The State of Rural Cumbria A Report Compiled by ACTion with Communities in Cumbria December 2013 Contents: Page Introduction and Context 2 Part 1 An Ageing Population 4 Introduction Data Lone Pensioners Households Data Access Summary 12 Key Issues Initiatives and opportunities Potential Partners Part 2 Too Few Young People 13 Introduction Data Access Summary 17 Part 3 Disadvantage 18 Introduction Data Access Summary 22 Part 4 Health 23 Introduction Data Access Summary 27 Part 5 Rural Living 28 Fuel Poverty Data Rural Housing Affordability Working from home Summary 32 Part 6 Next Steps 33 1 Introduction This report delivers information. The challenge is to use the information to make a difference to the experiences of the 52% of Cumbrian’s living in rural areas in our County. The information is clear; the solutions are not, if they were, change would have taken place already. Cumbria is, as we know a complex and varied place. This report has been compiled using Rural Evidence data published by Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE) in partnership with Oxford Consultants for Social Inclusion (OCSI). This partnership has developed datasets for all rural communities in England, including reports at individual parish level. Drawing upon the latest available data, including the Census 2011, these comprehensive Parish Profiles provide over 40 pages of detailed information under the following eight themes: Social and Cultural Equity and Prosperity Economy Housing and the Built Environment Transport and Connectivity Services Environmental Governance The reports are an excellent reference source for parish councils, community groups and others interested in their locality and in planning local activities, services and facilities. Action with Communities in Cumbria (ACT) has undertaken some analysis of just a few of the indicators that are contained in the Parish Profiles of Cumbrian communities. Its purpose is to use the Rural Evidence data to improve our understanding of key issues affecting rural Cumbrians. ACT has explored the challenges that these issues create; the opportunities that they represent; and the partners who will need to collaborate to deliver effective solutions. In thinking about the challenges and their solutions, we have been guided by Defra’s recently published Rural Proofing guidance. This suggests a range of questions that can be asked in seeking to rural proof policies and delivery strategies including: Can it be delivered locally? Can it be done by volunteers? Are there more cost effective ways of delivering? Can services be better tailored to need by using small area data (of which the Parish Profiles are one example)? Our analysis is based on Defra’s Rural Definition which specifies which communities should be considered Urban and which ones are Rural. Our analysis is therefore consistent with data published by Government and Local Authorities. The geographic base for the data used is dictated by the geography used by the Office for National Statistics when publishing the Census 2011. In some instances parishes that are now merged have been treated by ONS as their historic, separate entities. In the report we have presented most of our analysis in the form of charts. We have used three main types: Rural Share charts - illustrate the percentage of people with a shared characteristic, such as being over 65, who are rural residents. For example, 57.5% of all Cumbrians who are aged over 65 live in rural communities. 2 Whole Population charts – show the percentage of the whole population of an area, or all households in an area, that fall into a particular group, for example 20.6% of all Cumbrians are aged over 65. Range charts – show (in most instances) the five parishes with the highest proportion of a particular population group and the five parishes with the lowest proportion. For example Winscales has the highest proportion of over 65s of any Allerdale parish, and Brigham the lowest proportion. This report may appear fairly substantial however it merely skims the surface of the extremely detailed and informative Parish Profiles Reports which are available on the ACT website: www.cumbriaaction.org.uk/ResourcesPublications/ParishProfiles Context1 Cumbria is the third largest county in England and, with the second sparsest population, is one of the most rural. Using the Defra Rural Definition, just over half of Cumbria’s population live in its rural communities. However, when examined at District level the proportion of rural residents varies enormously as Chart 1 shows. The lowest proportion of rural residents are in Barrow and the highest in Allerdale. Great diversity of population and experience are characteristics which are apparent throughout our analysis. 