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Braintree District Rural Services Survey 2008 RURAL SERVICES SURVEY 2008 CONTENTS Page 1 Background 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 Purpose of the Survey 1 1.3 Use of the Survey 1 1.4 Survey Method 1 Map showing parishes and wards in the local areas 2 2 Executive summary 2.1 The district as a whole 3 2.2 Braintree Area 4 2.3 Halstead Area 5 2.4 Witham Area 6 3 Area Comparisons 7 4 Changes since 2005 Rural Services Survey 8 Map showing key services in each settlement 9 5 Services and facilities in Braintree District 10 6 Service centres 6.1 Braintree Area 11 6.2 Halstead Area 11 6.3 Witham Area 11 Map showing nearest service centres 12 7 Access to service centres 13 Map showing frequency of bus services 14 8 Key Services in each parish 8.1 Braintree Area 15 8.2 Halstead Area 16 8.3 Witham Area 18 Questionnaire (2005 Survey) 19 8 January 2008 RURAL SERVICES SURVEY 2008 1 BACKGROUND 1.1 Introduction This report is an update of the Braintree District Rural Services Survey 2005. The report covers the 62 rural parishes (52 parish councils) in Braintree District. It excludes the parishes of Witham Town and Halstead Town and the unparished area of Braintree and Bocking. The report includes a summary for the district as a whole and also information for each of the three local areas of Braintree, Halstead and Witham. Details can be provided for individual wards or parishes on request. 1.2 Purpose of the Survey To establish the number of settlements with and without key services. To find out which, if any, rural villages are considered to be service centres for other settlements. To provide information about the services and facilities available to residents living in rural settlements. 1.3 Use of the Survey To provide information for the Local Development Framework Evidence Base. To provide information for the Sustainable Community Strategy and Action Plan. To provide information for the Rural Policy and Action Statement. To provide information for the Deprivation Report. 1.4 Survey Method In August 2007, each parish clerk was sent a summary of services and facilities in their parish, using information from the 2005 survey, and asked to update it. All 52 parish councils responded to the survey and provided information about 71 settlements. The questionnaire distributed for the original survey in 2005 is on page19. - 1 – 8 January 2008 - 2 – 8 January 2008 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2.1 The District as a whole (71 settlements) Key Services 79% have a hall 66% have a pub 42% have a primary school 39% have a post office 31% have a grocery store 20% have a doctor’s surgery 20% have a cash point 8.5% (6 settlements) have all the above services A further 5 settlements have all except a cash point And 1 has all services except a post office 17% have no public transport services to their nearest centre for key services 35% identified their centre for key services as being outside of Braintree District Business and Tourism 45% have small business units 17% have a tourist or visitor attraction 42% have a hotel or B&B 17% have a café Provision for young and old 46% have a pre-school or nursery 20% have an after school club 8% have a youth council or forum 30% have a youth club or mobile facility 52% have a club for the elderly 13% have a good neighbour scheme Leisure and Health 70% have a play area 62% have a sports pitch 7% have a nature reserve or similar 35% have allotments 6% have a dentist Community Safety 41% have a police station or mobile facility 75% have a neighbourhood watch scheme Communication 99% have a parish magazine 58% have a web site 73% have broadband - 3 – 8 January 2008 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2.2 Braintree Area (16 settlements) Key Services 81% have a hall 87% have a pub 56% have a primary school 44% have a post office 37% have a grocery store 25% have a doctor’s surgery 31% have a cash point Coggeshall has all the above services Finchingfield has all except a cash point And Great Notley has all services except a post office 19% have no public transport services to their nearest centre for key services 6% identified their centre for key services as being outside of Braintree District Business and Tourism 56% have small business units 56% have a tourist or visitor attraction 62% have a hotel or B&B 31% have a café Provision for young and old 56% have a pre-school or nursery 37% have an after school club 12% have a youth council or forum 56% have a youth club or mobile facility 62% have a club for the elderly 