The Local Assessment for Pendle
This summary offers a snapshot of some of the most important economic, social and environmental factors in Pendle district with links through to the source information. The information has been allocated to one of seven themes:
- People and Communities
- Economic Development
- Children and Young People
- Community Safety
- Environment
- Health and Wellbeing
- Older People
Introduction
Pendle is an authority in northern East Lancashire that covers 169 square kilometres and in 2010 had a population of 89,300. From an historic point of view there have been dramatic changes and the pace of future change is liable to increase.
Pendle is a district that has similar problems to other East Lancashire authorities. The large amount of old terraced property subdues average house prices and contributes to high rates of unfit housing. Employment and population growth are other areas of concern along with pockets of severe deprivation and a variety of health issues.
The area does however have some real strengths and the local economy derives enormous benefit from the aerospace sector which is a source of high value employment. The presence in Nelson of the highly regarded business support agency the North West Aerospace Alliance reflects the areas status as an important location for the sector.
A number of old established local companies help to give a sense of place to the area. The Marsden Building Society is an important source of employment in central Nelson, whilst other old businesses include the Briggs & Duxbury EA Foulds Ltd Mitchell Interflex Ltd and Kirk Environmental
The district contains affluent rural areas that form part of the Forest of Bowland, and visitors to the local countryside are often drawn to Wycollar Country Park. Other visitors interested in shopping are attracted to the large Boundary Mill development in Colne.
Pendle Hill is a dominant local landmark that straddles the boundary between Pendle and the neighbouring district of Ribble Valley.
1. People and Communities
The overall population has been relatively static since 2001 in comparison to the increases at the county, regional and national levels. The latest figure for 2010 reveals no overall change over the previous year.
The authority has a tendency towards a younger population and fewer people of pensionable age than is the average for England and Wales. The ethnic mix is similar to other authorities in East Lancashire.
The place survey is completed by all local authorities in England and one of the questions asked was "to what extent do you agree or disagree that this local area is a place where people from different backgrounds get on well together"? The 2008 results for the Lancashire County Council area found that 74% of people agreed with this statement compared with an England average of 76%. The rate for Pendle however was only 52% and was the lowest in the county council area.
The survey also reveals that only 66% of residents are satisfied with their local area as a place to live. This is significantly lower than averages for the Lancashire County Council area (79%) and for England as a whole (80%).
In 2009/10 there were 370 registrations by foreign nationals in Pendle. This was 140 fewer than in the previous year (a decrease of 27%). Most people (150) registering were Pakistani. The second largest group (70 people) were Polish.
Figures are available for internal population migration estimates at the local authority level by five-year age-groups.
Population changes when measured down to the relatively small medium super output area level, reveal areas such as Vivary Bridge, and Whitefield and Walverden have seen reductions in the number of local residents.
It is estimated that between 2008 and 2033 the population of Pendle will increase by 6.2% (England = 18%).
Results are available for changes in the projected number of households in the authority.
Pendle has a very high proportion of its housing stock in the lowest category 'A' council tax band.
The authority has for a number of years recorded average house prices well below the county and national averages, and has a high rate of vacant properties. The yearly ratios of median house price to median earnings reveal rates for the authority that are well below the Lancashire County and England averages. At the small area level, parts of Nelson have some of the lowest house prices in the country.
In 2006, the district had the second highest percentage of unfit dwellings (16.6%) of all authorities in England. The percentage of vacant dwellings is very high in the authority.
The 2010 Indices of Deprivation reveals that of the 32,482 Lower Super Output Areas (SOAs) in England, four of the LSOAs in the lowest 200 were in Pendle. These were one of the four LSOAs in Bradly ward that recorded a ranking of 49, one of the two LSOAs in Whitefield ward (102), one of the four LSOAs in Southfield ward (153), and one of the three LSOAs in Brierfield (163).
The overall result for the authority placed Pendle as the 41st most deprived area out of 326 districts and unitary authorities in England.
