Barlaston Parish Council wishes to acknowledge, with thanks, the receipt of grants from the Countryside Agency and County Councillor Ian Parry, from Staffordshire County Council’s Local Member Initiative Scheme, which made this study possible. Thanks also go to the hundreds of local residents who completed and returned the questionnaire

BARLASTON VILLAGE APPRAISAL

SUMMARY

· The information on which this report is based was collected from a variety of published sources (including material from the Internet) and a questionnaire survey carried out in the early part of the summer of 2002

FROM PUBLISHED SOURCES

· The parish covers 1200 hectares of largely rural land, much of it forming part of the North Staffordshire Green Belt. Boundary changes in 1997 resulted in the transfer of the Wedgwood factory and grounds to the newly established Stoke on Trent Unitary Authority.

· The population estimate for mid 1998, by the National Statistics Office, gives a parish total of 2,800 people. This represents a decrease of 11% since 1981.

· Population movements into and out of the parish are relatively small, with one of the lowest levels of change of address in a twelve month period for the whole Borough.

· The 1991 census shows that Barlaston has an unusually high percentage of older people. 25% are above pensionable age which, on a ward-by-ward basis, is the highest in Stafford Borough.

· Of those in work, according to the 1991 Census, 62% were engaged in the service sector (e.g. distribution, catering, transport, finance), 24% in the primary sector (agriculture, miming and energy), and 12% in manufacturing. However, economic changes since 1991 are likely to have had substantial impacts upon these figures, especially with respect to the primary sector.

· The parish has experienced some major economic changes on its immediate boundary in recent years, including the closure of Trentham and Florence collieries and the power station at Meaford. Redevelopment is train at these sites.

· Housing is primarily composed of an equal mixture of detached and semi-detached properties with smaller proportions of terraced housing and flats. The majority of homes are owner occupied (66% in 1991), although this figure is likely to have increased in recent years.

· Health indicators for Barlaston are, perhaps surprisingly, relatively poor. In particular measures based upon standardised mortality rates, the proportion of small babies (under 2.5 kg at birth) and people with limiting long term illness compare unfavourably with the rest of Stafford Borough.

· In terms of shops and services, Barlaston is relatively well equipped for a settlement of its size. Despite this, many residents have to travel more than 2kms. for several key services.

· According to the Adopted Local Plan (Stafford Borough, 2001), no major planning developments are foreseen for Barlaston itself, however there are various major schemes just outside the parish boundary.

· Most environmental risk factors that are measured by government agencies are favourable, in particular the quality of the local water courses has improved. There are however some potential issues connected with the demise of coal mining (including subsidence) and power generation industries.

From the questionnaire survey

· In total 1158 questionnaires were distributed, one to each household in the parish, and 307 completed forms were returned. The response rate of 26.5% is very much in line with expectations for a survey of this kind.

· Overall the responses are biased in favour of older people with 48% of respondents being over 60 years (Q12), compared to 29% of the whole parish population who were in this age group according to ONS estimates for 1998.

· There has been very little recent house-building, and 96% of the respondents occupied houses built before 1980. Rather more than half of respondents thought that no further homes are required, but a quarter thought that Barlaston needs homes for young people.

· In response to a question about what influences choice of schools, the overwhelming response (91%) was high teaching standards with small classes in second place.

· Approximately two fifths of children represented by this sample reported being unable to take part in after school activities, mainly because of lack of transport or distance between school and home.

· Over 320 people reported a need for additional educational facilities in Barlaston, with adult education evening classes, holiday play schemes and after school clubs being most in demand.

· The shops in the village are used by a very large majority of respondents and for the Spar, the greengrocers, the newsagents and the butchers a visit at least weekly was the typical pattern.

· The Post Office was used by over 90% of respondents, with a weekly visit by almost half.

· The Library and Village Hall were felt to be important by a large majority of respondents, and the church was an important focal point for approximately half the respondents.

· The average number of cars per household was 1.2 and the car was the main means of transport for 84% of respondents.

· Almost two thirds of respondents reported that they never use the bus or the train. Amongst those who do use the bus, shopping trips are the most important and journeys to work barely feature at all.

· Four out of every five residents believed speeding vehicles to be a problem in Barlaston, with Tittensor Road being the location giving most concern.

· The local environment is highly valued by residents. Priority needs were the reduction of traffic, further recycling of refuse and improvements in public transport were the priorities.

· On the issue of crime, over half of the respondents expressed concern about vandalism and two fifths about theft. Almost two thirds of respondents thought that a greater police presence would help but an even larger proportion favoured more activities for young people.

· Local planning matters and local authority spending seemed to meet with broad approval by around half of the respondents, but in both categories a fifth were dissatisfied.

· The Heron Newsletter and the Church Magazine proved to be important sources of information about the local community, being cited by three fifths of respondents.

· The most important thing about Barlaston, listed by over 70% of respondents, was the environment. This was closely followed by the location and the community. The community aspect included references to such factors as a small and friendly place, unspoilt/unchanging nature of the village, good neighbours and a safe place in which to live.

VILLAGE APPRAISALS

Over the past few years many local communities have realised the value of undertaking a village appraisal. At one level these appraisals provide an interesting snapshot of the characteristics of communities at a particular point in time and help those communities to define themselves. At another level they gather facts and opinions from local people and local sources that help to identify what needs conserving and what needs improving or changing. In this way they can act as an important tool in helping to shape the future policies and directions for the community.