19% have a good neighbour scheme Leisure and Health 75% have a play area 81% have a sports pitch 12% have a nature reserve or similar 19% have allotments 12% have a dentist Community Safety 56% have a police station or mobile facility 69% have a neighbourhood watch scheme Communication 100% have a parish magazine 69% have a web site 81% have broadband - 4 – 8 January 2008 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2.3 Halstead Area (42 settlements) Key Services 76% have a hall 52% have a pub 33% have a primary school 31% have a post office 24% have a grocery store 14% have a doctor’s surgery 10% have a cash point Earls Colne, Sible Hedingham and Steeple Bumpstead have all the above services Bures Hamlet, Castle Hedingham and Great Yeldham have all except a cash point 19% (8 settlements) have none of the above services 21% have no public transport services to their nearest centre for key services 57% identified their centre for key services as being outside of Braintree District Business and Tourism 33% have small business units 5% have a tourist or visitor attraction 40% have a hotel or B&B 12% have a café Provision for young and old 40% have a pre-school or nursery 7% have an after school club 5% have a youth council or forum 17% have a youth club or mobile facility 45% have a club for the elderly 10% have a good neighbour scheme Leisure and Health 64% have a play area 48% have a sports pitch 5% have a nature reserve or similar 33% have allotments 0% have a dentist Community Safety 33% have a police station or mobile facility 74% have a neighbourhood watch scheme Communication 98% have a parish magazine 48% have a web site 64% have broadband - 5 – 8 January 2008 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2.4 Witham Area (13 settlements) Key Services 85% have a hall 85% have a pub 54% have a primary school 62% have a post office 46% have a grocery store 31% have a doctor’s surgery 38% have a cash point Hatfield Peverel, Kelvedon and Silver End have all the above services Terling has all except a cash point 0% have no public transport services to their nearest centre for key services 0% identified their centre for key services as being outside of Braintree District Business and Tourism 69% have small business units 8% have a tourist or visitor attraction 23% have a hotel or B&B 15% have a café Provision for young and old 54% have a pre-school or nursery 38% have an after school club 15% have a youth council or forum 38% have a youth club or mobile facility 62% have a club for the elderly 69% have a good neighbour scheme Leisure and Health 85% have a play area 85% have a sports pitch 8% have a nature reserve or similar 62% have allotments 15% have a dentist Community Safety 46% have a police station or mobile facility 85% have a neighbourhood watch scheme Communication 100% have a parish magazine 77% have a web site 85% have broadband - 6 – 8 January 2008 3 AREA COMPARISONS The three areas are quite different in character. Witham Area has good transport infrastructure with the A12 and mainline and branch line railways. It includes three ‘larger’ villages (populations over 3,000) and two ‘small’ communities (populations less than 500). The A120 serves many parishes in the Braintree Area which has two ‘larger’ villages (Coggeshall to the east and Great Notley to the south west) and two ‘small’ communities. Halstead Area has no trunk road and almost three times the number of parishes and settlements of either of the other two areas. It similarly has 2 ‘larger’ villages but has 27 ‘small’ communities. Geographically, Halstead is the largest of the three areas and many of the villages are some distance from Halstead town and without good road infrastructure or transport services. The towns and larger villages outside the district – Sudbury, Haverhill and Clare - are significant service providers to those without key services. Retail and Health Services 70 60 50 Braintree 40 % Halstead 30 Witham 20 10 0 Post Office Grocers Cash Doctors The smaller rural communities in the District generally lack key services. Access to basic retail and health services is particularly limited with inequality across the district. The district wide percentage masks the very poor provision of these services in the Halstead Area. In Halstead Area 31% of settlements have a post office (62% in Witham Area), 24% have a grocery store (46% in Witham Area), 10% have a cash point (38% in Witham Area) and only 14% have a doctors surgery (31% in Witham Area). The gap in provision of retail services may to some extent be overcome by mobile shop services.