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Portland

Portland extends south from the main Dorset coast beyond Weymouth and is attached to the mainland by a narrow stretch of the famous Chesil Beach.

This 'Limestone Isle' has a quality all of its own - enhanced by its vast stone quarries, rows of terraced stone houses and its two castles. It has no real town centre, although Easton on the hill top and Fortuneswell on the northern slopes both have an urban appearance. Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy hosted the sailing events for the London 2012 Olympics.

Communications

Portland is linked to the mainland (Weymouth) by the A354. The nearest railway station is Weymouth (6 miles distance)

Population

Latest population figure (2011 Census) for the town  is 12,844

AgePortland (number)Portland (%)Dorset-DCC area
(%)
England & Wales
(%)
0-47085.54.76.2
5-97135.64.85.6
10-146915.45.65.8
15-198776.85.86.3
20-249527.44.76.8
25-297115.54.16.8
30-347195.64.36.6
35-397555.95.26.7
40-448977.06.67.3
45-499787.67.37.3
50-549647.56.96.4
55-598716.86.65.7
60-649037.08.06.0
65-697055.56.94.8
70-744703.75.63.9
75-794223.34.93.2
80-842572.03.92.4
85+2512.03.92.2
total12,844100100100

selected age groups

AgePortland (number)Portland (%)Dorset-DCC area (%)England & Wales (%)
Young people 0 to 172,53819.818.821.3
Young adults 18 to 292,11416.510.916.2
Older people 65 plus2,10516.425.216.4

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

Historic population

Year
1921
1931
1951
1961
1971
1981
1991
2001
2011
Census population
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
12,330
12,410
13,190
12,800
12,844

Source: ONS

Education

Chesil Education Partnership Area: 
3 infant schools, 2 junior schools, 14 primary schools, 4 secondary schools, 2 special schools.
The secondary school for the area is
Isle of Portland Aldridge Community Academy - Royal Manor Campus (696 pupils - 2011 For further information on Isle of Portland Aldridge Community Academy - Royal Manor Campus (opens in a new window)

Commercial land

Between 1994-10, 12.0 hectares of industrial land has been developed in Portland. The total area of land with permission or allocated in local plans is 56.2 hectares, of which 11.5h are at the naval air station and 38h Portland Port.

Crime

Domestic burglaries

Rate per 1,000 households

Area2002/032003/042004/052005/062006/072007/082008/2009 2009/102010/112011/12
Portland
 4.3 4.6 8.79.1  4.1n/a5.4  5.44.52.9
DCC Dorset
6.66.66.55.74.4n/a
4.1
3.83.73.4
South West
14.812.310.78.98.4n/a
8.2
7.67.27.0
England and Wales
20.018.6 (GB)14.413.513.1n/a
12.2
11.611.110.5

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 Portland (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

1998-2006

Year
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
Housing development
20
17
12
24
76
41
61
40
85

2007 -2012

Year200720082009201020112012
Housing development
15922038090

Note: Figures allows for losses from re-development. Method revised 2009

The 2011 Census records 5,608 dwellings in Portland. Since 2011 a further 90 units have been built giving a total of 5,698. The commitment at 2012 is 555 units with permission and 12 allocated in local plans.


Index of deprivation, 2010

(Figures show LSOA ranking out of 247 SOAs in Dorset with 1 being the most deprived)

LSOA = Lower Super Output Area (minimum 400 households or 1,000 population).

SOAMultipleIncome Employment

Health
and disability

Education
and Skills
Housing
and Services
Crime Living
Castletown and Chiswell11 45 18 23 29 56 2 3
Fortuneswell North3 2 7 6 9 36 10 34
Fortuneswell South19 26 19 13 24 237 30 20
Southwell and Portland Bill130 174 88 71 58 87 145 160
Tophill East Easton60 80 67 26 80 222 52 27
Tophill East Grove Road34 113 117 35 51 79 12 8
Weston East45 56 65 43 21 189 22 93
Weston West17 19 27 32 11 115 14 74

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

Source: DCLG

Poverty indicators: Housing/Council Tax benefit: March2013 

SettlementBenefit PopulationTotal Population

% Benefit Population
(% of total 
settlement population)

