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 will host 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)

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
The Royal Manor Arts College (696 pupils - 2011 For further information on Royal Manor Arts College (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

Area	2002/03	2003/04	2004/05	2005/06	2006/07	2007/08	2008/2009	2009/10
Portland	4.3	4.6	8.7	9.1	4.1	n/a	5.4	5.4
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 small numbers burglary rates for small geographical areas (e.g. towns) 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.

Population

Latest population figure (2010 mid year estimate) for the town is 12,400

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

Housing growth

Year	98	99	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010
Housing development	20	17	12	24	76	41	61	40	85	15	92	203	8

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

The 2001 Census records 5,165 dwellings in Portland.
Since 2001, a further 621 have been built giving a total of 5,786.
At March 2010, a further 610 units have permission and 10 have been allocated in local plans

Index of deprivation, 2007

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

SOA	Multiple	Income	Employment	Health and disability	Education and skills	Services	Crime	Living
Castletown and Chiswell	16	73	24	17	49	112	4	3
Fortuneswell North	5	3	11	7	6	45	12	44
Fortuneswell South	22	33	29	18	24	243	63	21
Southwell and Portland Bill	126	169	91	84	35	99	147	142
Tophill East Easton	74	106	61	30	47	246	141	18
Tophill East Grove Road	65	152	113	33	29	173	47	9
Weston East	72	52	88	39	21	218	64	117
Weston West	26	25	53	32	11	153	51	110

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

Index of deprivation, 2010

	Multiple	Income	Employment	Health and disability	Education and Skills	Housing and Services	Crime	Living
Castletown and Chiswell	11	45	18	23	29	56	2	3
Fortuneswell North	3	2	7	6	9	36	10	34
Fortuneswell South	19	26	19	13	24	237	30	20
Southwell and Portland Bill	130	174	88	71	58	87	145	160
Tophill East Easton	60	80	67	26	80	222	52	27
Tophill East Grove Road	34	113	117	35	51	79	12	8
Weston East	45	56	65	43	21	189	22	93
Weston West	17	19	27	32	11	115	14	74

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	July - Sept 2010 (sales)
Detached	n/a	£194,200	5
Semi-detached	£158,800	n/a	0
Terraced	£155,813	£149,727	33
Flats/maisonettes	n/a	£110,500	3

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

Total Area and Perimeter of Portland

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

Local authority revenue

Council tax band D for Year	Council tax payable
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

Total dwellings on Council Tax Register	5,458
Total number of second homes	155
Second homes as a % of total dwellings	2.84
Total number of long term empty properties	160
Empty homes as a % of total dwellings	2.89

Source: Council Tax Register (parish figure, rounded)

Population 2010: Mid Year Estimates ONS

Gender breakdown	DCC Dorset	Portland
Resident Population	404,790	12,400
Males	196,420	6,580
Females	208,370	5,820

Age structure (%): 2010 Mid Year Estimates

Age range	DCC Dorset	Portland
0-15	17.0	18.1
16+17	2.7	2.4
18-44	25.4	33.5
45-59	20.9	21.9
60-84	30.0	21.7
85+	3.9	2.3

Ethnicity (%): 2001 Census

Ethnicity	DCC Dorset	Portland
White British	96.8	94.6
BME	3.2	5.4

Health: 2001 Census

Health category	DCC Dorset	Portland
% with Long-term Illness / Disability	19.2	18.4
Health: % Good	68.1	66.5
Health: % Not Good	8.4	8.9
% Providing Unpaid Care	10.8	10.0

Poverty Indicators

Benefit population	DCC Dorset	Portland
as a % of the total population	13.6	18.9

Socio-economic classifications: 2010 ACORN

Classifications	DCC Dorset	Portland
% Wealthy Achievers	40.1	4.2
% Urban Prosperity	7.1	7.4
% Comfortably Off	33.2	20.3
% Moderate Means	9.2	51.3
% Hard Pressed	10.2	16.8
% unclassified	0.2	0.0

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.

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

Library	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
Portland Tophill	34,506	32,221	28,929	30,097
Portland Underhill	10,317	8,802	7,676	6,722

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)

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 2008	1.7 (81)	0.8 (31)	1.3 (112)
July 2009	3.7 (182)	1.3 (52)	2.7 (234)
July 2010	2.5 (124)	1.6 (62)	2.1 (186)

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

2009 employment

Total number of people working in the town: 3,900
Number of firms (excluding the self-employed): 290

Work pattern	percentage
Full-time	66%
Part-time	44%

Type of employment	%
Manufacturing and other non service	20
Construction	2
Accommodation & Food Service activities	8
Other Services	4
Distribution including motor	8
Finance and business services	19
Public administration, Ed and Health	38

Source: Annual Source: Business Register and Employment Survey, 2009, 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, Sunseekesr International Ltd, Drumgrange, Portland Stone Firms Ltd.

Traffic Counts - annual average daily traffic

Road	Location	AADF (Annual Average Daily Traffic)							Percentage Growth Since
No.		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
A354	Portland Beach Road	12,900	16,500	14,900	16,200	16,400	16,500	15,600	-5%	-5%	-4%	5%	-5%	21%