The Barlaston Village Appraisal, which covers the whole parish not simply the village core, was carried out in the early summer of 2002. It was conducted by the Parish Council and was based upon a widely used questionnaire prepared by the Countryside and Community Research Unit at the University of Gloucestershire. This questionnaire can be tailored to suit local circumstances and extra questions can be added. In the present case the final choices were made by a sub-committee of the parish council after seeking advice and inputs from a range of local bodies and individuals. Additional help and advice at all stages of the Appraisal was provided by the School of Earth Sciences and Geography at Keele University and financial support was provided by the Countryside Agency. Despite this outside help, it is important to see the Appraisal as an exercise undertaken by and for members of the local community. The major inputs were the organisation undertaken by the Parish Council and the information supplied by the hundreds of local people who responded to the survey.

In addition to material gathered by this questionnaire survey, the report contains background material gathered from other sources, including the Census and reports published by the planning and health authorities. The sources of this information are referenced in the text.

PART ONE - INFORMATION FROM PUBLISHED SOURCES

Introduction

The Village Appraisal is very much about present day characteristics and needs of the village, but to set the study in context, and to provide background for more recent residents a very brief introduction is necessary.

The most comprehensive source of historical information about the village is contained within Michael Greenslade’s booklet, Barlaston, a history, published in 1966 by the University of Keele. This also provides reference to many first hand historical sources. Much of the information is summarised on the Barlaston website (http://www.barlaston.org.uk/) so only the briefest resumé will be given here.

Greenslade suggests that Barlaston was first mentioned around the year 1000 in the will of Wulfric Spot, the founder of Burton Abbey. It appears as Benulvestone in the Domesday Book, and it was then in the hands of the de Stafford family until the reign of Elizabeth I. By 1225 it had become separated from Trentham as an independent parish and by 1526 a distinct village core had emerged between the Green and the old church.. A major change to the landscape occurred around 1600 with the enclosure of the medieval open field system and new farms and hamlets grew up in the eighteenth century.

The eighteenth century was important for another reason and this is connected with the coming of the canal in the period 1766-77. This changed Barlaston from a relatively quiet rural backwater, to a settlement on one of the most important industrial thoroughfares of the day. A similarly profound change occurred with the coming of the railway in the 1840s. It was the presence of this railway that was, much later, to prompt two of the largest industrial developments in the entire history of the parish, that is the establishment of the Wedgwood factory which moved out from Etruria in 1938 (although the factory itself was re-incorporated into the City by a minor boundary change in 1997), and the construction of the power station at Meaford immediately after the war (since demolished). The years immediately before and after the war were clearly a formative period for the village, because they also saw the opening of Wedgwood Memorial College, the third major development to be established in the parish, but designed to serve a far wider population.

The parish covers 1200 hectares of largely rural land situated between around 230 metres (750ft) in the north east, dipping to around 90 metres (300 ft) across the floodplain of the Trent in the south west. The landscape consists of a mixture of agricultural activities, with an emphasis upon livestock, some woods and a substantial area of parkland surrounding Barlaston Hall. Virtually all of this land forms part of the North Staffordshire Green Belt, and most of it is additionally designated a Special Landscape Area.

Today, the settlement takes the form of three very different areas

1. The older core of the village loosely focused upon the Green which is a protected open space with several listed buildings adjoining. Much of this part of the villages dates from the 19^th century or earlier, although there are also newer roads and houses from the 20^th century.

2. The mainly inter and post - war development to the west of the railway line and canal

3. Barlaston Park, an estate of houses built in an historic parkland setting as a part of the Wedgwood development.

POPULATION

Population change

The tiny settlement of around 35 people at the time of the Domesday survey had grown to around 200 by the middle of the C18th. Under the influence of the major developments outlined above, but also with the effect of the nearby and spreading city of Stoke on Trent, the population then trebled to 617 by 1851. In the next century it more than trebled again to reach 2041 by 1951. This was followed by continued strong growth, to 2459 in 1961 and 3081 in 1971, partly fuelled by the decentralisation of the neighbouring urban settlements of Stoke and Newcastle. After 1971 population growth slowed markedly across the country as a whole and Barlaston’s position reflects this, although there were also boundary changes which affect the comparisons. The ward and the civil parish of Barlaston are identical for the 1991 census, with an area of 1200 hectares. Based upon these boundaries the 1981 population was 3,154 and the 1991 figure was 2,891. This decrease can be partly explained by there being more deaths than births in the parish; a total of 27 live births and 65 deaths of residents were registered in 1998 - the latest date for which figures are available. The average crude rates of 10 births and 23 deaths per thousand residents, compared with 10 and 10 respectively across the whole of Stafford Borough, reflect the comparatively large number of older people in the parish. Another part of the explanation for population decline is simply that more people have moved out of the parish than have moved in (see below).

Approximately 1350 people live in the village itself, and another 760 in Barlaston Park. (Adopted Local Plan (Stafford Borough, 2001)

At the time of writing, the results of the 2001 census were still unavailable, but an estimate for mid 1998 by the National Statistics Office suggested a figure of 2,800 people (http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/aboutness.asp). Care should be taken in attempting to relate overall population to the number of houses, or likely housing demand because of important social changes during this period. In general there was a tendency for household sizes to fall because of greater longevity, the growth of single person households and marital separation. This means that a given number of houses is likely to accommodate fewer people overall than was previously the case.

