DEEP RURAL LOCALITIES October 2009 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS During the ‘deep rural’ research project the Wales Rural Observatory team travelled to a number of places and met a range of people. Invariably, everybody was friendly and cooperative. The Wales Rural Observatory wishes to extend its thanks to the people who helped with the research. Local authority personnel in Gwynedd, Pembrokeshire and Powys were instrumental in the early stages of the research: helping to establish the criteria for ‘deep rural’; providing advice on local conditions; and providing local contacts. The Clerks of Community Council in the research communities of Aberdaron, Clydau, Llanfihangel - yng- Ngwynfa and Llangammarch Wells were most helpful in arranging meetings with the community councils and setting-up meeting places, notice boards and catering arrangements for the research teams engaged in the household surveys. In this context, thanks are extended to those local shops and public houses that assisted the research by displaying notices and acting as distribution and collection centres for the household survey. The Wales Rural Observatory is grateful to the teams of post-graduate students who conducted the household survey. Finally, the Wales Rural Observatory wishes to thank the people who participated in the research, the people who live and work in ‘deep rural’ Wales. Especial thanks are extended to respondents to the household questionnaire; agencies and organisations who responded to the service provision questionnaire; those people who organised the focus groups and those young people who attended them; and those residents who gave their time to provide interviews. i www.walesruralobservatory.org.uk Acknowledgements iii Contents iiiiii Executive Summary iiiiiiiii SECTION 1 INTRODUCTION 111 SECTION 2 METHODS 555 SECTION 3 2007 HOUSEHOLD SURVEY DATA 111111 SECTION 4 LOCALITY AND DEMOGRAPHICS 11141444 SECTION 5 COMMUNITY AND CULTURE 22252555 SECTION 6 SERVICES 414141 SECTION 7 TRANSPORT 55575777 SECTION 8 HOUSEHOLD ENERGY 626262 SECTION 9 SUMMARY OF QUESTIONNAIRE ANALYSES 66676777 SECTION 10 INTERVIEWS WITH RESIDENTS 707070 SECTION 11 YOUTH IN DEEP RURAL WALES 868686 SECTION 12 PROVIDING SERVICES 111051050505 SECTION 13 CONCLUSIONS 111121121212 APPENDIX 119 ii www.walesruralobservatory.org.uk EXECUTIVE SUMMARY KEY FINDINGS This Executive Summary provides an overview of 94% of respondents rated their quality of life as either ‘very good’ or ‘fairly good’. results from a research Respondents tended to cite peace and quiet, project in four community feelings of community, a slower pace of life, landscape and scenery as things they liked in areas of ‘deep rural’ Wales their area. undertaken by the Wales 36% of residents rated general service provision Rural Observatory (WRO) in their local area as ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’. between December 2008 63% rated the provision of hospitals as ‘poor’ or and April 2009. ‘very poor’. 75% of respondents considered a school to be ‘essential’ in their local area; 21% considered it to be ‘desirable’. 82% of respondents considered a Post Office to be ‘essential’; 16% stated that it was ‘desirable’. 58% of respondents considered broadband to be ‘essential’ and 33% stated that it was ‘desirable’. However, only 51% of total respondents received broadband services. 92% of respondents considered access to a car to be ‘essential’. Only 4% of total households did not have access to a private vehicle. Public transport was generally rated as poor. 80% of properties had central heating. Similarly high proportions had loft insulation and double glazing. The standard of heating and energy saving was not as high in rented properties: 30% did not have central heating; 30% did not have loft insulation; and 31% did not have double glazing. 59% of households were not connected to mains drainage. There were widespread concerns about the sustainability of communities in ‘deep rural’ The Research Wales. By a team at Cardiff University for the Wales Rural Observatory (WRO) iii www.walesruralobservatory.org.uk BACKGROUND - Food only shop Following the publication in 2008 of the policy - Post Office document ‘One Wales’, which identified a need to - Petrol station address the particular issues affecting ‘deep rural’ - Bank or Building Society areas in Wales, the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) commissioned the Wales Rural - General Practitioner Observatory (WRO) to undertake extensive - Dental surgery research into these issues. The aim of the - Pharmacy research was to explore how residents experienced life in ‘deep rural’ parts of Wales, with - Educational establishment a focus on the strategies and mechanisms - Permanent library adopted with regard to service provision. - Police station For the purpose of the study, deep rural areas - Bus stop or railway station were defined as communities with fewer than - Cash machine 1,000 households, located at least 30 minutes drive-time from a centre with a population of more Using these criteria, along with GIS mapping than 10,000. In order to gain a better technology, a short list