Shaftesbury

Shaftesbury is one of the oldest towns in England. The town overlooks the Blackmore Vale, and combined with its history and architectural character, it is certainly one of the most attractive.

The steep, cobbled Gold Hill is probably one of the most famous streets in the country. The town is the main shopping and service centre for the surrounding area, and provides a range of educational, health and recreational facilities, as well as its own art centre and museum.

Communications

Shaftesbury is located halfway between Blandford and Warminster on the A350, 7 miles south of the A303. The nearest railway station is at Gillingham, 4 miles away.

Population

Latest population figure (2011 Census) for the town (Shaftesbury Parish) is 7,314

Age	Shaftesbury (number)	Shaftesbury (%)	Dorset-DCC area (%)	England & Wales (%)
0-4	390	5.3	4.7	6.2
5-9	396	5.4	4.8	5.6
10-14	423	5.8	5.6	5.8
15-19	441	6.0	5.8	6.3
20-24	379	5.2	4.7	6.8
25-29	370	5.1	4.1	6.8
30-34	394	5.4	4.3	6.6
35-39	464	6.3	5.2	6.7
40-44	525	7.2	6.6	7.3
45-49	519	7.1	7.3	7.3
50-54	481	6.6	6.9	6.4
55-59	427	5.8	6.6	5.7
60-64	492	6.7	8.0	6.0
65-69	387	5.3	6.9	4.8
70-74	342	4.7	5.6	3.9
75-79	312	4.3	4.9	3.2
80-84	241	3.3	3.9	2.4
85+	331	4.5	3.9	2.2
total	7,314	100	100	100

selected age groups

Age	Shaftesbury (number)	Shaftesbury(%)	Dorset-DCC area (%)	England & Wales (%)
Young people 0 to 17	1,501	20.5	18.8	21.3
Young adults 18 to 29	898	12.3	10.9	16.2
Older people 65 plus	1,613	22.1	25.2	16.4

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

Historic Population

Year	1921	1931	1951	1961	1971	1981	1991	2001	2011
Census population	1,810	2,820	3,300	3,370	3,980	3,940	6,180	6,670	7,314

Education

Shaftesbury pyramid area:
4 primary schools, 1 secondary school.
The secondary school for the area
Shaftesbury School and Sports College (1,053 pupils in 2011).

For further information on Shaftesbury School & Sports College (opens in a new window)

Commercial land

Between 1994-10, 5.0 hectares of industrial land has been developed in Shaftesbury. The total area of land with permission or allocated in local plans is 7.3 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
Shaftesbury	12.2	4.8	7.7	4.5	6.1	n/a	3.8	10.9	3.2	2.2
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 Shaftesbury (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

Year	98	99	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012
Housing development	26	29	100	57	54	6	33	60	43	7	3	4	46	93	220

The 2011 Census records 3,493 dwellings in Shaftesbury.
Since 2011, a further 220 have been built giving a total of 3,693. At March 2012, a further 411 units have permission and 0 are allocated in the local plan.

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

Index of deprivation, 2010

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

SOA = Super Output Area (minimum 400 households or 1,000 population)

SOA	Multiple	Income	Employment	Health	Education & Skills	Housing & services	crime	Living
Shaftesbury Central	47	32	39	48	40	187	64	110
Shaftesbury Christy's	226	194	236	200	132	154	221	219
Shaftesbury Grosvenor	103	76	81	127	42	108	122	186
Shaftesbury Underhill	174	184	170	75	223	142	63	90

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

Source:DCLG

Poverty Indicators: Housing/Council Tax Benefit: March2013

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

Socio-economic classifications, 2010 ACORN

Classifications	Dorset	Shaftesbury
% Wealthy Achievers	40.1	32.3
% Urban Prosperity	7.1	2.1
% Comfortably Off	33.2	43.2
% Moderate Means	9.2	14.6
% Hard Pressed	10.2	7.6
% unclassified	0.2	0.2

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.

