Swanage

Swanage combines the attractions of an old-world town and an up-to-date seaside resort. It is set at the eastern end of the Isle of Purbeck, with its bay extending from the cliffs at Ballard Point to Peverill Point.

Communications

Swanage is located at the end of the Isle of Purbeck on the A351. The Swanage railway is used as a popular tourist attraction and has recently been connected to the rail network. The local Sandbanks ferry gives easy access to the town of Poole.

Education

Purbeck pyramid area:
13 first schools, 4 middle schools, 1 secondary school.
The upper school is Purbeck School (Wareham) (996 pupils -2011).

Commercial land

Between 1994-10, 0.3 hectares of land has been developed in Swanage. The total area of land with permission or allocated in local plans is 2.0 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
Swanage	3.6	3.4	2.5	5.1	4.9	n/a	0.4	1.5
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 of burglary rates for small geographical areas, for example towns, can vary significantly from year to year.
Source: DCC

Other sources of crime data

Access the Police crime mapping Swanage (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 9,840

Year	1921	1931	1951	1961	1971	1981	1991	2001
Census population (enumerated)	7,110	6,280	6,870	8,120	8,560	8,650	9,520	10,140

Housing growth

Year	98	99	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010
Housing development	67	130	30	27	46	43	27	27	46	35	60	42	55

The 2001 Census records 5,304 dwellings in Swanage.
Since 2001, a further 460 have been built giving a total of 5,764.
At March 2010, a further 134 units have permission and 0 have been allocated in the local plan.

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

Index of deprivation, 2007

(Figures show 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
New Swanage & Ulwell	93	116	106	97	112	42	67	140
Swanage Herston	42	21	65	59	17	93	123	152
Swanage King George's	158	148	171	171	61	200	36	75
Swanage North	167	115	172	108	141	202	53	86
Swanage South	116	107	95	128	190	181	21	33
Swanage Town Centre	97	75	89	104	83	175	41	40
Swanage Townsend	64	55	69	67	40	155	19	111

LSOA = Lower Super Output Area (minimum 400 households or 1,000 population). The health ranking in this table includes revised figures from those published in the 2008 Dorset Databook.

Index of deprivation, 2010

	Multiple	Income	Employment	Health	Education & Skills	Housing & services	Crime	Living
New Swanage & Ulwell	104	123	116	112	147	34	107	146
Swanage Herston	66	37	78	100	17	114	190	165
Swanage King George's	182	168	199	152	64	203	175	71
Swanage North	170	135	164	94	176	191	114	78
Swanage South	132	141	122	97	181	139	58	26
Swanage Town Centre	84	74	89	54	112	164	81	29
Swanage Townsend	80	57	101	51	43	178	94	102

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	£302,296	£382,606	21
Semi-detached	£267,746	n/a	0
Terraced	£194,714	£251,550	9
Flats/maisonettes	£188,743	£240,575	26

Land Registry average prices (Prices may be affected by low number of sales) Data based on postcode sectors BH19 1 and BH19 2.

Area
Approx 'built-up' area = 350 hectares (865 acres)

Local authority revenue

Council tax band D for Year	Council tax payable
11/12	£1,691.13
10/11	£1,691.13
09/10	£1,640.16
08/09	£1,552.50
07/08	£1,474.93
06/07	£1,405.99
05/06	£1,341.46
04/05	£1,288.73
03/04	£1,218.69
02/03	£1,049.65
01/02	£958.65
00/01	£897.03
99/00	£846.92

Second/holiday and vacant homes, 2011

Total dwellings on Council Tax Register	5,698
Total number of second homes	940
Second homes as a % of total dwellings	16.53
Total number of long term empty properties	60
Empty homes as a % of total dwellings	1.05

Source: Council Tax Register (parish figure, rounded)

Population 2010: Mid Year Estimates ONS

Gender breakdown	DCC Dorset	Swanage
Resident Population	404,790	9,840
Males	196,420	4,690
Females	208,370	5,150

