Beaminster

The small country town of Beaminster lies in a valley five miles to the north of Bridport in the attractive West Dorset countryside. This market town provides a good range of services and light industry while retaining considerable charm and historic interest.

Communications

Beaminster is located in an attractive position five miles north of Bridport on the A3066. Crewkerne lies about four miles north west of the the town. The nearest rail link is at Crewkerne.

Education

Beaminster pyramid area:
Six primary schools, one secondary school
The secondary school for the area: Beaminster Technology College (720 pupils- 2011).

For more information on Beaminster Technology College (opens in a new window)

Commercial land

Between 1994-2010, 0.24 hectares of industrial land has been developed in Beaminster. The total area of land with permission and allocated in the local plan is 3.7 hectares

Crime - domestic burglaries

Rate per 1,000 households

Area	2002/03	2003/04	2004/05	2005/06	2006/07	2007/08	2008/2009	2009/10
Beaminster	6.9	8.2	4.1	4.1	4.8	n/a	0.7	1.4
DCC Dorset	6.6	6.6	6.5	5.7	4.4	n/a	4.1	3.8
South West	14.8	12.3	10.7	8.9	8.4	n/a	8.2	7.6
England and Wales	20.0	18.6 (GB)	14.4	13.5	13.1	n/a	12.2	11.6

Note: Due to a small number of burglary rates for small geographical areas, for example towns, rates can vary significantly from year to year.
Source: Dorset County Council

Other sources of crime data

Access the Police crime mapping Beaminster (opens in a new window) where you can find crime data on a month by month basis (starting December 2010) mapped to neighbourhood and street level. This looks at the crime types of burglary, anti-social behaviour, robbery, vehicle crime, violent crime and other crime. Note this comprehensive and up-to-date database only looks at numbers of crimes and not crime rates for individual crimes. It does give an overall crime rate (per 1,000 people) for the neighbourhood.

Population

Latest population figure (2010 mid year estimate) for the town (Beaminster Parish) is 3,010

Year	1921	1931	1951	1961	1971	1981	1991	2001
Census population (enumerated)	1,650	1,610	1,790	2,000	2,350	2,370	2,770	2,920

Housing growth

Year	98	99	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010
Housing development	1	17	3	28	11	6	3	3	4	9	12	24	21

The 2001 Census records 1,527 dwellings in Beaminster.
Since 2001, a further 93 have been built giving a total of 1,599 dwellings.
At March 2010, a further 38 units have permission and 0 are allocated in local plan.

Note: Figures now allow for losses from demolition, redevelopment etc. Method revised 2009

Index of deprivation, 2007

(Figures show Lower Super Output Areas (LSOA) ranking out of 247 LSOAs in Dorset with 1 being the most deprived)

LSOA	Multiple	Income	Employment	Health	Education & skills	Housing & services	Crime	Living
Beaminster North	170	127	143	107	97	227	165	72
Beaminster South	51	36	30	61	27	191	132	104

Index of deprivation, 2010

LSOA	Multiple	Income	Employment	Health	Education & skills	Housing & services	Crime	Living
Beaminster North	167	129	159	137	91	239	116	68
Beaminster South	46	36	25	59	38	218	119	98

LSOA = Lower Super Output Area (minimum 400 households or 1,000 population). Note: The figures in the 2007 health column are revised from those published in the 2008 Dorset Databook.

Click here for detailed information and mapping of the The Index of Deprivation, 2010

Source: DCLG

Average house prices

Dwelling type	Average Price July - Sept 2009	Average Price July - Sept 2010 (units)	July - Sept 2010 (sales)
Detached	£274,733	£296,000	19
Semi-detached	£219,909	£214,642	7
Terraced	£208,571	£248,312	8
Flats/maisonettes	£88,000	n/a	0

Land Registry average prices Data from DT8 3 postcode sector. (Prices may be affected by low number of sales)

Area:

Approx. 'built-up' area = 150 hectares (370 acres)

Local authority revenue

Council tax band D for Year	Council tax payable
11/12	£1,614.90
10/11	£1,615.66
09/10	£1,572.79
08/09	£1,518.80
07/08	£1,453.86
06/07	£1,392.44
05/06	£1,322.05
04/05	£1,252.31
03/04	£1,182.72
02/03	£1,023.21
01/02	£936.82
00/01	£885.38

Second/holiday homes and Empty Properties, 2011

Total dwellings on Council Tax Register	1,661
Total number of second homes	85
Second homes as a % of total dwellings	5.06
Total number of long term empty properties	25
Empty homes as a % of total dwellings	1.44

Source: Council Tax Register (parish figure, rounded)