Alderholt2823,1718.9%
Beaminster5473,13617.4%
Bere Regis3051,74517.5%
Blandford1,65710,32516.0%
Bridport2,41413,56817.8%
Burton6314,17715.1%
Charminster/Charlton Down3792,94012.9%
Chickerell8955,51516.2%
Christchurch7,74747,70016.2%
Colehill5386,9077.8%
Corfe Castle1901,35514.0%
Corfe Mullen94810,1339.4%
Crossways3852,26717.0%
Dorchester2,98719,06015.7%
Ferndown2,30017,83912.9%
Gillingham1,69711,75614.4%
Lyme Regis5273,67114.4%
Lytchett Matravers3703,42410.8%
Lytchett Minster/Upton1,3387,98316.8%
Marnhull2451,99812.3%
Portland2,88012,84422.4%
Sandford3812,77413.7%
Shaftesbury9697,31413.2%
Sherborne1,5679,52316.5%
St Leonards & St Ives5366,8597.8%
Stalbridge3332,69812.3%
Sturminster Marshall1991,96910.1%
Sturminster Newton6644,29215.5%
Swanage1,5719,60116.4%
Verwood1,65314,85211.1%
Wareham9075,49616.5%
West Moors9817,56113.0%
Weymouth11,07952,25621.2%
Wimborne1,2686,79018.7%
Wool7715,31014.5%
Dorset ( DCC area)---

Source: DCC

Socio-economic classifications: 2010 ACORN

ClassificationsDCC DorsetPortland
% Wealthy Achievers40.14.2
% Urban Prosperity7.17.4
% Comfortably Off33.220.3
% Moderate Means9.251.3
% Hard Pressed10.216.8
% unclassified0.20.0

ACORN is a geodemographic segmentation of the UK's population which segments small neighbourhoods, postcodes, or consumer households into 5 categories, 17 groups and 56 types.
The 5 higher level categories "wealthy achievers", "urban prosperity", "comfortably off", "moderate means" and "hard pressed" are shown above.

An ACORN profile for the whole island, with mapping of the 3 wards has been created. Access  Portland ACORN Profile (pdf, 1Mb) (opens in a new window) here.

Average house prices

Dwelling typeAverage Price  July - Sept 2009Average Price  July - Sept 2010 July - Sept 2010 (sales)Average Price  July - Sept 2012July - Sept 2012 (sales)
Detachedn/a£194,2005£231,7504
Semi-detached£158,800n/a0n/a0
Terraced£155,813£149,72733£139,81722
Flats/maisonettesn/a£110,5003n/a0

Land Registry average prices (Prices may be affected by low number of sales). Data is based on postcode sectors DT5 1 and DT5 2.

Tenure - 2011 Census

% of all households

AreaOwner occupied (%)Shared ownership (%)Social rented (%)Private rented (%)Living rent free (%)
Portland68.10.613.616.90.8

Source: ONS

Total area and perimeter of Portland

Total Area = 1,150h. Total perimeter = 18km approx

Local authority revenue

Council tax "band D" for yearCouncil tax payable
12/13£1,676.24
11/12£1,685.08
 10/11
£1,685.08
09/10
£1,636.70
 08/09
£1,575.22
 07/08
£1,508.51
06/07
£1,439.01
 05/06
£1,373.46
 04/05
£1,321.48
03/04
£1,246.46
02/03
£1,033.47
01/02
£943.04
 00/01
£890.56
 99/00
£838.81


Second/holiday and vacant homes, 2011

CategoryPortland
Total dwellings on Council Tax register5,458
Total number of second homes155
Second homes as a % of total dwellings
2.84
Total number of long term empty properties160
Empty homes as a % of total dwellings
2.89

Source: Council Tax Register (parish figure)


Ethnicity (%): 2001 Census

Ethnicity
DCC Dorset
Portland
White British
96.8
94.6
BME
3.2
5.4

Health - 2011 Census (% of population)

Health limiting day-to-day activities

PortlandWeymouth & PortlandDorset (DCC area)
Day-to-day activities limited a lot (%)8.79.78.6
limited a little(%)11.011.911.5
not limited(%)80.378.479.9
limited a lot: Age 16 to 64(%)4.44.32.9
limited a little: Age 16 to 64(%)5.85.74.5
not limited: Age 16 to 64(%)55.952.551.1

