Charminster/Charlton Down

Charminster Parish has two major settlements within it. Firstly the older village of Charminster to the south with it's population of about 1,500 and secondly the new village of Charlton Down.

Just north of Dorchester the large village of Charminster is set beside the River Cerne. The attractive cottages and gardens centred around the 15th century church form the centre of the village. Charminster has undergone considerable development over the past thirty years and the village has expanded to the east and the west.

Charlton Down is Dorset's newest village, built on the site of an old Victorian psychiatric hospital. The village combines the re-development of the old hospital with new houses in a very attractive setting 3 miles north of Dorchester.

Communications

Charminster abuts the A37 main road from Dorchester to Yeovil. It also encompasses the A352 Dorchester to Sherborne road passing through the settlement from south to north. Charlton Down, two miles further north lies between the A352 in the west and and the C12 in the east. The nearest train stations are in Dorchester where there is access to the Weymouth - Waterloo line and the more rural line northwards to Bristol, Bath and beyond.

Population

2011 Census (parish)

Latest population figure (2011 Census) for Charminster/Charlton Down = 2,940

Age	Charminster/Charlton Down (number)	Charminster/Charlton Down (%)	Dorset-DCC area (%)	England & Wales (%)
0-4	186	6.3	4.7	6.2
5-9	176	6.0	4.8	5.6
10-14	188	6.4	5.6	5.8
15-19	160	5.4	5.8	6.3
20-24	121	4.1	4.7	6.8
25-29	85	2.9	4.1	6.8
30-34	131	4.5	4.3	6.6
35-39	200	6.8	5.2	6.7
40-44	239	8.1	6.6	7.3
45-49	246	8.4	7.3	7.3
50-54	179	6.1	6.9	6.4
55-59	161	5.5	6.6	5.7
60-64	223	7.6	8.0	6.0
65-69	202	6.9	6.9	4.8
70-74	127	4.3	5.6	3.9
75-79	129	4.4	4.9	3.2
80-84	108	3.7	3.9	2.4
85+	79	2.7	3.9	2.2
total	2,940	100	100	100

selected age groups

	Charminster/Charlton Down (number)	Charminster/Charlton Down (%)	Dorset-DCC area(%)	England & Wales (%)
Young people 0 to 17	659	22.4	18.8	21.3
Young adults 18 to 29	257	8.7	10.9	16.2
Older people 65 plus	645	21.9	25.2	16.4

Source: Office for National Statistics, 2011 Census

Historic Population (Census)

Year	1921	1931	1951	1961	1971	1981	1991	2001	2011
Charminster/Charlton Down	1,760	1,870	1,920	2,130	2,490	2,060	1,600	1,940	2,940

NB. The decline in the parish population between 1971 and 1981 and 1991 co-include with the decline and closure of the mental hospital at Herrison.
Source: ONS

Housing growth

Year	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
Housing development (Charlton Down)	94	105	70	34	68	30	17	0	39	0	0
Housing Development (Charminster)	0	1	0	2	1	0	13	13	0	1	1
Housing Development (Whole Parish)	94	106	70	36	69	30	30	13	39	1	1

The 2011 Census records 1,317 dwellings in Charminster/Charlton Down.
Since 2011, a further 0 have been built giving a total of 1,317 dwellings.
At March 2012, a further 4 units have permission and 0 are allocated in the local plan.

Note: Figures now allow for losses from demolition, redevelopment etc. Method revised 2009

Average house prices

Dwelling type	Average Prices Charminster/Charlton Down July - Sept 2010	Average Prices Charminster/Charlton Down July - Sept 2012	Sales Charminster/Charlton Down July - Sept 2012
Detached	£384,441	£461,666	6
Semi-detached	£268,875	£218,625	4
Terraced	£228,650	£225,400	5
Flats/maisonettes	£166,000	£162,666	3

Land Registry average prices. (Prices may be affected by low number of sales). "Lowest and highest" quoted above are the lowest and highest of the non town settlements profiled here. Figures for postcode sector DT2 9

Tenure - 2011 Census

% of all households

Area	Owner occupied (%)	Shared ownership (%)	Social rented (%)	Private rented (%)	Living rent free (%)
Charminster/Charlton Down	68.3	1.0	17.0	12.6	1.0

Source: ONS

Second/holiday homes, Feb 2010

Total dwellings on Council Tax Register	1,319
Total number of second homes	36
Second homes as a % of total dwellings	2.73

Source: Council Tax Register (parish figure)

Crime

- domestic burglaries

Rate per 1,000 households

Area	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12
Charminster/Charlton Down	3.8	3.0	1.5
DCC Dorset	3.8	3.7	3.4
South West	7.6	7.2	7.0
England and Wales	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 Charminster Crime Mapping (opens in a new window) or Charlton Down Crime mapping (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.

Index of deprivation, 2007

(Figures show Lower Super Output Areas (LSOA) ranking out of 247 LSOAs in Dorset with 1 being the most deprived)

SOA Name	Multiple	Income	Employment	Health	Education	Housing & Services	Crime	Living Environment
Cerne Valley	96	213	136	162	237	19	119	34
Charminster	57	53	67	52	140	39	222	134

Index of deprivation, 2010

SOA Name	Multiple	Income	Employment	Health	Education	Housing & Services	Crime	Living Environment
Cerne Valley	123	192	197	147	233	24	133	35
Charminster	86	70	107	90	143	38	225	128

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

Classification %	Dorset	Charminster/Charlton Down
Wealthy Achievers	40.1	27.6
Urban Prosperity	7.1	16.1
Comfortably Off	33.2	46.5
Moderate Means	9.2	3.6
Hard Pressed	10.2	6.0
unclassified	0.2	0.2

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.