A full ACORN Profile for the town, with mapping of the wards is available. Access the Shaftesbury ACORN Profile (pdf, 1Mb) (opens in a new window) here.

Average house prices

Dwelling type	Average Price July - Sept 2009	Average Price July - Sept 2010	July - Sept 2010 (sales)	Average Price July - Sept 2012	July - Sept 2012 (sales)
Detached	£236,878	£329,958	12	£394,722	11
Semi-detached	£160,646	£181,752	19	£168,580	5
Terraced	£151,619	£182,454	21	£160,445	18
Flats/maisonettes	£123,100	n/a	0	£106,800	3

Land Registry average prices (Prices may be affected by low number of sales). Data based on the postcode sector SP7 8.

Tenure - 2011 Census

% of all households

Area	Owner occupied (%)	Shared ownership (%)	Social rented (%)	Private rented (%)	Living rent free (%)
Shaftesbury	68.4	0.7	15.2	14.5	1.2

Source: ONS

Area

Approx 'built-up' area = 310 hectares (766 acres)

Local authority revenue

Council tax band D for Year	Council tax payable
12/13	£1,628.21
11/12	£1,628.20
10/11	£1,623.18
09/10	£1574.12
08/09	£1,519.51
07/08	£1,445.59
06/07	£1,369.06
05/06	£1,322.92
04/05	£1,252.70
03/04	£1,185.71
02/03	£1,025.79
01/02	£924.97
00/01	£872.47
99/00	£827.06

Second/holiday and vacant homes, 2011

Total dwellings on Council Tax Register	3,429
Total number of second homes	45
Second homes as a % of total dwellings	1.31
Total number of long term empty properties	40
Empty homes as a % of total dwellings	1.22

Source: Council Tax Register (parish figure, rounded)

Ethnicity (%) - 2011Census

	Shaftesbury	North Dorset	Dorset (DCC area)
% white British	93.3	94.7	95.5
% Black and minority ethnic groups (BME)	6.7	5.3	4.5

Source: Office for National Statistics, 2011 Census

Country of birth (%) - 2011 Census

	Shaftesbury	North Dorset	Dorset (DCC area)
% born in England	89.0	89.7	91.0
% born rest of UK	3.0	3.4	3.4
% born in Rep of IRE	0.4	0.3	0.4
% born EU (member countries in 2001)	1.4	1.6	1.3
% born EU (Accession countries April 2001 to March 2011)	1.9	1.3	0.7
% born elsewhere	4.2	3.6	3.1

Source: Office for National Statistics, 2011 Census

Health - 2011 Census (% of population)

Health Limiting day-to-day Activities

	Shaftesbury	North Dorset	Dorset (DCC area)
Day-to-day activities limited a lot (%)	7.0	7.1	8.6
limited a little(%)	10.6	10.4	11.5
not limited(%)	82.4	82.5	79.9
limited a lot: Age 16 to 64(%)	2.4	2.6	2.9
limited a little: Age 16 to 64(%)	4.4	4.2	4.5
not limited: Age 16 to 64(%)	53.3	53.6	51.1

General Health

	Shaftesbury	North Dorset	Dorset (DCC area)
Very good health(%)	46.4	47.8	44.6
Good health(%)	36.0	35.2	35.9
Fair health(%)	13.5	12.8	14.5
Bad health(%)	3.4	3.3	3.9
Very bad health(%)	0.8	0.8	1.1

Provision of Unpaid Care

	Shaftesbury	North Dorset	Dorset (DCC area)
Provides no unpaid care(%)	90.0	89.4	88.1
Provides 1 to 19 hours unpaid care a week(%)	7.3	7.3	8.1
Provides 20 to 49 hours unpaid care a week(%)	0.8	1.1	1.3
Provides 50 or more hours unpaid care a week(%)	1.9	2.2	2.5

Source: ONS 2011 Census

Retail profile - total town floorspace

75 shops/78,000sq.ft. (2005)

Town centre:

Mainly small shops but includes nationals such as Body Shop, Boots, Somerfield, Superdrug and W H Smiths. Tesco's is based outside the main shopping area.

