Wooburn Green Locality Profile
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Wooburn Green Locality Profile Prevention Matters Priorities The Community Links Officer (CLO) has identified a number of key Prevention Matters priorities for the locality that will form the focus of the work over the next few months. These priorities also help to determine the sort of services and projects where Prevention Matters grants can be targeted. The priorities have been identified using the data provided by the Community Practice Workers (CPW) in terms of successful referrals and unmet demand (gaps where there are no appropriate services available), consultation with district council officers, town and parish councils, other statutory and voluntary sector organisations and also through the in depth knowledge of the cohort and the locality that the CLO has gained. The CLO has also worked with the other CLOs across the county to identify some key countywide priorities which affect all localities. Countywide Priorities Befriending Community Transport Wooburn Green Locality Priorities Movers and Shakers (Beaconsfield) Dementia Friendly Communities (Stokenchurch) Gentle Exercise Background data Physical Area From Radnage and Stokenchurch in the North, down through Marlow and across to Beaconsfield, the Wooburn Green area covers an area of 72.1 sq miles and has a total population of 81, 865. The area follows almost precisely the boundaries of three local areas: Beaconsfield, Chepping Wye Valley and South West Chilterns and Marlow. Looking more closely, parish boundaries are a convenient way to delineate various areas, although for some of the larger conurbations – Marlow, Beaconsfield and Hazlemere - it has seemed natural to aggregate them. The area may be broken down, therefore into: Stokenchurch and Radnage Chiltern Rise Hambleden Valley Marlow Flackwell Heath and Little Marlow Tylers Green and Loudwater Hazlemere Beaconsfield The Wooburns Bourne End cum Hedsor Population Across the three local areas, all have an above average proportion of pensioners in relative to the rest of Buckinghamshire. Approximately one in four households are pensioner households. The population demographic has also aged significantly in a short period of time. Since 2001 the number of pensioners has increased by 20% (19.77%), over an increase in population of just 4%, whilst the number of 20 – 59 year olds (working age) has fallen by 4.62% in the same period. It is also an extremely wealthy area – 0% of the population are to be found in the 30% most deprived in the country in terms of income. Furthermore, proportion of households given an ACORN grouping of ‘hard pressed’ is approximately only 60% of the Bucks average, making up between 6% and 7% in each area. A total of 230 people claim pension credits, and 238 people claim disability living allowance. In addition to there being very few people with few means, there are a significant number of wealthy people. The proportion of people earning £35k - £49k is 18.8%, almost exactly the Bucks average of 18.6%. However, 37.7% of people earn more than £50k per annum, above the Bucks average of 34.9%. The population is 93.1% white, which is slightly higher than the average for Buckinghamshire (108 on the Bucks index). Following, is a report on each specific area. Methodology Below, a certain amount of analysis has taken place in relation to health, age, care and public transport statistics. It is necessary to explain the assumptions underpinning them. 1) Age, Health and Care. The comparator used for these statistics is Wycombe District. Although the Wooburn Green Area does not precisely mirror Wycombe District, the vast majority is within the District. As the most accessible source of statistics for the local area, it was considered that it was the most suitable potential choice and would bring to light most accurately where Prevention Matters need is most acute. When parishes or towns have been compared against the district average, a difference of 10% is deemed significant. So, if the Wycombe average was 10% of the population, a figure of 9% would breach the lower boundary, and 11% would breach the upper boundary. 2) The assumptions made for whether a place is well served with public transport are as follows. To get to from the centre of the relevant village to the particular asset, an individual must: a. Only have to take one bus b. Be able to get there within half an hour c. Not have to walk further than half a mile Local Areas Stokenchurch and Radnage (pop 5554) The age profile of this area is broadly in line with district averages, if slightly elevated. Its health matrices tend to fall slightly below district averages. Interestingly, however, the amount of low and high-level care provision is significantly above average for the area. Though grouped together, the two constituent villages are very much distinct. Stokenchurch is a fairly long, thin village, with the main infrastructure tending to cluster in the middle. It is reasonably sized and quite flat with a number of greens in the centre. The majority of it is paved. Radnage is not densely populated, with significant distances between the few key places in the village. Few, if any, of the roads are have separate pavements and there are some areas where the roads are fairly steep. Stokenchurch is moderately reliant on public transport, and is adequately served by it. There is no need to go elsewhere to visit the doctor, but to visit the dentist and optician it is necessary to go to Chinnor, which is accessible by public transport. High Wycombe hospital is also accessible by public transport. For non- health related travel, the village is well served with a post-office, a number of small shops and a bank. The nearest big supermarket is in High Wycombe, which is accessible by public transport. Stokenchurch has a community bus service, which runs a weekly trip to either a market, or the supermarket in Marlow. It also has one day where it just goes up and down the village to help people access the services within the village. Two other days it is used to pick people up and deliver them to the day centre. This means that there is not much flexibility to the service. Radnage, however, is far less well served. It has none of the assets of Stokenchurch, and there is no accessible bus service between the two villages. Indeed, it is impossible to access any required services by public transport. An additional problem is that the community bus in Stokenchurch only serves Stokenchurch parish, which does not include Radnage. Radnage There are four main activities that take place in Radnage: the church, the WI, the Royal British Legion and the school. From these, additional activities arise such as the winter lunch club and book club but almost all the village is covered by those four. As with many of the smaller villages, formal services are fewer and help to vulnerable residents is provided in a more casual way. Radnage 4x4 drivers were able to help vulnerable people in the village get supplies during periods of snow, for example. Furthermore, the existence of the winter lunch club means that people in the village are aware of who is in the village and what their needs are. It is not of such a size that a person is able to remain anonymous to everybody. Good knowledge of the people in the area mean that the services that exist are in equilibrium in terms of their offer and capacity. The WI is a thriving organisation with nearly 40 members. The place that is struggling most is the Royal British Legion, which has fewer and fewer members. Anecdotally, it is suggested that people tend to move away from Radnage once they become frailer and into Stokenchurch. This may be some mitigation to what could otherwise be a serious confluence of problems – lack of day opportunities, lack of public transport, a lack of regular community transport and few everyday community facilities. The village hall is not used all the time, and does have availability during the days. However, some of the activities that take place, like the book club, are small enough that they tend to take place in people’s homes. Stokenchurch There is not a huge pressure on community space in Stokenchurch currently. However, more space is available if needed. The community library is very under-used. This is probably because they are finding their feet with running a library before branching out into other areas and may develop in due course. Further space will also come online with the completion of the Anglican church’s refurbishment, due in Oct 2013. The independently run, two days a week day centre is very popular and is currently running at virtually maximum capacity. There is physical space for more people, but the group see that expansion would involve a lot more work in getting more volunteers and drivers. However, they do recognise that their current success is fairly precarious – bouts of bad weather stop the community minibus which they rely on to pick up service users. Similarly, they have been fortunate that few of their members have been ill. Viruses have the capacity to cut numbers attending drastically. The area has some preventative physical activity. Two Simply Walk groups take place in Stokenchurch, and a pilates class is also available in the village. There are a reasonable number of social activities going on within the village. The only pub lunch club set up by Community Impact Bucks in the Wooburn Green area is based at the Fleur de Lis pub. The supported housing unit at St Hugh’s also accepts non-residents to its lunches and bingo. The OPAG runs a lunch in addition to its speaker and there are a number of coffee mornings around about the village, including one which is times to coincide with the Simply Walk.