Dorchester

This historic county town of Dorchester was the 'Durnovara' of the Romans and the fictional Casterbridge of Thomas Hardy's novels. The town has a busy shopping centre, a flourishing market and is a major employment centre for the surrounding area.

Communications

Dorchester lies at the junction of the A35, South Coast trunk road, and the A37 to Yeovil and the north. It also has direct rail links to London and Bristol.

Population

Latest population figure (2011 Census) for the town is 19,060

Five year age groups

Age	Dorchester (number)	Dorchester (%)	Dorset-DCC area (%)	England & Wales (%)
0-4	930	4.9	4.7	6.2
5-9	943	4.9	4.8	5.6
10-14	1,143	6.0	5.6	5.8
15-19	1,142	6.0	5.8	6.3
20-24	1,078	5.7	4.7	6.8
25-29	926	4.9	4.1	6.8
30-34	954	5.0	4.3	6.6
35-39	1,170	6.1	5.2	6.7
40-44	1,303	6.8	6.6	7.3
45-49	1,526	8.0	7.3	7.3
50-54	1,256	6.6	6.9	6.4
55-59	1,159	6.1	6.6	5.7
60-64	1,257	6.6	8.0	6.0
65-69	1,045	5.5	6.9	4.8
70-74	891	4.7	5.6	3.9
75-79	834	4.4	4.9	3.2
80-84	667	3.5	3.9	2.4
85+	836	4.4	3.9	2.2
total	19,060	100	100	100

Selected age groups

Age	Dorchester (number)	Dorchester (%)	Dorset-DCC area (%)	England & Wales (%)
Young people 0 to 17	3,726	19.5	18.8	21.3
Young adults 18 to 29	2,436	12.8	10.9	16.2
Older people 65 plus	4,273	22.4	25.2	16.4

Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS), 2011 Census

Poundbury Population

Poundbury is included in the figures above but data extracted from the 2011 Census shows:

The latest population estimate for Poundbury (2011 Census) is 2,266 residents. Of these

412 (18.2%) were aged 0-15
1,405 (62.0%) were aged 16-64
404 (17.8%) aged 65-84
45 (2.0%) aged 85 plus.

Historic Population

Year	1921	1931	1951	1961	1971	1981	1991	2001	2011
Census population (enumerated)	9,960	10,030	11,620	12,260	13,740	14,050	15,100	16,160	19,060

Source: ONS

Education

Dorchester pyramid area:
13 first schools, 3 middle schools, 1 upper school, 1 secondary school,
The secondary school for the town
The Thomas Hardye School
(Comprehensive - 2,283 pupils- 2011).

See more information on The Thomas Hardye School (opens in a new window)

Commercial land

Between 1994-10, 8.3 hectares of industrial land has been developed in Dorchester. The total area of land with permission or allocated in the local plan is 5.2 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	2010/11	2011/12
Dorchester	13.6	10.4	8.4	5.0	5.1	n/a	5.9	5.0	4.0	2.4
DCC Dorset	6.6	6.6	6.5	5.7	4.4	n/a	4.1	3.8	3.7	3.4
South West	14.8	12.3	10.7	8.9	8.4	n/a	8.2	7.6	7.2	7.0
England and Wales	20.0	18.6 (GB)	14.4	13.5	13.1	n/a	12.2	11.6	11.1	10.5

Please note: Due to the low prevailing level of offences, and the often sporadic nature of burglary, rates for small geographical areas can vary significantly from year to year
Source: Dorset County Council

Other sources of crime data

Access the Police crime mapping Dorchester (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.

Housing growth

1998-2005

Year	98	99	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Housing development	63	170	101	103	153	140	124	167

2006-2012

Year	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012
Housing development	190	189	107	167	84	143	196

Note: Figures allow for losses from re-development etc.

The 2011 Census records 8,996 dwellings in Dorchester.

Since 2011, a further 196 units have been built giving a total of 9,192. At March 2012, a further 1,951 units have permission and 65 are allocated in the local plan.

The Prince Charles inspired development at Poundbury has grown since it started in 1994. By 2012, 1,226 dwellings have been built. At the same date the site potential (with permission, allocated or under construction) was for a further 1,381 units, making a total of 2,607.

Follow this link for further details on the Residential development at Poundbury, Dorchester

Index of deprivation, 2010

(Figures show LSOA ranking out of 247 LSOAs in Dorset with 1 being the most deprived)LSOA = Lower Super Output Area (minimum 400 households or 1,000 population).