Age Structure

The composition of a population in terms of its age structure has many important implications for an area, including the type and levels of service provision needed. The 1991 census reveals that a particular characteristic of Barlaston is its unusually high percentage of older persons (25% are above pensionable age) - much greater than the average for the borough as a whole (17%), and on a ward-by-ward basis the highest in Stafford. At the other end of the scale this is matched by low numbers of pre-school age children (4%) compared to the borough average (6%) - making Barlaston ward the second lowest in Stafford. Such characteristics as these are also reflected in the household composition of the parish - for instance in 1991, 28.9% of all households in Barlaston consisted only of pensioners (compared to 23.3% for Stafford borough). In contrast, only 8% of households contained children of pre-school age (12% for Stafford as a whole).

Migration

Even in small communities, populations are rarely entirely static and in Barlaston, as elsewhere, from time to time individuals and entire households move into and out of the parish. The explanations for such migrations are many and varied and include job changes and environmental and housing preferences as well as factors more directly related to personal circumstances or life-stages, such as leaving school or retirement. The impacts of such migration can be similarly varied, ranging from the negative - for instance a weakening of the sense of community - to the positive - such as the improved vitality and new skills that often arise from an injection of 'new blood'.

Although the census offers few explanations for population movements, it does allow the size and directions of such movements to be determined. Using the data on 'one-year migration' (residents having a different address one year prior to the census enumeration) we can see that 5.5% of the resident population of Barlaston ward had moved home in the preceding year. This figure is actually little more than half the average for Stafford borough as a whole (9.1%), and is the third lowest of all wards in the borough. The census also shows that out-migration was much higher than in-migration - 161 individuals moved out of Barlaston during the year in question, whilst only 126 moved in. At the same time an additional 21 individuals changed address within the ward. In terms of migrant origins and destinations, of those moving into Barlaston the greatest numbers came from Trentham (13), Oulton (9), Longton (7), Seabridge (7) and Forsbrook (7) wards. The preferred destinations of those moving out of the village were Beaconside (10), Stonefield (10), Ecccleshall (10), Blurton (10) and Longton (9). Not unsurprisingly the majority of moves into the village are relatively short distance with less than 1% involving moves from outside of the county. In fact Barlaston records the lowest figure of any ward in Stafford Borough for inter-county migration.

ECONOMIC ACTIVITY

At the time of the last Census the economically active population of the parish consisted of 75% employees and 19% self employed (unemployment at the time was approximately 6%) - both figures being similar to the corresponding proportions for the borough as a whole. Of those in work, 62% were engaged in the service sector (distribution, catering, transport, finance and other services), 24% in the primary sector (primarily agriculture and energy), and 12% in manufacturing.

Just outside of the parish boundary, the closure some years ago of Florence colliery, and more recently that of Hem Heath (Trentham) colliery has resulted in new developments and some new sources of employment, for example the Trentham Lakes development. By far the largest remaining local employer is Wedgwood’s Barlaston factory, which again is just outside the Parish boundary in Stoke. This plant currently employs approximately 1,340 people, but as everybody in the local area knows, the whole ceramics sector has experienced a series of difficult years and uncertain market conditions recently. Also, just on the edge of the parish, lies the Newstead Trading Estate which houses a number of manufacturing and processing activities.

Barlaston is the only part of Stafford Borough that joins with the majority of Stoke on Trent and Newcastle in being eligible for Tiers 2 and 3 Assisted Area status. This means that businesses located there qualify for Regional Selective Assistance grants for fixed capital items and also Enterprise Grants for small and medium enterprises (http://www.go-wm.gov.uk/rsa/aamaps).

HOUSING

At the time of the 1991 census, Barlaston was recorded as having 1,148 households. Of these, 34% occupied detached houses, 36% semi-detached houses, 21% terraced accommodation, and 10% lived in purpose-built flats. In tenure terms this breaks down as 29.7% of households owning their property outright and 36.6% buying on a mortgage. Overall the owner occupier figure was slightly lower than that for the borough as a whole but the figure of 26% renting from the local authority was significantly higher. The average number of rooms per household was given as 5.47 and the average persons per household as 2.45. For housing, as with other data presented here, it should be remembered that there is considerable variation from one part of the parish to another and that the crude figures sometimes mask considerable local differences. This is particularly noticeable when examining the distribution of households in rented, as opposed to owner-occupied, accommodation. The former tend to be concentrated in the Barlaston Park estate and to the immediate west of Barlaston station and are present in very much smaller numbers in the central part of the village.

In recent year large amounts of information about local communities have been collected by various commercial and governmental organisations who hold it on large databases. This information can often be accessed via the World Wide Web. Some public authorities use it for purposes of planning services and facilities, but mainly it is used by commercial organisations involved in a wide range of activities including advertising and sales campaigns, job recruitment and selling houses. One of the best known is a company that operates under the name of Upmystreet with the Web address of (http://www.upmystreet.com/). This site gives a wealth of information, usually on a postcode basis, about the socio-economic profile and house-prices, together with basic information about schools, services and crime levels. Given its mainly commercial uses, it also provides details on levels of ownership of consumer goods, newspaper readership, television preferences and shopping patterns.

Examples of the information held on this web-site are given below for the ST12 postcode that covers most of Barlaston.

PROPERTY PRICES JAN-MARCH 2002 (£)
	ST12	Eng & Wales
Detached	Too few sales	187,800
Semi-detached	102,600	105,500
Terraced	51,500	90,300

The council tax for a Band D property was given as £940 per year, slightly above the average of £890 for England and Wales, but expenditure on local services by the district and county councils at £781 per head was also somewhat above the national average of £739.