Catchment population:

The shopping catchment for Shaftesbury (major food shopping) extends around 4.5 miles in a N,S,E, & W direction, partly into Wiltshire. The Dorset population within that catchment is around 11,200 (mid 2001).

Library - Number of issues of books etc

Library	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
Shaftesbury	75,755	74,229	67,107	65,508

Industrial estates

Longmead Industrial Estate (7.7h), Wincombe Business Park (6.5h).

Unemployment % (persons)

Proportion of resident population aged 16-64 and actual number

Year	Male	Female	Total
July 1998	3.1 (49)	1.3 (20)	2.2 (69)
July 1999	2.6 (42)	0.9 (14)	1.8 (56)
July 2000	1.9 (33)	0.9 (15)	1.4 (48)
July 2001	1.0 (18)	0.8 (15)	0.9 (33)
July 2002	1.3 (28)	0.5 (9)	0.9 (37)
July 2003	1.0 (26)	0.3 (7)	0.7 (33)
July 2004	1.3 (26)	0.5 (9)	0.9 (35)
July 2005	0.9 (17)	0.5 (10)	0.7 (27)
July 2006	1.4 (28)	0.7 (12)	1.1 (40)
July 2007	1.0 (20)	0.5 (10)	0.8 (30)
July 2008	1.0 (20)	0.3 (6)	0.7 (26)
July 2009	1.8 (36)	1.0 (19)	1.4 (55)
July 2010	1.7 (34)	0.8 (17)	1.2 (51)
July 2011	1.9 (33)	1.4 (27)	1.7 (60)

Of July 2009 unemployment figures, the long term unemployed = 3.6%
Of July 2010 unemployment figures, the long term unemployed = 9.8%
Of July 2011 unemployment figures, the long term unemployed = 8.5%

The wider economy of the area

To see an economic profile of the wider North Dorset area follow this link to the North Dorset Economy & Labour Market Profile 2011 (pdf, 985kb) (opens in a new window) .

2010 Employment

Total number of people working in the town: 3,400

Number of firms (excluding the self employed): 310 (2009)

Work pattern	percentage
Full-time	66%
Part-time	34%

Type of employment	%
Production and construction	25
Distribution, accommodation and food	29
Other market services	11
Public Admin, education and health	23
Other services	12

Figures exclude farm agriculture.

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

Major employers

Blackmore Press, Dorset Chilled Foods, Dorset County Council,
HMYOI Guys Marsh, Pork Farms, Port Regis School, Royal Mail, Somerfield,
Stalbridge Linen Services, Tesco, Wessex Electricals.

Traffic counts in the Shaftesbury area - 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
A350	North of Shaftesbury	4,700	7,000	9,200	9,600	9,900	10,000	9,800	-2%	-1%	2%	7%	40%	109%
B3081	West of Gillingham	1,800	3,000	3,400	4,700	4,500	4,600	4,600	0%	2%	-2%	35%	53%	156%
B3081	South of Shaftesbury	3,700	5,400	6,400	7,600	7,600	7,600	7,700	1%	1%	1%	20%	43%	108%
A30	East of Shaftesbury	5,200	5,700	6,400	7,400	6,800	6,800	6,400	-6%	-6%	-14%	0%	12%	23%
A350	South of Shaftesbury	n/a	n/a	n/a	4,200	4,550	4,500	4,300	-4%	-5%	2%	n/a	n/a	n/a
A30	West of Shaftesbury (Long Cross)	n/a	n/a	n/a	5,100	6,300	5,900	5,800	-2%	-8%	14%	n/a	n/a	n/a
A30	Christies Lane - Shaftesbury	9,300	13,900	n/a	16,900	17,700	17,600	17,100	-3%	-3%	1%	N/A	23%	84%