Population - 2010 Mid Year Estimates:

Population	Dorset	Beaminster
Resident Population	404,790	3,010
Males	196,420	1,410
Females	208,370	1,600

Age structure (%) - 2010

Age range	Dorset	Beaminster
0-15	17.0	15.7
16+17	2.7	2.9
18-44	25.4	20.1
45-59	20.9	18.9
60-84	30.0	37.0
85+	3.9	5.4

Ethnicity (%) - 2001 Census

Ethnicity	Dorset	Beaminster
White British	96.8	97.5
BME	3.2	2.5

Health - 2001 Census

Health category	Dorset	Beaminster
% with Long-term Illness / Disability	19.2	22.1
Health: % Good	68.1	64.3
Health: % Not Good	8.4	10.0
% Providing Unpaid Care	10.8	11.6

Poverty Indicators: Housing/Council Tax Benefit: 2009

Benefit population	Dorset	Beaminster
as a % of total town population	16.7	13.6

Socio-economic classifications: 2010 ACORN

Classification %	Dorset	Beaminster
Wealthy Achievers	40.1	53.2
Urban Prosperity	7.1	0.0
Comfortably Off	33.2	28.7
Moderate Means	9.2	3.8
Hard Pressed	10.2	14.3
unclassified	0.2	0.0

ACORN is a geodemographic segmentation of the UK's population which segments small neighbourhoods, postcodes, or consumer households into five categories, 17 groups and 56 types.
The five higher level categories "wealthy achievers", "urban prosperity","comfortably off", "moderate means" and "hard pressed" are shown above.

Please see the full Beaminster ACORN Profile (pdf, 711kb) (opens in a new window) of the town including mapping of the area.

Unemployment % (persons)

Year	Male	Female	Total
July 1997	3.6 (33)	2.6 (19)	3.1 (52)
July 1998	3.5 (32)	1.9 (14)	2.8 (46)
July 1999	3.2 (29)	1.9 (14)	2.6 (43)
July 2000	1.2 (11)	1.0 (8)	1.1 (19
July 2001	1.3 (12)	0.8 (6)	1.0 (18)
July 2002	0.9 (9)	0.2 (2)	0.6 (11)
July 2003	1.3 (13)	0.9 (8)	1.1 (21)
July 2004	1.0 (10)	0.5 (5)	0.7 (15)
July 2005	1.4 (14)	0.2 (2)	0.8 (15)
July 2006	1.6 (16)	0.4 (4)	1.0 (20)
July 2007	1.5 (15)	0.7 (8)	1.1 (23)
July 2008	1.5 (15)	0.4 (5)	0.9 (20)
July 2009	2.4 (24)	1.3(15)	1.8 (39)
July 2010	2.3 (23)	0.7 (8)	1.4 (31)

Of July 2009 unemployment figures, the long-term unemployed = 5.1%
Of July 2010 unemployment figures, the long-term unemployed = 3.2%

2009 Employment

Total number of people working in the town: 1,000 Total number of firms (excluding the self employed): 150

Work pattern	percentage
Full-time	56%
Part-time	44%

Type of employment	%
Manufacturing and other non service	14
Construction	7
Accommodation & Food Service activities	9
Other Services	7
Distribution including motor	14
Finance and business services	11
Public administration, Ed and Health	37

Source: Business Register and Employment Survey, 2009, ONS

Figures may not sum due to rounding. All these figures exclude farm agriculture which has been suppressed

Major employers

Clipper Teas, Danisco, Dorset County Council.

Retail profile - total town floorspace

29 shops/21,000sq.ft. (2005)
All local shops

Catchment population

The shopping catchment for Beaminster (major food shopping) extends around two miles in a north, south, east and west direction. The population within the catchment is around 3,000 (mid 2001).

Industrial estates

Broadwindsor Road Industrial Estate (1.5 hectares)
Horn Park Quarry Business Park (3.8h)

Library - Number of issues of books etc

Library	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
Beaminster Library	23,215	22,401	19,338	20,520

Traffic Counts in the wider area

Road	Location	AADF (Annual Average Daily Traffic)							Percentage Growth Since
		1983	1990	2000	2005	2008	2009	2010	2009	2008	2005	2000	1990	1983
									1 Year	2 year	5 Years	10 Years	20 Years	27 Years
B3162	North of Salway Ash	900	1,200	1,400	1,600	1,800	1,800	1,900	6%	6%	19%	36%	58%	111%
A3066	Gore Cross	3,600	5,400	6,300	6,800	6,700	6,900	6,800	-1%	1%	0%	8%	26%	89%