General health

PortlandWeymouth & PortlandDorset (DCC area)
Very good health (%)42.242.344.6
Good health (%)37.736.735.9
Fair health (%)14.515.014.5
Bad health (%)4.24.53.9
Very bad health (%)1.31.41.1

Provision of unpaid care

PortlandWeymouth & PortlandDorset (DCC area)
Provides no unpaid care (%)88.688.588.1
Provides 1 to 19 hours unpaid care a week (%)7.17.38.1
Provides 20 to 49 hours unpaid care a week (%)1.61.51.3
Provides 50 or more hours unpaid care a week (%)2.82.82.5

 Source: ONS 2011 Census


Retail profile - total town floorspace

58 shops/44,000 sq.ft. (2005)
All local shops plus Co-op & Tesco

Library - number of issues of books etc

Library2007-082008-092009-102010-11
Portland Tophill34,50632,22128,92930,097
Portland Underhill10,3178,8027,6766,722


Industrial estates

Osprey quay (49h), Portland Port (47h), Immosthay (7.5h),
Tradecroft (6.5h), Southwell Business Park (8h). St Georges Centre Workshops (0.1h)

Unemployment % (persons)


Proportion of resident population aged 16-64 and actual number

Year
Male
Female
Total
July 1998
4.7 (185)
1.6 (41)
3.5 (226)
July 1999
4.0 (156)
1.6 (42)
3.0 (198)
July 2000
3.0 (119)
1.1 (30)
2.3 (149)
July 2001
4.1 (108)
0.9 (24)
2.5 (132)
July 2002
2.3 (95)
1.0 (28)
1.8 (123)
July 2003
2.0 (81)
1.1 (31)
1.6 (112)
July 2004
1.4 (67)0.6 (22)
1.0 (89)
July 2005
1.5 (69)
0.5 (20)
1.1 (89)
July 2006
2.5 (117)
0.9 (35)
1.8 (152)
July 2007
1.7 (82)
0.7(26)
1.2 (108)
July 20081.7 (81)0.8 (31)1.3 (112)
July 20093.7 (182)1.3 (52)2.7 (234)
July 20102.5 (124)1.6 (62)2.1 (186)
July 20112.1 (97)1.5 (56)1.9 (153)
n/an/an/an/a

Of July 2009 unemployment figures, the long-term unemployed = 3.4%
Of July 2010 unemployment figures, the long-term unemployed = 12.4%
Of July 2011 unemployment figures, the long-term unemployed = 6.5%

The wider economy of the area

To see an economic profile of the wider Weymouth and Portland area follow this link to the  Weymouth & Portland Economy & Labour Market Profile 2011 (pdf, 1Mb) (opens in a new window) .

2010 employment

Total number of people working in the town: 4,000
Number of firms (excluding the self-employed): 290 (2009)

Work patternpercentage
Full-time
66%
Part-time
34%
Type of employment
%
Production and construction
16
Distribution, accommodation and food
23
Other market services9
Public Admin, education and health47
Other services
5

Source: Annual Source: Business Register and Employment Survey, 2010, ONS

Major employers

Dorset County Council, HM Prison Service, Portland Harbour Authority Ltd, Manor Marine, Ceewrite Engineering, Portland Engineering, M&N Electrical & Mechanical, Portland Stone , Albion Stone, Portland Port Ltd, The Heights Hotel , Southwell Business Park, Sunseeker International Ltd,  Drumgrange, Portland Stone Firms Ltd.

Traffic counts - annual average daily traffic

Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT) - numbers

Road numberRoad name198319902001200620102011
A354Portland Beach Road12,90016,50015,70016,10015,60015,200

Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT) - percentage growth

RoadRoad name1 year (10-11) 5 years (06-11)10 years (01-11)21 years (90-11)27 years (83-11)
A354Portland Beach Road-2.6%-6%-3%-8%18%

  Source:Dorset County Council Environment Directorate June 2012

Local authorities

Dorset County Council
County Hall, Colliton Park, Dorchester, Dorset DT1 1XJ
01305 221000

Weymouth and Portland Borough Council
Council Offices
North Quay, Weymouth
Dorset DT4 8TA 01305 838000

Portland Town Council contact details


Useful websites

Portland Town Council (opens in a new window)

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