SOA	Multiple	Income	Employment	Health	Education & Skills	Housing & services	Crime	Living
Dorchester Castle Park	152	156	60	78	110	131	180	221
Dorchester Manor Park	242	247	221	124	246	208	210	224
Dorchester Monmouth Road	229	213	208	162	236	206	212	154
Dorchester Queen's Ave.	128	82	76	50	191	240	76	113
Dorchester Town Centre	15	16	11	10	168	145	28	80
Dorchester Victoria Park	68	86	92	49	59	228	96	9
Fordington East	24	15	16	14	27	172	120	99
Fordington Fields	183	162	136	142	155	82	222	206
Fordington West & Thomas Hardye	180	118	100	139	180	186	170	174
Poundbury North	137	89	106	86	188	166	59	79
Poundbury South	41	41	31	39	53	230	38	75

Please see The Index of Deprivation, 2010 for detailed information and mapping.

Source: DCLG

Poverty indicators: Housing/Council Tax benefit: March 2013

Settlement	Benefit population	Total population	% benefit population (% of total settlement population)
Alderholt	282	3,171	8.9%
Beaminster	547	3,136	17.4%
Bere Regis	305	1,745	17.5%
Blandford	1,657	10,325	16.0%
Bridport	2,414	13,568	17.8%
Burton	631	4,177	15.1%
Charminster/Charlton Down	379	2,940	12.9%
Chickerell	895	5,515	16.2%
Christchurch	7,747	47,700	16.2%
Colehill	538	6,907	7.8%
Corfe Castle	190	1,355	14.0%
Corfe Mullen	948	10,133	9.4%
Crossways	385	2,267	17.0%
Dorchester	2,987	19,060	15.7%
Ferndown	2,300	17,839	12.9%
Gillingham	1,697	11,756	14.4%
Lyme Regis	527	3,671	14.4%
Lytchett Matravers	370	3,424	10.8%
Lytchett Minster/Upton	1,338	7,983	16.8%
Marnhull	245	1,998	12.3%
Portland	2,880	12,844	22.4%
Sandford	381	2,774	13.7%
Shaftesbury	969	7,314	13.2%
Sherborne	1,567	9,523	16.5%
St Leonards & St Ives	536	6,859	7.8%
Stalbridge	333	2,698	12.3%
Sturminster Marshall	199	1,969	10.1%
Sturminster Newton	664	4,292	15.5%
Swanage	1,571	9,601	16.4%
Verwood	1,653	14,852	11.1%
Wareham	907	5,496	16.5%
West Moors	981	7,561	13.0%
Weymouth	11,079	52,256	21.2%
Wimborne	1,268	6,790	18.7%
Wool	771	5,310	14.5%
Dorset ( DCC area)	-	-	-

Source: DCC

ACORN socio-economic classifications, 2010

Classification	Dorset	Dorchester
% Wealthy Achievers	40.1	14.7
% Urban Prosperity	7.1	17.4
% Comfortably Off	33.2	38.4
% Moderate Means	9.2	14.8
% Hard Pressed	10.2	14.3
% unclassified	0.2	0.4

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.

A full profile of the town and its four wards is available. You can access the Dorchester ACORN Profile (pdf, 1Mb) (opens in a new window) for this information.

Average house prices

Dwelling type	Average price July - Sept 2009	Average price July - Sept 2010	July - Sept 2010 (sales)	Average price July - Sept 2011	July - Sept 2011(sales)	Average price July - Sept 2012	July - Sept 2012(sales)
Detached	£319,194	£336,269	13	£395,853	17	£360,425	19
Semi-detached	£242,652	£222,519	24	£238,063	23	£259,961	13
Terraced	£200,400	£255,005	34	£263,229	26	£230,613	30
Flats/maisonettes	£143,805	£157,237	28	148,700	23	£168,863	30

Land Registry average prices (Prices may be affected by low number of sales). Figures include postcodes sectors DT1 1, DT1 2 and DT1 3.

