amersham Common 21.4 64.7 13.9 Amersham-on-the-Hill 21.5 59.2 19.2 Amersham Town 20.0 61.3 18.7 Asheridge Vale and Lowndes 21.4 61.8 16.9 Ashley Green, Latimer and Chenies 18.6 62.7 18.7 Austenwood 21.1 58.0 20.9 Ballinger, South Heath and 19.3 61.0 19.7 Central 16.3 67.9 15.8 Chalfont Common 20.4 58.6 21.1 Chalfont St Giles 21.7 57.4 20.9 Chesham Bois and Weedon Hill 22.5 55.6 21.9 , and 19.2 59.1 21.7 Gold Hill 21.1 58.5 20.4 18.1 54.3 27.6 Hilltop and Townsend 18.1 63.7 18.2 18.3 59.8 21.9 Little Chalfont 20.9 58.7 20.4 21.1 57.9 21.1 Newtown 24.8 65.0 10.2 Penn and Coleshill 19.5 59.3 21.2 and Heath End 19.8 60.3 19.8 Ridgeway 23.0 60.5 16.5 St Mary's and Waterside 18.5 63.2 18.3 22.0 61.1 16.8

Vale 22.0 65.8 12.2 Source: Census, 2011

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7.0 Educational attainment

Chiltern is one of the best qualified places in the country, with only 14.8 per cent of residents aged 16 and over holding no qualifications, well below the 22.5 per cent recorded across the country as a whole, while 40.8 per cent hold degree level qualifications, well above the national level of 27.4 per cent.

Amersham Common overall, with only 10.2 per cent having no qualifications and 47.8 per cent educated to degree level or higher. Only 3.4 per cent of Amersham Common residents are schoolchildren or full-time students aged 16 to 17. This is fairly average in comparison to other wards in Chiltern. presented in Chart 7 below.

Chart 7: Educational attainment in Amersham Common, 2011

No qualifications 100

75 Schoolchildren and full- Highest level of time students: Age 18 and qualification: Level 1 over qualifications 50

25

0

Schoolchildren and full- Highest level of time students: Age 16 to qualification: Level 2 17 qualifications

Highest level of Highest level of qualification: Level 4 qualification: Level 3 qualifications and above qualifications

Source, Census, 2011

Amersham Common is most similar to Finchamptead South (Wokingham), Linhurst (Bromsgrove) and Hummersknott (Darlington) of all English wards with regard to educational attainment. In the district the most similar wards are Penn & Coleshill, Chalfont St Giles and Ballinger, South Heath & Chartridge, with 10 of the other 25 wards ranking inside the top 1000 matches but with Ridgeway ranking outside the top 6,000.

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Table 5: Educational attainment nearest neighbours, 2011

Noqualifications qualification: of Highestlevel qualifications 1 Level qualification: of Highestlevel qualifications 2 Level qualification: of Highestlevel qualifications 3 Level qualification: of Highestlevel above and qualifications 4 Level full-time and Schoolchildren to students:17 Age 16 full-time and Schoolchildren over and students:Age 18 Amersham Common 10.2 9.8 13.7 11.4 47.8 3.4 2.1 Penn and Coleshill 10.1 8.4 14.8 10.6 50.1 3.3 2.2 Chalfont St Giles 12.2 9.2 15.6 10.4 45.8 3.2 2.1 Ballinger, South Heath and Chartridge 12.0 10.6 15.1 11.6 42.7 2.9 1.6 Little Missenden 12.0 9.1 14.5 10.5 47.6 3.4 2.7 Chalfont Common 13.8 10.0 15.3 11.1 42.8 3.4 2.8 Source: Census, ONS, 2011 7.1 Amersham Common

Buckinghamshire has the strongest schools performance any LEPiii, with over a quarter of

and 88.0 per cent of young people in the county achieving at least NVQ level 2 by 19. Amersham Common demonstrated by their most recent OFSTED reports, which are summarised below.

7.2 Amersham School (Key Stage 4)

In 2012, 73 per cent of pupils attained five GCSEs grade A*-C including English and mathematics. This is an increase of eight percentage points on 2011. The result placed the school in the top 20 per cent of all schools. Of these, 80 per cent attained the grades in English and 83 per cent attained the grades in maths. The results marked an increase of six percentage points and 14 percentage points respectively placing the school in the top 20 per cent in both cases. In 2012, 57 per cent of pupils attained grades A*-C in science, a decrease of 11 percentage points on 2011 placing the school in the lowest 20 per cent.

In 2012, 85 per cent of pupils achieved expected progress in English, an increase of 14 percentage points on 2011 placing the school in the top 20 per cent of all schools. In the same year, 84 per cent of pupils achieved expected progress in mathematics, an increase of 14 percentage points on 2011 placing the school in the top 20 per cent of all schools. The attendance rate for the school in 2012 was 94.5 per cent, the attendance rate has increase 0.2 percentage points since 2011. This result placed the school in the middle 20 per cent of all schools.

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7.3

In 2012, 95 per cent of pupils attained Level 2 or higher in the Key Stage 1 reading assessment. This is an increase of 14 percentage points on 2011. In the same year, 90 per cent of pupils attained Level 2 or higher in the Key Stage 1 writing assessment. This is an increase of 15 percentage points on 2011. Finally, 95 per cent of pupils attained Level 2 or higher in the Key Stage 2 mathematics test, an increase of six percentage points since 2011. In each subject, the results placed the school in the top 40 per cent of all schools. The attendance rate at the school was 95.9 per cent in 2012, an increase of 1.6 percentage points on 2011. The attendance rate is in the middle 20 per cent of all schools.

8.0 Buckinghamshire Business First in Amersham Common

Of the 52 businesses in Amersham Common, 20, or 38.5 per cent are Buckinghamshire Business First members. BBF members in the ward are presented in Table 6 below.

Table 6: BBF members in Amersham Common, November 2013 Business Employment Size Band Lifetime Training 251 to 500 Amersham & Wycombe College 251 to 500 Hamlets 11 to 25 Little Dragons Pre-School 11 to 25 Amersham Sign Design 1 to 5 Chalfont Classic Cuisine Ltd 1 to 5 H M Fixings Ltd 1 to 5 Quinton Cavendish Ltd 1 to 5 Your Party DJ Co UK 1 to 5 Clearview 1 to 5 Reed Consulting 1 to 5 Old Bill Pest Control 1 to 5 Amersham Tools Ltd 1 to 5 CPC Performance Engineering Ltd 1 to 5 Plumb Plus Supplies 1 to 5 Roger Edwards Motors 1 to 5 Jackie Miller Accredited Mediator Self only Mercury Communication & Strategy Self only Hypno Help 4 You Enviromental Business Systems Ltd

£44m per annum during construction and will continue to lead on socio-economic work for Buckinghamshire as mitigation work progresses, having drafted the relevant section in the Buckinghamshire Blueprint document.

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9.0 Businesses in Chiltern

The distribution of businesses in Chiltern is shown in the map below. With 52 businesses, Amersham Common has 2.6 7.1 per cent

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i Travel to work data from the 2011 Census are expected to be released in 2014. ii See https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/english-indices-of-deprivation-2010 iii tainment aged 19: http://www.bbf.uk.com/download/226 and http://www.bbf.uk.com/download/228