South Bucks Councillor Update Economic Profile of Gerrards Cross South Ward

April 2014

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

1.0 Introduction

Gerrards Cross South is home to 3,541 people and provides 500 jobs in 32 businesses. Of these businesses, 11 (34.4 per cent) are Buckinghamshire Business First members.

There were 2,544 employed people aged 16-74 living in Gerrards Cross South ward at the 2011 Census, 244 more than the 2,300 recorded in 2001. Over that period the working age population rose 195 to 2,197 while the total population rose 358 to 3,541. The number of households rose by 91 (8.3 per cent) to 1,190. This is a significant percentage increase and places the ward fourth out of all wards in . Based on the increase in number of households, the ward ranks 24th out of all wards in Buckinghamshire.

The largest companies in Gerrards Cross South include:

 Regal Healthcare Properties Ltd;  Bull Hotel;  W E C International;  Housesitters Limited;  Balicrest Ltd;  D C D Systems Ltd; and  Engineering Co Ltd.

There are eight Gerrards Cross South, representing 0.4 per cent of working age residents, including five claimants aged 25-49 and five who have been claiming for less than six months.

Superfast broadband is expected to be available to 99 per cent of premises in the Gerrards Cross South ward by March 2016 with commercial providers responsible for the full 99 per cent. The Connected Counties project, run by BBF, will deliver no superfast connectivity due to sufficient coverage from commercial suppliers. 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 1,473 employed residents, 380 people lived and worked in the ward, with the most common destinations by local authority district being:

 South Bucks (534, 36.3 per cent)  Hillingdon (154, 10.5)  Slough (98, 6.7)  Chiltern (91, 6.2)  Westminster, City of (88, 6.0)  Ealing (75, 5.1)  Wycombe (56, 3.8)  City of (41, 2.8)

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2.0 Industrial structure

There are 32 businesses located in Gerrards Cross South employing 500 people. Of these businesses, 26 are micro businesses, employing fewer than 10 people.

Gerrards Cross South is over-represented in mining, quarrying & utilities which accounts for 7.5 per cent of employment. Based on this proportion of employment the ward is ranked 335th out of all wards. Construction covers 11.1 per cent of employment ranking the ward 1,418th out of all wards. Property makes up 4.1 per cent of employment ranking the ward 829th out of all wards. The professional, scientific & technical sector contributes to 16.3 per cent of employment while business administration & support services covers 18.1 per cent of employment. Based on these proportions of employment, the ward is ranked 485th and 444th respectively.

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

Mining, quarrying & utilities

Manufacturing

Construction

Motor trades

Wholesale

Retail

Transport & storage

Accommodation & food services

Information & communication

Financial & insurance

Property

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

Gerrards Cross South is under-represented in a number of sectors including; manufacturing; retail; financial & insurance; education; and health. Manufacturing accounts for just 3.1 per cent of employment ranking the ward 4,984th out of all wards. Retail covers only 5.2 per cent of employment ranking the ward 5,562nd out of all wards. Financial & insurance covers 0.7 per cent of employment while education covers 2.3 per cent of employment. Finally, health accounts for only 2.2 per cent of employment ranking the ward 7,793rd out of all wards.

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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. South Bucks -represented in these sectors, particularly aerospace, the information economy and professional and business services.

While Gerrards Cross South provides jobs in these sectors, the industrial strategy sector where the ward delivers the highest share of national employment is professional & business services which accounts for 25.5 per cent of employment, ranking Gerrards Cross South at 329th among English wards. The proportions of jobs in Gerrards Cross South in Industrial Strategy sectors are presented in Table 1.

Table 1: Employment in selected industrial strategy sectors, 2012

Construction PBS EconomyInformation Education South Bucks 5.1 16.8 2.3 7.1 Buckinghamshire 5.2 14.7 4.4 9.7 4.2 12.1 2.9 9.2

Gerrards Cross South 9.3 25.5 6.5 2.3 Source: BRES, ONS, 2013

At 9.3 per cent, the proportion of Gerrards Cross South education sector is the 1,553rd highest of all wards in England, the proportion is above that of both the country level and the district level.