Ethnicity (%) - 2011 Census

	Charminster/Charlton Down	West Dorset	Dorset (DCC area)
% white British	95.5	95.7	95.5
% Black and minority ethnic groups (BME)	4.5	4.3	4.5

Source: Office for National Statistics, 2011 Census

Country of birth (%) - 2011 Census

	Charminster/Charlton Down	West Dorset	Dorset (DCC area)
% born in England	91.0	91.3	91.0
% born rest of UK	3.9	3.1	3.4
% born in Rep of IRE	0.4	0.4	0.4
% born EU (member countries in 2001)	1.5	1.2	1.3
% born EU (Accession countries April 2001 to March 2011)	0.6	0.5	0.7
% born elsewhere	2.6	3.4	3.1

Source: Office for National Statistics, 2011 Census

Health - 2011 Census (% of population)

Health Limiting day-to-day Activities

	Charminster/Charlton Down	West Dorset	Dorset (DCC area)
Day-to-day activities limited a lot (%)	7.1	8.7	8.6
limited a little(%)	9.1	11.6	11.5
not limited(%)	83.7	79.7	79.9
limited a lot: Age 16 to 64(%)	2.3	2.9	2.9
limited a little: Age 16 to 64(%)	3.7	4.3	4.5
not limited: Age 16 to 64(%)	52.1	50.5	51.1

General Health

	Charminster/Charlton Down	West Dorset	Dorset (DCC area)
Very good health(%)	49.5	44.4	44.6
Good health(%)	34.5	35.9	35.9
Fair health(%)	11.4	14.7	14.5
Bad health(%)	3.4	3.9	3.9
Very bad health(%)	1.2	1.1	1.1

Provision of Unpaid Care

	Charminster/Charlton Down	West Dorset	Dorset (DCC area)
Provides no unpaid care(%)	90.3	88.0	88.1
Provides 1 to 19 hours unpaid care a week(%)	6.6	8.4	8.1
Provides 20 to 49 hours unpaid care a week(%)	1.3	1.2	1.3
Provides 50 or more hours unpaid care a week(%)	1.8	2.4	2.5

Source: ONS 2011 Census

Education

Dorchester Pyramid Area:

Schools	Number of schools
First	13
Infant	0
Junior	0
Primary	0
Middle	3
Secondary	1
Upper	0
Special	0

Area:

Approx. 'built-up' area = 84 hectares (207 acres)

Local authority revenue

Council tax band D for Year	Council tax payable
12/13	£1,563.84
11/12	£1,564.89

Unemployment % (persons)

Charminster/Charlton Down based on Charminster and Cerne Valley ward - proportion of resident population aged 16-64 and actual number

Year	Male	Female	Total
July 2004	0.7 (8)	0.3 (4)	0.5 (12)
July 2005	0.4 (5)	#(#)	0.2 (6)
July 2006	1.3 (16)	0.5 (7)	0.9 (23)
July 2007	0.5 (6)	0.4 (6)	0.5 (12)
July 2008	1.3 (17)	0.3 (4)	0.8 (21)
July 2009	1.8 (23)	0.6 (8)	1.2 (31)
July 2010	1.3 (17)	0.3 (4)	0.8 (21)
July 2011	1.4 (18)	0.8 (11)	1.1 (29)

Of July 2010 unemployment figures, the long-term unemployed = 14.3%
Of July 2011 unemployment figures, the long-term unemployed = 6.9%
Rates for wards from 2011 onwards are calculated using the mid-2010 resident population aged 16-64. # = confidential

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) .

Employment - 2010

Total number of people working in the area: 1,600 based on Charminster and Cerne Valley ward

Work pattern	percentage
Full-time	62%
Part-time	38%

Type of employment	%
Production and construction	19
Distribution, accommodation and food	14
Other market services	6
Public administration, education and health	52
Other services	9

Source: Business Register and Employment Survey, 2010, ONS

Figures may not sum due to rounding. All these figures exclude farm agriculture which has been suppressed

Employment Land (hectares)

Settlement	area developed 1994-10	with permission	Allocated	Total commitment
Charminster/Charlton Down	0.67	0	0.0	0.0

Library

Users

Library	Total Of User ID	% within 2-miles	% within rest of district/ borough	% within rest of DCC	% within county	% address unknown/ not recognised
Dorchester	9,853	50.1	33.0	10.8	2.7	4.6

Library Issues

	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10
Dorchester	274,923	269,507	253,764

Traffic counts in the wider Charminster/Charlton Down area - annual average daily traffic

Road	Location	AADF (Annual Average Daily Traffic)						Percentage Growth Since
		1983	1990	2001	2006	2010	2011	2010	2006	2001	1990	1983
								1 Year	5 Years	10 Years	21 Years	27 Years
A352	South of Cerne Abbas	1,000	1,300	1,200	1,300	1,400	1,400	0.0%	8%	17%	8%	40%
C12	Buck Hill	1,700	2,500	3,300	3,700	3,600	3,600	0.0%	-3%	9%	44%	112%
A37	Grimstone	6,000	9,300	11,400	13,700	13,400	12,800	-4.5%	-7%	12%	38%	113%