Part of the organisation of all this information involves a classification of residential neighbourhoods (ACORN) into broad types. A few examples are given below but it should be noted that these are average descriptions of typical areas, not exact profiles for everybody who lives in the given postcode.

ACORN CLASSIFICATION OF SOME BARLASTON POSTCODES
Postcode	ACORN type	Description
ST12 9BQ Barlaston Park	43	Council houses, young families, many lone parents. Above average semi-skilled and unskilled workers. This type comprises 1.6% of the population of England and Wales
ST12 9DD Barlaston East	3	Mature, affluent, home-owning area. Above average number aged 65+. Stable. Professional and managerial occupations or retired. 2.7% of England and Wales
ST12 9EH Barlaston West	29	Home owning, council tenants, retired people. Mixed housing, largely elderly, generally comfortably off. High % of pensioners. 2.7% of England and Wales
ST12 9DP Barlaston West	26	Mature, established, home owning area. Comfortable, low level of recent movers, middle aged. 61% work in service sector (exactly national average) 3.3% of England & Wales
ST12 9AS Barlaston East	27	Rural, mixed occupations. White collar and agricultural occupations. High level of 2+ car ownership. 3.5 % of England and Wales.

HEALTH

There is limited information available on the health of areas at such a small scale as parishes, but a few pointers emerge from the Stafford Borough Locality Profile (South Staffordshire Health Authority, 1995). Notable amongst the findings of this report was the fact that, although Stafford Borough has mainly lower than national average death rates, Barlaston was one of five wards in the borough with notably high rates. It also came out poorly on the overall health index – a composite measure of standardised mortality rates, the proportion of small babies (under 2.5 kg at birth) and limiting long term illness. This relatively poor standing of Barlaston ward is also evident from other sources, for example, the MAIGIS (Multi-Agency Internet Geographic Information Service) calculation of health deprivation. This measure identifies people whose quality of life is impaired by either poor health or disability and it reveals that Barlaston has the third worst health score in Stafford Borough (http://maigis.wmpho.org.uk/).

Although no specific reasons are given for these findings, it is clear from research elsewhere that explanations are often due to the elderly age structure, the nature of employment and the social structure generated by industries such as mining and some manufacturing plants. In many cases the full health impacts take years to develop so that patterns measured at any particular time may reflect working and environmental conditions twenty or more years previously.

The 1991 census also asked a question about ‘limiting long term illness’. This provides information about the general incidence of morbidity, without going into details of specific illnesses or types of health problem. In Barlaston, 16.2% of residents declared themselves as having a long term health problem that limited their daily activities. This figure is somewhat higher than the overall average for Stafford Borough (11.9%), but undoubtedly it partly reflects the older age structure referred to above.

CRIME

Generally speaking vehicle crimes and burglaries in Stafford Borough appear to be below the national average, although, more worryingly violent crime rates are above average (http://www.upmystreet.com/). At a slightly more localised level the Staffordshire Police web-site (http://www.staffordshire.police.uk/perform.htm) lists policing priorities performance figures for the Stone Local Policing Unit (under which Barlaston falls). For the 12 month period ending March 2000, only three of the seven policing priorities listed were reported to be on target - theft of motor vehicles, theft from motor vehicles, and number of road traffic collisions involving death/serious injury. Although this is encouraging the other priority categories were reported as still being below target. In none of the priority areas was local performance exceeding the target level although this was being achieved in many of the more urban parts of the Division.

SERVICES

Over recent years it is very common for services in villages to have declined, perhaps under the dual influence of competition from larger outlets such as supermarkets in the retail sector, and the tendency for public agencies to concentrate many of their services into larger settlements. To some extent this is also a response to the greater levels of mobility created by widening car ownership in rural areas, but there remain significant numbers of the population, especially the elderly and children, for whom the car is not available.

In 1983 the Community Council of Staffordshire published a Village Facilities Survey in an attempt to form a comprehensive picture of what was available in the rural settlements of the county. Within Stafford District, Barlaston proved to be one of the best equipped settlements, beaten in its range and number of services only by Eccleshall and Gnosall. For Barlaston the following were listed,

Food and General shops (7), Non-food shops (8), Mobile Shop (1),Post Office, Public Houses (2),Garage, Primary School, Doctor’s surgery, Library, Police Station, Church/Chapel (2),Village Hall, Youth Organisations (3), Sports Clubs (8), Public Playing Fields.

A more recent survey of rural services has been conducted by the Countryside Agency (http://www.countryside.gov.uk). In addition to providing a comprehensive listing of facilities and services in the parish, a copy of which is included here as Appendix 1, it provided details of household accessibility to important services. This survey, which was conducted in 2000, showed that although all households in the parish were within two kilometres of a post office and primary school, 71% of households were more than 2km from a cash point, 73% were more than 2km from a bank or building society, 72% were more than 2km from a permanent doctors surgery, and 95% of parish households were more than 2km from a secondary school.

Today, the majority of the shops and a number of other services are located in Orchard Place and along the road to the station. Together these provide a notable focus for the village. An additional small general store is located in Barlaston Park, but the old core area of the village is served only by a single shop which at the time of writing was seeking permission for conversion to a private residence. The Post Office, school, library and village hall are all located close to the Green, but the Health Centre is at the edge of the village on Old Road.

