NORTHWICH AREA

Leftwich & Kingsmead

Background

Leftwich & Kingsmead Ward lies to the south of Northwich. (See Map) It contains 304 hectares. The ward is mainly residential with a particularly large housing development at Kingsmead. The area is served by regular bus services into Northwich and the nearest railway stations are at Greenbank, Hartford and Northwich. There are two primary schools (one not yet open on Kingsmead) and a high school and a mobile library service.

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

6796

(5.5%)

2657

(5%)

1612

(23.7%)

4436

(65.3%)

748

(11.0%)

35 years

In 2001 there were 2654 households of which 79.4% were owner-occupied and social housing accounted for a further 16.2%. The number of houses will have increased significantly since 2001.

At the time of the 2001 Census, of those aged between 16 and 74 years, 71% 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 2.3% of whom 23% were aged over 50, 9% had never worked and 24% were long-term unemployed. Those otherwise economically inactive formed 14.8% of the population in the same age range. Retired people represent 11.7% of the age group.

This ward is divided into five units for the purpose of measuring social and economic disadvantage. According to the Government’s Index of Multiple Deprivation 2004, this Ward does show some levels of deprivation. The central area is in the lower 20% as regards environment, as is the south-western area and the large northern section. The eastern section is in the bottom 20% for employment. At the other end of the scale, the western (Kingsmead) area is in the top 10% as regards employment. The south-west and northern sections are in the top 10% for education and the south-west in the top 10% as suffering least from crime.

Crime

Year	Burglary Dwelling	Other Burglary	Vehicle Crime	Other Theft	Criminal Damage	Violent Crime	Other Crimes	Total
2006/07 (½ year)	13	14	28	27	79	43	11	215
2005/06	36	25	50	66	105	101	21	404 (59.4)
2004/05	35	34	99	63	96	10	101	411 (60.4)
2003/04	25	28	52	84	116	81	35	421 (61.9)

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)	0	10	4	0	1	9	183	50	257
2005/06	3	51	34	0	0	173	126	41	428

The figures for previous years were as follows:

			Disturbance in
Year	Nuisance Youths	General Disorder	Public place	Private place	Licensed premises	Noise nuisance	Domestic Incidents	Total
2004/05	221	98	39	25	5	4	44	493
2003/04	196	14	43	35	4	3	30	428
2002/03	94	5	43	15	1	6	37	273
2001/02	119			14	2	1	23	224

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.