South Holland – it’s where we all live, but some would say it’s not the same place it was years ago.
That’s not to say it’s necessarily a worse place: facilities like Spalding’s new hospital, the films, music and theatre at South Holland Centre in Spalding, improved roads and new housing have all brought advantages to the area’s residents.
Then there is the employment created by the many food processing businesses that have developed locally, the mainly good education offered to the area’s children, the improvements to the riverside to create an attractive focal point to the town, and the many food establishments offering an enormous variety of cuisine.
The district has changed in other important ways too, particularly in the people who live and work in South Holland.
The district council has studied those changes, looking at facts and figures thrown up by the 2011 census and contrasting them to the previous population survey of 2001.
Officers have compiled a report, called South Holland District Council Facts and Figures 2013, which makes interesting reading, as it picks out central themes and topics likely to be of interest.
Ten key facts about South Holland
• The total population is 88,300
• The largest town in the district is Spalding with a population of 28,722
• The district has 47 towns and villages
• There are 37,300 households
• The average household size is 2.3 people
• The average age is 43.4 years
• The district has low levels of unemployment (2.7 per cent in April 2013)
• 97.8 per cent of the population are white
• 78.1 per cent of the population are in good or very good health
• 2.7 per cent of the population are Polish and 1.6 per cent are from other Baltic states
Who are we?
• The population of south Holland grew by 15.4 per cent in the ten years to 2011, from 76,522
• 51 per cent of us are females – 49 per cent males, unsurprisingly!
• Most of us (97.8 per cent) are white
• At average age of 43.4, we are older than the average population in England and Wales, which is 39.4
• There are more residents (both male and female) in the 45-49 and the 60-64 age bands than any other.
The report states: “The trend for an ageing population is likely to continue. There is some evidence to suggest that younger people (15-19 year olds) continue to leave the district as there are fewer residents in the 20-34 year age bands.”
How do we live?
• The area has a low population density with 1.2 people per hectare (120 per km2)
• Most of us (90.4 per cent) were born in the UK. Locally, 2.7 per cent stated they were Polish (2,424 people) and 1.6 per cent said they were from other Baltic states (1,417)
• Most of us (93.3 per cent) use English as our main language
• A quarter of us don’t travel – 25.8 per cent of residents (that includes children) don’t have a passport
• Fewer of us in 2011 reported being Christians – down 10.3 per cent to 72.3 per cent of the population
• More of us said we had no religion – 19.4 per cent in 2011 against 9.7 per cent in 2001
How do we work – or not?
• Across the district there were 3,255 businesses registered for VAT in March 2011
• The percentage of full-time workers has gone down slightly, from 40.3 to 40.2 per cent in 2011
• The number of part-time workers has increased, from 11.7 to 13.2 per cent in 2011
• Slightly more of us are self-employed – 10 per cent as opposed to 9.8 per cent in 2001
• More of us were unemployed at 4 per cent in 2011 against 2.2 per cent in 2001 – but that has dropped to 2.7 per cent in 2013
• The percentage of retired people has remained fairly static at 18.6 per cent in 2011 – it was 19.2 per cent in 2001
• Fewer of us are unable to work because we are experiencing long-term sickness of disability – 3.6 per cent as against 5.2 per cent in 2001
See Thursday’s paper for housing, education, health and the jobs we do