PLANNING

According to the Adopted Local Plan (Stafford Borough, 2001), no major planning developments are foreseen for Barlaston. The planning authorities acknowledge that the Green Belt between Stone and Stoke on Trent comes under intense pressure, but it is their declared intent to maintain it in order to prevent Barlaston, Blythe Bridge and Meir Heath from coalescing with the urban area of the Potteries. Within this Green Belt both Barlaston and Barlaston Park are defined by Residential Development Boundaries, beyond which new housing will generally not be permitted. In both cases the boundaries are drawn tightly around the existing settlement, so the scope for any new development is very limited indeed.

Although little change is anticipated within Barlaston the parish is not immune from broader changes that are going on around it. In particular some of the region’s traditional industries and economic activities are changing, contracting and , in some cases, closing., As a result there are a number of major schemes or potential developments within a mile or so of the boundary of the parish that could affect the residents in various ways. The most immediate is probably the 207 hectare site of the now closed Meaford Power station that lies to the south. This site has already raised many local concerns about the nature of materials that are found there and a number of activities that have been carried out. Currently the site is used for a variety of activities, including car storage, sundry engineering works, offices and a bowling green, but much of it remains in a derelict and unattractive state. Future use of the site is constrained by likely contamination and the presence of existing power transmission lines, but with suitable reclamation the Adopted Local Plan envisages that it offers a strategic location for high quality employment, plus some tourist or recreational use in attractive rural surroundings.

ENVIRONMENT

Recent concerns for the environment have led to a much wider dissemination of environmental information to the general public, and again the Internet is a rich source.

Information designed especially for potential home buyers, but also of interest to established residents, is provided by ‘Homecheck’(http://www.homecheck.co.uk/). Using this site to check conditions in the centre of the village, at postcode ST12 9DD for example gives the following information on environmental risks.

Environmental risk factors for ST12 9DD
Flood – low risk	Landfill – low risk
Subsidence – low risk	Waste – low risk
Radon gas – low risk	Air quality – good to moderate
Coal mining – high risk	Pollution – medium (industrial pollution)
Land-slip – low risk

These assessments are general guides only, but addresses are given for web-sites from which further information may be gained. Conditions can of course vary over relatively small distances, as for example with the problems of subsidence which affect some parts of the parish, including the old church.

The Environment Agency also offers a wealth of local environmental information, notably through a search and enquiry process that goes under the name of “What’s in your backyard” (http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/subjects/flood/). This site, for example gives details of the licence for gasification and related processes at the old Trentham Colliery site. It also provides information on water quality which shows significant improvements in recent years for the Trent and Mersey canal where it flows through Barlaston. The situation for the nearby River Trent , is shown to be less satisfactory, with some improvements to the water chemistry in the mid 1990s, but a regression in later years. Currently water quality can only be described as fair - meaning, amongst other things, that it is potable only after advanced purification treatment and that local ecosystems are impacted by pollutants within the water. Aquatic biology is restricted to pollution tolerant species.

Air quality readings taken from (http://www.homecheck.co.uk/) and based on a 1km area in which the postcode ST12 9DD is located, measure good to moderate quality for the majority of indicators, with the exception of Ozone levels which were recorded as moderate to poor. Ozone can irritate the eyes and air passages causing breathing difficulties and may increase susceptibility to infection.

PART TWO

Results of The Questionnaire Survey

The main part of the survey was undertaken in April and May 2002. In total 1158 questionnaires were distributed, one to each household in the parish and 307 completed questionnaires were returned. This represents a response rate of 26.5% which is very much in line with expectations for a survey of this kind. Some questions invited responses from individuals, rather than from households, and here a maximum of 593 people (although more typically between 450-550 for most questions), including children over the age of 11, responded, i.e. about 21% of the total population. It is important to note that, although everybody was given the chance to fill in a questionnaire, and make their views known, the results reported here reflect only the views of those who did respond. Approximately half the responses (48.5%) came from Barlaston West, with 30.3% from Barlaston East and 17.6% from Barlaston Park. The age group 45-59 produced the largest number of responses, but overall there is a bias in favour of older people. For example, 48% of those who replied to the age group question (Q12) were over 60 years, compared to 29% of the whole parish population who were in this age group according to ONS population estimates for 1998.

The greater level of response from older people is again a common occurrence in surveys of this kind and may reflect such factors as greater time availability or possibly a closer involvement with the affairs of the community that comes from a longer length of residence there.

The following analysis of the questionnaire is structured according to the main themes that were investigated, but at all stages the question from which the information has been derived is noted in brackets. On some occasions the responses discussed below add up to more than 100%; this is because many of the questions invited respondents to tick more than one box. For example, in Q46, people clearly get information about village events from more than one source. A copy of the full responses to the questionnaire, including individual question counts, will be found in Appendix 2. Further details of village appraisals and the computer software used to analyse them are available from (http://www.glos.ac.uk/el/ccru/va/aboutva/aboutvas.htm

Housing

In terms of dwelling type the questionnaire sample is reasonably representative of housing within the parish. Households occupying properties built during the last 20-years or so are very much in the minority (approximately 4% of the sample), reflecting the lack of large scale house building in the village in recent years. In contrast, 36% of the sample is from housing constructed during the 1950-1970 period and a further 34% is from housing built between 1901-1950.

Approximately 26% of respondents occupied detached properties (compared to the 34% recorded by the Census), 38% lived in semi-detached houses (36% in the Census) and 7% occupied flats/maisonettes (10% from Census). The one major exception to this general conformity is with households living in terraced housing. As a group, such households appear to be under-represented in the sample, forming less than 9% of responses, compared to the Census figure of 21%.

