RURAL AREAS

Hartford & Whitegate

Background

Hartford & Whitegate Ward lies to the west of Northwich. It contains 2253 hectares. Hartford is mainly residential and is where most of the population are housed. Whitegate is a rural area. The A556 main road between Manchester and Chester runs through the ward as does the main west-coast railway line. The nearest railway stations are at Cuddington, Greenbank and Hartford. There are regular bus services to Northwich and Winsford. Within the ward there are five primary schools, three secondary schools and the Mid-Cheshire College of Further Education. Also within its bounds lies Vale Royal Abbey Golf Club. (See Map)

Facts and Figures

Population & % of Vale Royal

Number of households & % of VR

Population under 16 years

Population 16 to 64 years

Population 65 years and over

Average Age

6486

(5.3%)

2541

(5.1%)

1380

(21.3%)

4032

(62.2%)

1074

(16.5%)

40 years

In 2001 there were 2541 households of which 91.2% were owner-occupied and social housing accounted for a further 3.6%.

At the time of the 2001 Census, of those aged between 16 and 74 years 65.8% were economically active which is above the rate for Vale Royal (62.8%) and above that for England and Wales (60.6%). The unemployed accounted for only 1.7% of whom 29% were aged over 50, 5% had never worked and 29% were long-term unemployed. Those otherwise economically inactive formed 15.1% of the population in the same age range. Retired people represent 17.4% of the age group.

This ward is divided into four units for the purpose of measuring social and economic disadvantage. According to the Government’s Index of Multiple Deprivation 2004, this Ward does not show any significant levels of deprivation, however, the greater part of the ward is in the bottom 20% nationally as regards services to local facilities is concerned. Educationally the whole ward is in the top 10% nationally.

Crime

Year	Burglary Dwelling	Other Burglary	Vehicle Crime	Other Theft	Criminal Damage	Violent Crime	Other Crimes	Total
2006/07 (½ year)	6	21	25	20	35	15	18	140
2005/06	21	31	58	71	82	78	30	371 (57.2)
2004/05	18	38	58	85	88	11	81	379 (58.4)
2003/04	18	48	55	96	85	82	28	412 (63.5)

Note: Figures in brackets are for offences per 1000 population.

Disorder

In 2005/06 new categories of Anti-social behaviour were used by the police making it difficult to compare previous years. During the past year the following incidents were recorded by the police.

	Street Drinking	Vehicle Nuisance	Abandoned Vehicles	Noise - Pubs/Clubs	Environmental Litter, graffiti, etc.	Nuisance in public place	Rowdy/ drunken behaviour	Other	Total
2006/07 (½ year)	1	13	2	0	0	6	69	32	91
2005/06	0	33	32	0	3	58	56	16	198

The figures for previous years were as follows:

			Disturbance in
Year	Nuisance Youths	General Disorder	Public place	Private place	Licensed premises	Noise nuisance	Domestic Incident	Total
2004/05	80	48	27	12	2	2	16	207
2003/04	60	6	14	14	1	0	25	183
2002/03	43	4	46	10	2	0	21	179
2001/02	120			1	5	6	8	191

For the year 2001 – 02 ‘Nuisance Youths’ was not a separate category but were contained within ‘Disturbance in a public place.

Of the other forms of disturbance not listed in the table are telephone nuisance of either an abandoned call, hoax or threatening/abusive nature and minor /other nuisance issues including neighbour disputes. The totals include these matters.