of twenty-four potential understanding of the particular issues affecting research communities was drawn up by the WRO. these areas, an initial broad sweep analysis of Drawing on information gathered through scoping data gathered as part of a survey of households in visits to each individual community, along with 1 rural Wales, undertaken by the WRO in 2007 , advice from WAG and the local authorities, four was carried out. The results of this analysis were research communities were selected, namely: subsequently used to inform the design of the Aberdaron (located on the Ll ŷn Peninsula in research. Gwynedd); Clydau in North Pembrokeshire; Llanfihangel-yng-Ngwynfa in North Powys; and METHODOLOGY Llangammarch Wells in South Powys. Research A key aim of the research was to provide different areas around these communities were delineated regional perspectives and to ensure sufficient using postcodes and GIS technology. As variation. Following discussions with WAG, the postcodes overlap community council areas, Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) some sections of adjacent communities were also and local authority representatives from Gwynedd, included in the research areas. Pembrokeshire and Powys, it was agreed that the research would be conducted in four broad areas: The research consisted of four key phases. the Ll ŷn Peninsula of Gwynedd, North Powys, Phase 1: During December 2008 and January South Powys and North Pembrokeshire. It was 2009, an in-depth household survey was further agreed that the WRO would identify four conducted in each of the research areas. The candidate deep rural communities, one in each of surveys were carried out by a team of post- the named areas, to participate in the study. graduate researchers, which included Welsh speakers, under the supervision of WRO core As a first step in identifying suitable study personnel. Each household within the research communities, the initial definition of what areas was asked to complete a questionnaire, constituted a ‘deep rural’ area was refined and (either in Welsh or English) over a period of four extended to include the following criteria: days. The table below shows the response rate for each research community area. • communities located at least 30 minutes drive-time from a centre with a population of Response Community Responses more than 10,000. rate 2 • communities comprising between 180 – 500 Aberdaron 214 47% households. Clydau 245 54% Llanfihangel 192 52% • communities with fewer than five of twelve Llangammarch 194 52% ‘key’ services, defined as: Total 845 51% 1 Wales Rural Observatory (2008) Report on the Household 2 According to the 2001 Census, over 22% of properties in the Survey in Rural Wales: Report 17 . WRO: Cardiff. Aberdaron research area were holiday homes or unoccupied. iv www.walesruralobservatory.org.uk Phase 2: Following on from the household peace and quiet, slower pace of life, community survey, a total of 60 (15 in each study area) in- belonging, and the landscape associated with depth, face-to-face interviews were conducted their area. The most commonly cited ‘dislikes’ with residents who had indicated a willingness to were a lack of services, and the decline in, and participate in the second phase of the research. closure of, existing services. Once again, this phase of the research was designed and developed with the option of Community and Culture conducting the interviews in either English or In terms of ethnicity and language, 49% of Welsh. All interviews were recorded and fully respondents considered themselves Welsh, and transcribed. just over a third (35%) of respondents were fluent Welsh speakers. Aberdaron and Llanfihangel had Phase 3: In each of the four study areas, a focus the highest proportions of Welsh speakers, while group was held with local young people between Llangammarch recorded the lowest. Almost 40% the ages of 14 to 18. The focus groups were of respondents had moved to their local area from recorded and transcribed. The Aberdaron and England. Clydau focus groups were conducted in the Welsh language. Overall perceptions of community solidarity were high, with 86%of respondents stating that there Phase 4: A range of service providers with was a good ‘sense of community’ in their local operational interests in ‘deep rural’ Wales was areas. Similarly, a high proportion of respondents asked to complete a questionnaire. They were (80%) considered themselves to be a member of given the option of responding by postal, the local community. Perceptions of community electronic or Internet methods, and in Welsh or belonging tended to be highest among Welsh English. A total of 243 service providers was speakers - 91% of this groups considered contacted and 49 responded, giving a response themselves to be active members of the local rate of 20%. community. Interview data from non-Welsh residents indicated, however, that they were FINDINGS generally well integrated into local communities. A There was consistency in the research findings; sizeable minority of 40% of all respondents the qualitative data of Phases 2, 3 and 4 tended to considered their local area to be isolated.