When asked about housing needs in the parish (Q 32), rather more than half the respondents (56%) believed that no further homes are required. This accords with the responses of the many people who, in Q14, stated that the unspoilt nature of the village with little new building was the most important thing about living in Barlaston for them. Of those respondents who did express an opinion regarding the type of accommodation most needed in Barlaston, the greatest preference was for homes for young people (24%), accommodation for smaller families (22%) or single people (18%). In contrast, relatively few respondents saw a need for large family homes (4%) or executive homes (3%).

Stability of population certainly appears to be a feature of Barlaston. This was noted in the earlier section that looked at migration figures from the census, and in general the responses to Q13 confirm the point. More than 80% of respondents had lived in Barlaston for more than five years and almost half had been there in excess of 25 years.

Schools

Altogether, the respondents in the parish reported 42 children currently at school, 11 in nursery/play school, 21 in primary school, 21 in middle and secondary schools and one in a special needs school (Q6). Barlaston First was by far the most popular first/primary school, accounting for approximately 52% of all children (Q29), with Stone taking 31% and others, including Tittensor making up the balance. When asked which of a range of features influenced their choice of school (Q30), respondents overwhelmingly nominated high teaching standards (91%) with small classes (59%) in second place. Other factors that came far behind, with between 11-20 % response, were religious instruction, nursery provision and convenience for childcare

Of these 42 children, approximately two fifths were reported as being unable to take part in after school activities, mainly because of lack of transport or the distance between home and school (Q7). Some 321 individuals reported a need for further educational facilities in Barlaston (Q28) with approximately 38% nominating holiday play schemes and 37% after school clubs. The largest need identified by this question, perhaps reflecting the age bias of respondents, was for adult education evening classes which were mentioned by a total of 176 people, or 55% of respondents.

When asked what additional features respondents might expect a local/first primary school to provide, good library and computer facilities topped the list, but a number of other features also attracted strong support.

Work

The survey was not primarily concerned with patterns of work, but two questions did address this topic. Q15 revealed that almost half (46%) of the 593 responses to this question came from people who are retired and that in total just 40% were actually working as employees or in a self employed capacity.

To some extent this undoubtedly reflects a growing trend throughout the country, whereby for demographic and social reasons such as an ageing population and early retirement, a proportionately smaller active work force is supporting a growing cohort of retired people. However, a second significant reason in the present case is almost certainly the greater willingness of retired people to fill in questionnaires of this type.

The City of Stoke-on-Trent was the main single place of work, accounting for approximately one third of those replying, Stone and Stafford between them accounted for another quarter, but the remaining 41% were widely spread, including in Barlaston itself.

Shops

Barlaston is fortunate in retaining a better range of shops and other services than many communities of its size. Question 40 asked about the way in which people used these services; in total 566 replies were received, but for some of the individual sections the response was smaller, for example information on use of the library was received from 474 respondents.

From this question, the Spar shop proved to be the most widely used of all the local shops. Of the 519 people who responded directly to the question about Spar, 94.7% reported that they visited the shop at some time and only 5.3% said they never used it. For this shop, the greengrocers, the newsagent, and the butchers, a weekly visit is the commonest pattern with 51.6%, 37.7%, 40.5%, and 27.9% of their respondents respectively reporting this frequency of visits. The Chemist also attracts a very high level of patronage with 93.7% of respondents reporting using it, but the commonest frequency of visits is only monthly. Only the newsagents attracted a substantial number (28.6%) of respondents reporting daily visits. Both the Spar shop and the newsagents were visited on a weekly or more frequent basis by over 60% of respondents. The hardware store was used by 70% of respondents, but visits were much rarer than for the food shops with less than once a month being the norm.

Other services

The Post Office was used by 92.6% of respondents, with a weekly visit being reported by 47.4% of respondents. Specific reasons were not asked for, but with the relatively elderly age structure of the sample it can be deduced that the collection of pensions on a weekly basis might be a strong attraction. Two thirds of the over 60s visit the post office on a daily or weekly basis, whereas for the under 60s the corresponding figure is only slightly more than one third.

The role of the library was underlined by the 92.7% of the respondents who considered it to be an important or very important asset to the village (Q44) and only 6.5% would be happy to see it replaced by a mobile service. The use of the library has far less of an age bias, although 55.2% of the over 60s reported using it on at least a monthly basis, compared with 44.6% of the under 60s. Around one third of the community reported that they usually relied upon the library for their main source of information about events taking place in Barlaston (Q46)

The village hall was felt to be an important or very important feature of the village by 84.6% of the respondents (Q41) and the great majority (84.1%) would agree to the Parish Council raising the precept to carry out improvements (Q42). Of the 15.9% of respondents who disagreed with the parish council raising the precept for improvements almost half (46%) thought that local fund-raising events (such as car boot sales, book sales, raffles and events with an entrance fee) would be the most suitable source of money. A variety of other responses made up the balance, including lottery money

The importance of the church in the life of the community was investigated in Q48 (although it is recognised that there may have been some problems with the wording of this question). Almost half (48.2%) of the respondents recorded that it is important as a focal point for the community with 49.4% mentioning its role in weddings and funerals and 40% for Sunday worship. Well over half the respondents (61.1%) mentioned the church magazine as a source of information about what is going on in the village. (Q46)

Access to services is clearly an important issue for people in any small and mainly rural community like Barlaston. Some of the following section on transport has a bearing upon this, but for the moment it can be noted, from replies to Q 36, that in round terms two thirds of respondents never have difficulties getting to the doctor, hospital, chemist, chiropodist, optician, or dentist. 14% of respondents reported occasional problems getting to hospital and 7.3% often had problems. Although the percentages are relatively small, they represent over 100 people from this sample who have some difficulties in accessing hospital services. Age is clearly a factor here, with advancing years probably increasing both transport and health problems, but age is not the only factor and in absolute numbers rather more people in the 45-59 age bracket reported such difficulties than was the case for those aged 60-74.

