Demographics

fig.1 – Comparison of the Parish Plan responses
with the 2001 census

It’s easier to see in fig.1 that there is a definite bias in our respondent population towards the older members of the parish; a fact worth bearing in mind when further analysis of the results is covered later. In several cases, we decided to break down the analysis of some questions into different age groups to see if there was any marked difference of opinion between the older generation and the younger population, thus removing any bias that might be present in the overall result.

We asked each household how long they had been living in the parish? The results are shown in fig. 2.

Combining these two graphs gives an interesting insight into how the village of Parson Drove has changed over the last few decades. By looking at how long a person or family has been in their house and how old they are now, we can get some idea of changing trends in the population within Parson Drove.

fig. 2 – How long have you lived in the parish?

Fig. 3 shows the percentage of those that responded to the questionnaire that belong in each age-group, much as fig. 1 did, Each group is split into four, based on how long that person (or that person’s family) has been in the village. For example, the tallest column shows that, of those that have been in the parish between 5 and 9 years, 38% are aged 60-75.

Several trends can be picked out from this graph. In the 20-39 age group, many more people have moved into the parish in the last few years than at the end of the 1990s. This implies that more families have moved into Parson Drove recently – a fact borne out by the higher values for the 0-4 year column in both the 0-5 and 6-11 age groups. Whether families have moved here with young children or moved here and then had children, there appears to have been a recent increase in this section of the population.

fig. 3 – Demographic changes within
Parson Drove

At the other end of the spectrum, far fewer of the over-60s have moved here recently. The higher values for the 5-9 years, 10-19 years and over 20 years columns in these age groups, combined with anecdotal evidence within the village, reinforce the perception that Parson Drove was seen as a retirement community a decade ago. This is no longer the case.

Continued...