1 - Rural Share, Population 73.8 71.0 80.0 65.6 70.0 61.3 60.0 52.9 50.0 40.0 31.7 30.0 18.1 20.0 10.0 0.0 1 Source: Census 2011 3 Part 1 – An Ageing Population2 102,985 people aged over 65 live in Cumbria, 20.6% of the whole population. 57.5% of these people or 59,170 live in our rural communities. As with overall population, the share of older people that are rural residents varies greatly when examined at District level (Chart 2). 2- Rural Share, Over 65s 76.3 71.6 80 67.4 67.4 70 57.5 60 50 36.9 40 30 17.9 20 10 0 Chart 3 breaks this information down further, showing the varying proportion of the total population that older people comprise of in the urban and rural areas of each district, alongside comparable information for Cumbria and England. 3 - Over 65s as % of all people 30.0 26.7 25.0 22.3 22.1 21.5 21.5 21.4 20.6 20.4 19.5 18.8 18.8 18.6 18.5 18.0 20.0 17.0 16.3 15.0 10.0 5.0 0.0 As can be seen, all of our study areas have a higher proportion of older people than is the average for England. However, the divergence from the national average is generally greater in our rural than our urban areas. This is especially so in South Lakeland District where the proportion of older people is over 10% higher than the national average. With the exception of Barrow, the rural communities in every Cumbrian district have a higher proportion of older people than their associated urban areas. 2 Source: Census 2011 4 These fairly modest deviations from the Cumbria average mask quite dramatic differences that are apparent when the data is examined at parish level. Below we present six tables which compare the rural parishes with the highest and lowest proportions of older people for each of Cumbria’s districts. The diversity in population structure at parish level is a key characteristic that is apparent for each of the indicators that we examine in this report. 4 - Allerdale, Range of over 65s 45.0 36.3 40.0 33.8 35.0 29.6 29.5 29.4 30.0 25.0 20.7 20.6 16.3 20.0 16.1 15.5 15.0 14.3 15.0 11.1 10.0 5.0 0.0 5 - Barrow, Range of over 65s 45 40 35 30 20.6 25 19.1 18.8 18.7 18.5 20 16.3 15.8 15 10 5 0 Cumbria Askam & Barrow All Dalton England Lindal & Ireleth Town Barrow with Marton Newton 5 6 - Carlisle, Range of over 65s 45.0 40.0 35.0 27.4 30.0 25.0 24.6 23.7 23.5 20.6 25.0 18.4 16.9 16.8 20.0 16.3 16.3 14.5 15.0 11.4 10.0 5.0 0.0 7 - Copeland, Range of over 65s 45.0 40.0 35.0 30.7 29.9 29.7 28.0 27.8 30.0 25.0 20.6 19.0 17.1 16.3 20.0 15.7 15.5 14.0 15.0 11.5 10.0 5.0 0.0 8 - Eden, Range of over 65s 45.0 39.8 37.0 40.0 32.3 35.0 30.2 29.6 30.0 21.9 25.0 20.6 20.0 16.3 14.5 14.3 14.0 13.1 11.9 15.0 10.0 5.0 0.0 6 9 - South Lakeland, Range of over 65s 45.0 41.9 40.8 40.3 40.0 36.0 34.7 35.0 30.0 24.3 25.0 20.6 16.3 15.8 15.6 15.1 15.1 20.0 12.3 15.0 10.0 5.0 0.0 Lone Pensioner Households3 Nationally, around half of those aged over 75 now live alone, and social isolation can affect their health, including whether they eat well. Research shows people over 50 who are single, widowed or divorced eat less healthily than those with partners. Men, people who live alone and those who are socially isolated are most likely to eat a diet with little variety (Campaign to End Loneliness). Lone pensioners are also more likely to be affected by challenges such as fuel poverty. A new study (‘Social isolation, loneliness, and all-cause mortality in older men and women’ – Andrew Steptoe, Aparna Shankar, Panayotes Demakakos and Jane Wardle, 2013) suggests that being socially isolated may have a greater effect on risk of early death, especially among the elderly. The research, which was led by Andrew Steptoe, a professor of epidemiology and public health at University College London, followed 6,500 British people over 52 from 2004 until 2012. The most socially isolated in this group were 26% more likely to die during the study period than those with the most active social lives, even after controlling for factors that also affect mortality, like age and illness.