3.0 Labour market

At 62.2 per cent of 16-74 year olds, Gerrards Cross South lowest in the country. Gerrards Cross South has a proportion of 50.5 per cent of its residents qualified to degree level or higher. Furthermore, 70.8 per cent work in managerial, professional or technical occupations.

In South Bucks the wards most similar to Gerrards Cross South are North, Burnham Beeches and Beaconsfield West with eight of the other 27 wards among the top thousand closest matches. The least similar ward in the district is Burnham Lent Rise, the only ward in South Bucks to rank lower than the 4,000th closest match.

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Table 2: Gerrards Cross South & nearest neighbours, 2011

Self-employed 1-3 SOCs NVQ4+ age Working Employmentrate Ward Name Home from Work Gerrards Cross South 10.0 19.2 70.8 50.5 62.0 62.2 Beaconsfield North 8.5 14.8 68.1 52.2 57.0 61.7 Burnham Beeches 11.0 15.7 64.9 41.3 57.4 64.1 Beaconsfield West 7.2 14.9 58.3 41.8 59.9 66.7 Gerrards Cross North 9.9 16.0 71.8 51.6 55.4 65.0 and 10.1 19.2 60.1 36.5 59.6 66.9 Source: Census, 2011

Gerrards Cross South has a high level of those who work from home and of those who 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. Gerrards Cross South looks to have a low employment rate and a low level of working age residents.

Chart 2: Gerrards Cross South

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

Gerrards Cross South better remunerated occupations, with 70.8 per cent of working residents employed in managerial, professional and technical occupations, ranking in the top quartile nationally for each. In contrast Gerrards Cross South ranks in the bottom quartile for other occupations, with only 4.3 per cent of working residents employed in elementary occupations.

Chart 3: Gerrards Cross South

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 South Bucks 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 South Bucks the least deprived in England with 8 of the 19 wards featuring among the least deprived 10 per cent of all wards in England and none falling below the sixth most deprived 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 South Bucks faces to attract resources to tackle deprivation.

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Gerrards Cross South has the 374th lowest economic deprivation of the 7,707 wards in England and the fifth least economically deprived of the 19 South Bucks wards. Gerrards Cross South is the 24th least economically deprived among the 108 wards in Buckinghamshire. The position of South Bucks ds in England is shown in Chart 4 below, with Gerrards Cross South one of the eight least deprived decile.

Chart 4: Relative economic deprivation of South Bucks wards by English decile, 2009 9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

0 Most Least deprived deprived Source: DCLG, 2012

Gerrards Cross South ranks 7,403rd out of all wards in England based on the Index of Multiple Deprivationii; this makes it among the less deprived wards England, above South Bucks 6,084th, 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 Gerrards Cross South

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 South Bucks most closely matching Gerrards Cross South deprivation profile are presented in Table 3. Nationally, the closest matches are Sparsholt (Winchester), Felbridge (Tandridge) and Sherborne St John (Basingstoke & Deane) while Hedgerley & Fulmer and are the most similar in South Bucks ranking as the 366th and 470th most similar of all English wards. Of the 19 South Bucks wards four are among the 1,000 best matches, however Burnham Lent Rise is only the 3,711th closest match.

Table 3: Deprivation Nearest Neighbours

Income Employment Health Education Housing Crime Living environment Ward IMD Gerrards Cross South 6.1 3.6 0.3 0 0.1 86.2 33.6 8.9 Hedgerley and Fulmer 13 8.2 1.8 0.4 8.8 82.6 65.8 42.4 Stoke Poges 21.6 13.6 19.2 7.4 11 63.8 68.1 22.4 Gerrards Cross North 1.9 0.8 5.3 1.2 0 42.7 63.9 32.7 and Burnham South 14.3 3.9 5.8 5.2 18.8 66.1 88.3 29.1 Source: DCLG, 2010

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6.0 Demography

At 40.7 years, Gerrards Cross South above the 39.4 recorded across South Bucks but below the county average of 41.0. This makes Gerrards Cross South among the young wards in England as suggested by the over-representation of 0-24 year olds in Chart 6. In terms of age structure, two of the wards in South Bucks most similar to Gerrards Cross South are Denham South and Heath with average ages of 40.8 and 40.5 respectively.