Tenure - 2011 Census

% of all households

Area	Owner occupied (%)	Shared ownership (%)	Social rented (%)	Private rented (%)	Living rent free (%)
Dorchester	65.5	1.0	17.9	14.4	1.2

Source: ONS

Area:

Approx. 'built-up' area = 550 hectares (1,360 acres)

Local authority revenue

Council tax band D for Year	Council tax payable
12/13	£1,697.55
11/12	£1,691.99
10/11	£1,691.99
09/10	£1,643.24
08/07	£1,584.75
07/08	£1,516.62
06/07	£1,450.95
05/06	£1,385.70
04/05	£1,331.01
03/04	£1,254.92
02/03	£1,086.74
01/02	£991.43
00/01	£931.78
99/00	£880.87

Second/holiday and empty homes, 2011

Category	Dorchester
Total dwellings on council tax register	8,876
Total number of second homes	165
Second homes as a % of total dwellings	1.84
Total number of long term empty properties	70
Empty homes as a % of total dwellings	0.79

Source: Council Tax Register (parish figure, rounded)

Ethnicity (%) - 2011 Census

	Dorchester	West Dorset	Dorset (DCC area)
% white British	94.2	95.7	95.5
% Black and minority ethnic groups (BME)	5.8	4.3	4.5

Source: Office for National Statistics, 2011 Census

Country of birth (%) - 2011 Census

	Dorchester	West Dorset	Dorset (DCC area)
% born in England	90.3	91.3	91.0
% born rest of UK	3.2	3.1	3.4
% born in Rep of IRE	0.5	0.4	0.4
% born EU (member countries in 2001)	1.3	1.2	1.3
% born EU (Accession countries April 2001 to March 2011)	0.6	0.5	0.7
% born elsewhere	4.0	3.4	3.1

Source: Office for National Statistics, 2011 Census

Health - 2011 Census (% of population)

Health limiting day-to-day activities

	Dorchester	West Dorset	Dorset (DCC area)
Day-to-day activities limited a lot (%)	9.1	8.7	8.6
limited a little (%)	11.4	11.6	11.5
not limited (%)	79.5	79.7	79.9
limited a lot: Age 16 to 64 (%)	3.3	2.9	2.9
limited a little: Age 16 to 64 (%)	4.6	4.3	4.5
not limited: Age 16 to 64 (%)	52.7	50.5	51.1

General health

	Dorchester	West Dorset	Dorset (DCC area)
Very good health (%)	45.3	44.4	44.6
Good health (%)	35.2	35.9	35.9
Fair health (%)	14.2	14.7	14.5
Bad health (%)	4.2	3.9	3.9
Very bad health (%)	1.1	1.1	1.1

Provision of unpaid Care

	Dorchester	West Dorset	Dorset (DCC area)
Provides no unpaid care(%)	88.8	88.0	88.1
Provides 1 to 19 hours unpaid care a week(%)	7.6	8.4	8.1
Provides 20 to 49 hours unpaid care a week(%)	1.2	1.2	1.3
Provides 50 or more hours unpaid care a week(%)	2.4	2.4	2.5

Source: ONS 2011 Census

Retail profile - total town floorspace

Two areas of the town are currently being developed. The Charles Street area has a new office for the West Dorset District Council and a new Dorchester Library building under construction at June 2012. This represents phase one of the development, with phase two being a range of retail units.

The other area being developed is the Brewery site, on Weymouth Avenue known as Brewery Square. This is a mix of retail, entertainment, hotel and residential development - being constructed in four phases.

The town has:

230 shops/274,000sq.ft. (2005)
(excludes 'out of town shops')

Town centre:

Many national chain stores such as Marks & Spencers, Next, Body Shop, Boots, Burtons, Co-op, Argos, Iceland, Laura Ashley, Monsoon, Mothercare, Waitrose, New Look. Out of Town Shopping: Tesco, Halfords, Dreams, Currys. Lidl

Catchment population

The shopping catchment for Dorchester (major food shopping) extends around eight miles in a north, west, east direction but only two miles south towards Weymouth. The population within that catchment is around 38,500 (Mid 2001).