Transport

A variety of transport-related concerns are prevalent within the parish and the questionnaire survey provides us with much useful insight into many of these issues. As background to our analysis of the questionnaire we can first use the 1991 Census to establish broad levels of vehicle ownership and general patterns of journey-to-work. The Census indicates that approximately 80% of households in the parish possessed a car and 35% owned more than one vehicle. Also, 76% of workers travel to work by car, with train and bus usage for such purposes being extremely low (less than 3% combined). Analysis of the present questionnaire emphasises further the importance of the car in Barlaston (Q10). The 307 households in this part of the study possessed, in total, 387 roadworthy vehicles (1.2 vehicles per household). Similarly, 84% of respondents list the car as their major means of transport (Q22) - although, significantly, 14.8% state that public transport is most important.

Such high levels of vehicle ownership inevitably impact upon uses of public transport in the parish. Although the village is served both by bus and train services, 64% of respondents report that they never use a train, and a similar percent (62.4%) say they never use a bus (Q21). Of those making some use of public transport the majority of bus users do so on a weekly (39.9% of users) or monthly (43.7%) basis - relatively few use buses for daily travel. The majority of the 108 people who declared themselves as train users also tend to use the service no more frequently than for monthly journeys (88.8%), and the number of respondents using the train on a weekly or daily basis is only around the 3% mark. Of those working in Stoke on Trent, none reported that the train was their main means of transport, and for Stafford the figure was only one.

In response to the specific questions on bus services (Q23) by far the single most common use of a bus is for shopping with 33.8% of bus users saying that they often or occasionally make use of the service for shopping. Fewer than 5% of bus users travelled to work on the bus. Regarding improvements to the bus service (Q24), slightly more than a quarter (25.1%) of respondents believe that bus routes are the aspect in greatest need of improvement but that timetables (21.3%) and reliability (12.9%) also need attention. The fact that 47.7% of respondents offer no opinion on improvements to the service is probably indicative of the relatively low use made of the service. On the issue of voluntary transport services, approximately 28.5% of respondents - 124 individuals - stated that they would be prepared to participate in such a scheme, although only 7.4% of the responses to the question about the local environment believed such schemes to be worthwhile on environmental grounds (Q49).

Although relatively small numbers of residents seem to make regular use of public transport, a number of responses suggest that those people who do use the services usually hold them in high regard. For instance, 18.8% of respondents listed the railway station as one of their most important things about Barlaston (Q54). It is also the case that inadequacies in existing services are sometimes problematical (Q17) For example, although 53.7% of respondents stated that they never have a transport problem in getting out of the village, a further 31% stated that this is occasionally the case and 15.1% (i.e. 84 respondents) said that transport difficulties are often a problem for them.

The existing reliance upon private vehicle ownership presents its own problems for the parish. Although relatively few respondents resort to on-the-road parking for their vehicles overnight (6%), almost a half of vehicle owners occasionally (37.7%) or often (8.5%) experience a parking problem somewhere in the village (Q18/19). Perhaps high levels of car usage in the parish also contribute to the fact that a large majority of respondents (79.4%) to Q 26 believed speeding to be a problem in Barlaston. When asked about specific locations of danger spots it was Tittensor Road that gave the greatest cause for concern with 55.8% of respondents listing it as a danger spot. This is a narrow road with poor visibility in places, but it leads to and from the busy A34 and is one of the major access roads for the whole village. Other locations identified by substantial numbers of respondents included Old Road (42.8%) Station Road (37.6%), Meaford Road (32.1%), Longton Road (22%) and Hartwell Lane (21.6%). There are existing weight restrictions on many of the roads in the village. A final question in this section asked about the standard of street lighting in Barlaston (Q27). Slightly over 70% of respondents thought it was good or reasonable, but more than a quarter thought it poor.

The Environment

To the outside observer it is clear that much of Barlaston village and parish provides a very pleasant environment in which to live, and it has already been noted that much if it is guarded by Green Belt status and other forms of planning protection. The importance of the environment to local residents is underlined by the fact that it was recorded in the survey as the single most important aspect of Barlaston with 71.5% of respondents nominating it as their top feature (Q54). Interestingly ‘location’ was a very close second and it could be argued that this too reflects certain environmental qualities.

A number of specific environmental aspects were investigated in more detail and as the graph below shows, people felt quite strongly that a number of things could be done to further improve the environment of the community (respondents were allowed to nominate more than one measure). This figure, derived from Q49, suggests that the reduction of traffic is the number one priority. Questions relating to various aspects of traffic are reported on in other sections, but in the context of reducing traffic it is interesting to note that the car is the main means of transport for 84% of respondents (Q22) and that the majority of respondents (71.5% in Q 20) would not be interested in taking part in a voluntary transport service.

This dilemma between the realisation that the car is environmentally damaging, and a continuing heavy reliance upon its convenience is something that planners and politicians everywhere are having to grapple with. The issue is clearly recognised too by half of the respondents who thought that improved public transport would help to protect the environment.