Chart 6: Gerrards Cross South age profile, 2011 (South Bucks = 100)

Working Age

0-15

16-24

25-44

45-64

65+

85 90 95 100 105 110 115 Source: Census, ONS, 2013

Gerrards Cross South has a lower proportion of working age residents than South Bucks at 62.0 per cent. This ranks Gerrards Cross South at 4,741st of all wards in England based on proportion of residents at working age. Gerrards Cross South has a high proportion of those aged 65+ at 20.9 per cent. This ranks Gerrards Cross South at 1,407th of all wards in England putting it among the top 20 per cent of all wards in England for this age bracket.

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Table 4: South Bucks 0-15 16-64 65+ South Bucks 18.7 61.5 19.9

Beaconsfield North 19.3 57.0 23.7 Beaconsfield South 22.5 61.5 16.0 Beaconsfield West 22.4 59.9 17.7 Burnham Beeches 16.6 57.4 26.0 Burnham Church 18.8 62.7 18.5 Burnham Lent Rise 20.7 65.4 13.9 Denham North 13.1 55.2 31.8 Denham South 17.7 66.2 16.0 Dorney and Burnham South 16.8 63.0 20.2 20.6 59.5 19.9 Gerrards Cross East and Denham South West 22.7 62.6 14.7 Gerrards Cross North 19.3 55.4 25.3 Gerrards Cross South 20.9 62.0 17.1 Hedgerley and Fulmer 19.7 59.6 20.8 Iver Heath 18.8 64.6 16.7 Iver Village and Richings Park 18.0 65.3 16.7 Stoke Poges 17.6 61.6 20.8 13.5 63.7 22.8 and Iver West 16.1 65.1 18.8 Source: Census, 2011

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7.0 Educational attainment

South Bucks is one of the best qualified places in the country, with only 16.2 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 37.5 per cent hold degree level qualifications, well above the national level of 27.4 per cent.

Gerrards Cross South overall, with only 8.4 per cent having no qualifications and 50.5 per cent educated to degree level or higher. There is a total of 4.7 per cent of Gerrards Cross South residents who are schoolchildren or full-time students aged 16 to 17. This is high in comparison to other wards in South Bucks as well as other wards across England. performance compared to all wards in England is presented in Chart 7 below.

Chart 7: Educational attainment in Gerrards Cross South, 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

Gerrards Cross South is most similar to Christchurch (Guildford) and Weston Green (Elmbridge) of all English wards with regard to educational attainment. In the district the most similar wards are Gerrards Cross East & Denham South West, Beaconsfield West and Gerrards Cross North with seven of the other 18 wards ranking inside the top 1000 matches but with Denham North ranking outside the top 4,000 along with Burnham Lent Rise.

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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 Gerrards Cross South 8.4 8.3 13.5 10.9 50.5 4.7 3.4 Gerrards Cross East and Denham South West 13.1 11.8 13.5 12 41.4 3.4 3 Beaconsfield West 14.7 11.4 14.8 10.3 41.8 3.5 2.5 Gerrards Cross North 10.6 6.8 13.5 9.9 51.6 2.9 2.7 Beaconsfield North 11.5 7.3 12.7 9.4 52.2 2.8 4.1 Farnham Royal 13.8 11.6 15.1 10.7 41.4 2.8 3.1 Source: Census, ONS, 2011

7.1 Buckinghamshire Schools

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.

8.0 Buckinghamshire Business First in Gerrards Cross South

Of the 32 businesses in Gerrards Cross South, 11, or 34.4 per cent are Buckinghamshire Business First members. BBF members in the ward are presented in Table 6 below.

Table 6: BBF members in Gerrards Cross South, November 2013 Business Employee Size Band Global Village Ltd Housesitters Limited 26 to 50 Balicrest Ltd 11 to 25 Ever English Ltd 1 to 5 The Drawing Room 1 to 5 Absolute Office Ltd 1 to 5 Alliance Building Services Ltd 1 to 5 Online 1 to 5 Tuff Love 1 to 5 B M Bawn Building Contractors 1 to 5 SEO WEB DESIGNS Self only

£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 South Bucks

The distribution of businesses in South Bucks is shown in the map below. With 32 businesses, Gerrards Cross South has 2.6 0.8

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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