Kingston Seymour Census Profiles 2001 and 2011
(Article by Leonie Allday which appeared in the Village Magazine in April 2013)
How did Kingston Seymour change over the 10 year period 2001-2011?
POPULATION
Total population – This has risen by 50 (15%), from 338 to 388. The gender balance has changed; in 2001 there were 7 more males than females, in 2011 females outnumbered males by 204 to 184.
Children and young people – In 2001 there were only 8 children aged under 5, by 2011 there were 24! Hence our thriving baby and toddler group…. Interestingly this is right in line with the average for England and Wales (E&W) as a whole and slightly above the average for North Somerset (NS). It gives the lie to the notion that this is a retirement community! However we have many fewer young people in the 10-15 age bracket, 21 as against 38 in 2001, well below the average for both NS and E&W. The total number of children aged 0-16 was almost identical, 62 in 2001 and 59 in 2011, though now forming a slightly smaller proportion of the total population. (Subsequent births and new arrivals have more than eliminated this difference in the 2 years since the Census!)
Older age groups – There were almost exactly the same number of people in the 16-24 and 25-44 age brackets in 2001 and 2011. The big changes have been in the 45-64 and 65-74 age brackets, rising from 130 to 153 and 20 to 44 respectively. In both cases they form above-average proportions of the population compared with E&W and NS. The number of residents aged over 75 is virtually unchanged, although they now represent a slightly smaller percentage of the total population, just 4.6%. This is well below the E&W average of 7.8% and far below the NS average of 10.2%. This lends support to the suggestion that Kingston Seymour, lacking shops, public transport etc is perhaps not a very suitable place for the very elderly to live.
So, although we have a growing number of older residents, we also have a lot of families with very young children – which is very healthy for the future of the community.
IDENTITY
Ethnicity and country of birth – You don’t need me or the Census to tell you that Kingston isn’t very multicultural! Its population is almost 100% white (NS 97%, E&W 86%), and almost all born in the UK. There has been no significant change here in the last 10 years, but NS now has a slightly higher Black and Minority Ethnic Group population than in 2001 and there has been a 5% increase for E&W as a whole.
Religion – The percentage of the population describing themselves as Christian has fallen from 80.2% to 68.8%; this figure is a little higher than that for NS and significantly higher than that for E&W (59.3%). There has been a corresponding rise (from 18.6% to 30.6%) in those describing themselves as having no religion or not answering the question (“religion not stated”).
HEALTH AND CARE
Based on self-assessment of our general health on a scale from very good to very bad, we are healthier than the average for NS and E&W, with a smaller percentage of people suffering from limiting long-term illness. The number of people providing unpaid care for 1-19 hours a week has gone down slightly (from 49 in 2001 to 40 in 2011); a handful of residents are providing full-time care.
ECONOMIC ACTIVITY
Employment
Out of a mass of statistics on this subject I have selected a few that may be of particular interest:
- Almost three-quarters of those in the 16-74 age group are “economically active” , ie aged between 16 and 74 and not retired / a student / looking after home or family / long-term sick or disabled – a few percentage points higher than in NS and E&W
- The proportion who are self-employed is down – from 27.3% in 2001 to 19.9% in 2011
- The proportion of those (working or not) with degree-level qualifications and above has risen from 29.5% to 40.4%, well above the averages for NS (28.4%) and E&W (27.2%)
- At 2.3% in 2011, unemployment was lower than in both NS (3%) and E&W (4.4%). This had also been the case in 2001.
- Kingston Seymour is fortunate in having no-one who is long-term unemployed. The comparisons for NS and E&W are 36.6% and 39.3% (of the total unemployed) respectively.
Travel to work
18.6% of those working do so at, or mainly from, home. The vast majority of the rest (150, 70%) go to work by car or van, with just a few using a train (12) or bicycle (5) or going on foot (9). When there was a daily bus service it was used for travel to work by only 3 people. Car use in NS as a whole is even higher, at 74%, but lower nationally at 62.6%; this reflects the greater availability of alternative forms of transport in cities and city regions. Even so, nationally, relatively few people travel to work by bus (7.3%), train / underground (9.1%) or on foot (10.7%).
We are very wedded to our cars, and they are of course a more comfortable and flexible form of transport than most others, even if we do have to sit in traffic jams. The figures are little changed from 2001, apart from a significant increase in those going to work by train (only 3 in 2001) and a trebling in the number of walkers!
Occupation (2011*)
Above the national average – farming, construction, finance / insurance, real estate, professional / scientific /technical, administration, public sector / information / communication, defence, education
Below the national average – manufacturing, utilities, transport / storage, accommodation / food services, health / social work
*These figures were collected very differently in 2001 so a direct comparison is not possible.
HOUSING AND ACCOMMODATION
Housing
93% of residents live in detached or semi-detached houses; this compares with 63% in NS and 53.3% in E&W. Over 80% of householders own their homes outright (42%) or with a mortgage or loan. Our private rented sector (11.3%) is a little smaller than the average for NS and E&W, but not much. The public rented sector is tiny at 2.7%, well below the NS (9.2%) and E&W (17.6%) averages. These figures are little changed from 2001, although there are now more privately rented properties and there has been an increase in the number of caravans used as permanent dwellings from 3 to 7.
Car ownership
The total number of cars and vans in the parish has risen from 269 in 2001 to 333 in 2011. Car ownership is very high at 96.7% – only 5 households are without a car or van (one more than in 2001). The NS and E&W averages are 82.8% and 74.4% respectively. Over 75% of households have two or more cars or vans, unchanged from 2001, but again much higher than the NS (41%) and E%W (32%) averages. This is probably more a reflection of the lack of alternative forms of transport than a measure of affluence!
Household spaces and composition
The number of “household spaces” (all forms of housing including permanently occupied caravans) has risen over the ten years from 131 to 157. In the 2011 Census there were 11 different categories of household composition, and the data was collected slightly differently from the way in which it was done in 2001. A demographer’s nightmare! However, these are the “headlines”:
- One–person households – these form 19.2% of all households (NS 30.7%, E&W 30.2%). This is up slightly since 2001 but still probably lower than you might have expected.
- Households with dependent children – 25.2% (NS 27.1%, E&W 29.1%)
- Households with no dependent children – 59% (NS 31.4%, E&W 26.9%)
If you have read all this you will probably have indigestion by now. If I was cleverer with graphics I could turn it all into pretty pictures (any offers? ….) , but I hope this will have given you a flavour and been of interest.
If you want to see the full parish profiles for 2001 and 2011 you will find them on the North Somerset Council website www.n-somerset.gov.uk. Ward and district level profiles are also available.
Leonie Allday.