Other suggested environmental improvements can also be seen from the graph but recycling is the only measure nominated by more than half of the respondents.

Two more detailed aspects of the environment were investigated by questions 50 and 51. When presented with a number of options for keeping Barlaston clean and tidy, the largest number suggested paying for a litter warden (43.6%), followed by entering a ‘best kept village competition’ (39.6%) and having a ‘spring clean day’ twice a year (34.6%). Paying for a road-sweeper, and putting up notices attracted smaller, but still significant support from around a quarter of respondents.

When asked (Q51) about the state of, and access to, local footpaths, 41.5% of respondents reported no difficulties. Amongst the problems encountered, mud and water seemed to be the main problem with physical barriers such as barbed wire, locked gates or crops across the path being relatively minor issues affected less than 10% of respondents.

Crime

One aspect of the social environment that was investigated by the survey related to crime and anti-social behaviour (Q38). Before looking at the responses, it is worthwhile to point out that it is well known from national studies that the connection between peoples’ perceptions and fears about crime, and the actual incidence of crime are often at odds with each other.

For example, relatively high levels of concern about crime are often felt in certain areas, and by groups of people, where the reality of its occurrence is low. Having said that, 56.7% of respondents said that they were concerned about vandalism and 41.8% about theft. In the context of preventing crime and anti-social behaviour (Q39) almost two thirds of the respondents (63.5%) thought that a greater police presence would help, but a slightly larger response was given to the need to provide more activities for young people.

Council Matters

Many aspects of the environment, housing and services in Barlaston are affected, or even determined through the planning system. This is largely operated by Stafford Borough, although there are some matters that are decided at County level or even under the direction of government ministries such as the Department for Transport, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Parish Councils have very limited powers in this respect, but they may be consulted and invited to offer advice on certain matters.

When asked their opinion on the way the planning system is implemented in Barlaston (Q33), almost half the respondents were quite or totally satisfied (46.3%), nearly one third (34.7%) had no opinion and around one fifth ( 19.1%) were either quite or very dissatisfied. A broadly similar pattern emerged from the question (Q47) about the way in which the local council spends the money it raises through the council tax. 45.9% of respondents were quite or very satisfied, around a third (32.9%) either had no opinion or did not know how it is spent and about a fifth (21.3%) were either quite or very dissatisfied.

Information about Barlaston

Many respondents made favourable comments in various forms about Barlaston being a community. This implies, amongst other things, that there are effective networks through which people find out what is going on. In response to Q46 it appears that the church magazine and the Heron Newsletter are equally important as the major sources of information, each being cited by approximately 61% of respondents (people were permitted to list more than one source of information). This is clearly a good measure of success for the Heron Newsletter which was only published for the first time in January 2002. Other sources of information include the Notice Board, used by nearly half the respondents, the local paper, the Post Office and the Library, each used by approximately one third of respondents.

With modern and future means of communication in mind, it is interesting to note from Q8 that 42.7% of households have access to a computer at home and 25.4% at their place of work. Exactly one third of households responding to the survey were connected to the internet at home and the Parish Council has recently set up its own Web-site with a wealth of information about Barlaston (http://www.barlaston.org.uk)

The most important thing about Barlaston

Given a list of aspects of Barlaston that people find important (Q54) it was, as already discussed, the environment, that topped the list being mentioned by 71.5% of respondents.

The location came a close second and this is clearly a category that can mean many different things to different people, including a convenient location for work or school, a good residential location or location in pleasant countryside surroundings. Some of these themes are also picked up in the other aspects, such as the access to country walks mentioned by over half the respondents. The importance of the community, another broad category that may be interpreted in different ways by different people, is underlined by its position as the third most frequently nominated feature of Barlaston. The pattern of support for the three most commonly cited features, i.e. environment, location and community, showed very little variation by sex or age band.

Respondents were also given the opportunity, in Q14, to express in their own words what was the single most important to them about Barlaston. This, quite naturally, produced many delightfully individual answers, including ‘my mum’, ‘the Plume of Feathers’, ‘line dancing in the village hall’, and ‘the cricket club’. Many respondents simply referred in general terms to the main issues above by replying ‘the environment’, ‘the location’ or ‘the community’, but other respondents attached more detail to these broad themes.

It would be misleading to attempt to quantify these individual responses with too much precision, but they do add a qualitative dimension to the responses. For example, in respect of the environment theme, many respondents added the words ‘rural’, or ‘countryside’ and there were frequent references to ‘small’ and ‘quiet’. Several specifically mentioned the Green Belt, and other referred to the lack of building development and the fact that Barlaston remains a village. The ‘location’ factor was qualified by many respondents in terms of being a rural location with good amenities, a convenient location for access to the City and offering good access to main roads such as the A34 and M6. The additional descriptions of the ‘community’ theme included reference to friendliness, a small and friendly community, good neighbours and a safe place to live.

SUMMARY .................................................................................................... ..1

Village Appraisals.......................................................................................... ..4

PART 1 - INFORMATION FROM PUBLISHED SOURCES

Introduction...................................................................................................... ..4

Population....................................................................................................... ..5

Economic Activity........................................................................................... ..7

Housing............................................................................................................ ..8

Health............................................................................................................... ..9

Crime............................................................................................................... 10

Services........................................................................................................... 10

Planning........................................................................................................... 11

Environment.................................................................................................... 11

PART 2 - RESULTS OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE SURVEY