Age structure (%): 2010 Mid Year Estimates ONS

Age range	DCC Dorset	Swanage
0-15	17.0	14.6
16+17	2.7	2.3
18-44	25.4	25.0
45-59	20.9	19.4
60-84	30.0	33.3
85+	3.9	5.4

Ethnicity (%): 2001 Census

Ethnicity	DCC Dorset	Swanage
White British	96.8	94.0
BME	3.2	6.0

Health: 2001 Census

Health category	DCC Dorset	Swanage
% with Long-term Illness / Disability	19.2	21.9
Health: % Good	68.1	65.0
Health: % Not Good	8.4	9.1
% Providing Unpaid Care	10.8	10.3

Poverty Indicators: Housing/Council Tax Benefit, 2009

Benefit population	DCC Dorset	Swanage
as a % of total population	13.6	14.3

Socio-economic classifications, 2010 ACORN

Classifications	Dorset	Swanage
% Wealthy Achievers	40.1	10.2
% Urban Prosperity	7.1	36.6
% Comfortably Off	33.2	45.5
% Moderate Means	9.2	2.9
% Hard Pressed	10.2	4.7
% 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 of the town , including mapping of the 2 wards has been produced. Access the Swanage ACORN Profile (pdf, 743kb) (opens in a new window) here.

Retail profile - total Town floorspace

119 shops/107,000 sq.ft. (2005)

Town centre:

Mainly local shops but includes nationals such as Boots, Co-op, New Look, Budgens, and WH Smiths.

Catchment population:

The shopping catchment for Swanage (major food shopping) extends around 5 miles in a NW direction towards Wareham. The population within the catchment is around 13,400 (mid 2001).

Library - Number of issues of books etc

Library	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
Swanage	90,074	87,304	86,764	68,114

Industrial estates

Victoria Avenue Industrial estate(2.8h)

Unemployment % (persons)

Year	Male	Female	Total
July 1997	4.8 (100)	1.3 (21)	3.3 (121)
July 1998	3.7 (77)	1.1 (18)	2.6 (95)
July 1999	3.8 (79)	0.9(15)	2.6 (94)
July 2000	2.5 (55)	1.0 (17	1.8 (72)
July 2001	1.6 (34)	0.5(9)	1.1 (43)
July 2002	1.2 (26)	0.7 (12)	1.0 (38)
July 2003	1.0 (21)	0.6 (10)	0.8 (31)
July 2004	0.9 (24)	0.2 (7)	0.5 (31)
July 2005	0.7 (18)	0.3 (9)	0.5 (27)
July 2006	1.1 (30)	0.4 (11)	0.7 (41)
July 2007	0.9 (26)	0.2 (7)	0.6 (33)
July 2008	1.0 (29)	0.4 (13)	0.7 (42)
July 2009	2.5 (73)	0.9 (25)	1.7 (98)
July 2010	2.3(66)	1.0 (28)	1.6 (94)

Of July 2009 unemployment figures, the long-term unemployed = 5.1%
Of July 2010 unemployment figures, the long-term unemployed = 25.8%

2009 employment

Total number of people working in the town: 3,100

Number of firms (excluding the self employed): 390

Work pattern	percentage
Full-time	55%
Part-time	45%

Type of employment	%
Manufacturing and other non service	7
Construction	5
Accommodation & Food Service activities	19
Other Services	9
Distribution including motor	19
Finance and business services	10
Public administration, Ed and Health	32

Source: Business Register and Employment Survey, 2009 ONS

Major Employers

Dorset County Council, Dorset Healthcare NHS Trust, Ibstock Bricks Ltd, Wire Fittings Ltd, Swanage Hospital

Traffic counts in the wider Swanage 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
B3351	Rempstone	1,000	1,600	2,100	2,400	2,500	2,600	2,500	-4%	0%	4%	19%	56%	150%
A351	East of Corfe Castle	4,500	6,400	7,400	7,900	8,100	8,400	8,200	-2%	1%	4%	11%	28%	82%
Uncl	Studland Ferry Road	n/a	n/a	n/a	3,000	3,100	3,000	2,700	-10%	-13%	-10%	n/a	n/a	n/a