Library - number of issues of books etc:

Library	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
Dorchester	274,923	269,507	253,764	227,994
Mobile	26,070	26,052	26,425	25,507

Industrial estates

Casterbridge Industrial Estate (1.1h), Great Western Centre (1.4h), The Grove Trading Estate (7.1h), Marabout Barracks (2.0h), Poundbury Trading Estate (5.0h), Railway Triangle (1.4h)

Unemployment % (persons)

Proportion of resident population aged 16-64 and actual number

Year	Male	Female	Total
July 1998	3.9 (156)	1.8 (63)	2.9 (219)
July 1999	2.9 (116)	1.2 (42)	2.1 (158)
July 2000	2.8 (113)	1.1 (41)	2.0 (154)
July 2001	1.4 (56)	1.0 (36)	1.2 (92)
July 2002	1.3 (55)	0.7 (29)	1.0 (84)
July 2003	1.3 (60)	0.5 (23)	0.9 (83)
July 2004	1.0 (46)	0.4 (20)	0.7 (66)
July 2005	1.5 (71)	0.6 (27)	1.1 (98)
July 2006	1.5 (71)	0.7 (31)	1.1 (102)
July 2007	1.1 (60)	0.6 (31)	0.9 (91)
July 2008	1.2 (63)	0.6 (30)	0.9 (93)
July 2009	2.4 (124)	1.0 (50)	1.7 (174)
July 2010	2.1(108)	0.7 (39)	1.4 (147)
July 2011	2.0 (102)	1.0 (54)	1.5 (156)

Of July 2009 unemployment figures, the long term unemployed=5.2%
Of July 2010 unemployment figures, the long term unemployed= 10.2%
Of July 2011 unemployment figures, the long term unemployed= 5.1%

Rates for wards from 2011 onwards are calculated using the mid 2010 resident population aged 16-64.

The wider economy of the area

To see an economic profile of the wider West Dorset area follow this link to the West Dorset Economy & Labour Market Profile 2011 (pdf, 1005kb) (opens in a new window) .

2010 employment

Total number of people working in the town: 18,400
Number of firms (excluding the self-employed): 910 (2009)

Work pattern/gender category	percentage
Full-time	50%
Part-time	50%

Type of employment	%
Production and construction	5
Distribution, accommodation and food	18
Other market services	14
Public Admin, education and health	60
Other services	3

Source: Business Register and Employment Survey, 2010, ONS

Major employers

AEA Technology PLC, BAeSEMA Ltd, Dorset County Council, Goulds Ltd, HM Prison, Henry Ling Ltd, Kingston Maurward College, Tesco, West Dorset District Council, West Dorset General Hospital NHS Trust, West Dorset General Hospital, Winterbourne Hospital.

Traffic counts in the Dorchester area

Annual average daily traffic (AADT) - numbers

Road	Location	1983	1990	2001	2006	2010	2011
A35(T)	Kingston Russell	6,900	9,100	12,400	14,100	14,100	14,200
A356	Whitesheet Hill	1,500	2,100	2,100	2,300	2,300	2,300
A37	Stagg's Folly	3,600	5,200	9,000	10,100	10,000	10,000
A352	South of Cerne Abbas	1,000	1,300	1,200	1,300	1,400	1,400
C12	Buck Hill	1,700	2,500	3,300	3,700	3,600	3,600
B3143	South of Piddletrenthide	1,400	2,300	1,900	1,800	2,100	2,300
A35(T)	Yellowham Hill	10,900	15,200	24,300	27,600	27,200	27,800
A352	Came Park	3,900	4,800	5,500	7,000	6,500	6,300
A354	Monkton Hill	10,200	15,600	20,000	20,500	18,900	22,000
B3159	North of Upwey	1,100	1,100	1,500	1,900	1,700	1,600
A37	Grimstone	6,000	9,300	11,400	13,700	13,400	12,800
B3163	Toller Down Gate	600	1,000	1,200	1,300	1,400	1,400

Annual average daily traffic - percentage growth

Road	Location	1 year (10-11)	5 years(06-11)	10 years (01-11)	21 years (90-11)	27 years (83-11)
A35(T)	Kingston Russell	0.7%	1%	15%	56%	106%
A356	Whitesheet Hill	0.0%	0%	10%	10%	53%
A37	Stagg's Folly	0.0%	-1%	11%	92%	178%
A352	South of Cerne Abbas	0.0%	17%	17%	8%	40%
C12	Buck Hill	0.0%	-3%	9%	44%	112%
B3143	South of Piddletrenthide	0.0%	10%	21%	0%	64%
A35(T)	Yellowham Hill	2.2%	1%	14%	83%	155%
A352	Came Park	-3.1%	-10%	15%	31%	62%
A354	Monkton Hill	16.4%	7%	10%	41%	116%
B3159	North of Upwey	-5.9%	-16%	7%	45%	45%
A37	Grimstone	-4.5%	-7%	12%	38%	113%
B3163	Toller Down Gate	0.0%	8%	17%	40%	133%