2. Economic Development
At the end of the M65, and with good road links in to north Manchester, the business location of the authority has improved dramatically over a generation. Lomeshaye and White Walls industrial estates are the major business sites, whilst Riverside Business Park is a proposed development of high quality office accommodation. Rolls Royce and other aerospace companies underpin the strong manufacturing sector in the authority. The fact that the North West Aerospace Alliance (a highly successful business led support agency) is based in Nelson epitomises the importance of the aerospace sector to the area.
In comparison to its established strengths in manufacturing the authority like much of East Lancashire has only limited strengths in the service sector.
The contrast between the sluggish/ negative employment growth rates in the east of the county and most authorities and in the rest of Lancashire is quite noticeable. Pendle recorded a relatively small rate of employment growth over recent years, but in comparison to some areas in East Lancashire the result is probably better than should have been expected.
The total claimant count rate of Jobseekers Allowance in the authority is above the Lancashire County average. At the ward level there are some high claimant count rates.
The average rateable value for commercial and industrial floorspace (all bulk classes) in the authority is well below the figure for the broader Lancashire area, which in turn is substantially less than the national rate.
In 2009, there were 2,795 active enterprises in Pendle district.
The county council's economic development arm LCDL has developed the Innovation Centre in Nelson. The centre provides flexible accommodation for new and small businesses that are predominantly in advanced technology sectors.
Barnfield Construction is an important property developer that is based in the authority and its portfolio of available sites normally contains developments in the district and nearby authorities.
The website for Petty's Surveyors of Burnley contains details of a large number of available commercial sites in Pendle and across much of East Lancashire.
A modern development is the Ace Centre in Nelson, which is an arts and cultural centre that also has office accommodation available for local enterprises.
The Heritage Trust North West is actively involved in projects in the authority that preserve the area's heritage. These include the Lomeshaye and Higherfold Mill sites that provide workspace units.
Average earnings in Pendle are below the county and GB figures, but positive effects from commuter flows mean that wage rates in the authority are higher by place of residence in comparison to place of work.
At the ward level, there are very marked income variations between the most and least affluent wards in the district. Wealthy rural areas that border the Ribble Valley have income levels that contrast sharply with wards in the core urban centres. The majority of wards have income levels below the county average.
A relatively high number of incapacity benefit, severe disablement allowance and employment and support allowance claimants whilst the housing benefit claimant rate is actually below regional and national levels.
In comparison to the national average, there is a high percentage of the working age population that is reliant on welfare benefits.
The Annual Population Survey includes local authority estimates of the working age population by level of National Vocational Qualification. In Pendle, the proportion of people in the authority qualified to NVQ level 4 has been fluctuating dramatically over recent years and confirms the difficulties in obtaining accurate figures from this data source.
3. Children and Young People
For the 2009/10 academic year, the percentage of pupils in the authority achieving at least five GCSEs at grades A*-C of 70.9% was well below the England average 76.1%.
The Building Schools for the Future programme has led to a number of impressive new developments in Pendle.
Nelson and Colne College has sites at Scotland Road in Nelson and Barrowford Road in Colne. It has a sixth form college and also provides courses for adults.
There is a substantial amount of information and analysis available on children and young people at the county, district and even smaller area levels that together present a wealth of material on health, wellbeing and academic standards. It includes the Department for Education achievement and attainment tables. Ofsted inspection reports are a useful source of local information.
A popular education facility in the authority is Whitehough, a Lancashire outdoor education centre.
The rate of infant mortality in Pendle has improved but remained well above the national average in 2005-07. The rate had been significantly higher than the national rate in 2003-05. The incidence of low birth weights was also significantly higher than the national rate in 2007.
The county council has overseen the development of children's centres in the authority.
The county council's Lancashire schools website lists schools in Pendle district.
Each district authority in the county council area has a Local Children's Trust Partnership.
The county council's Young People's Service website has an activity and organisations search facility that lists a wide range of options for young people in each 12 districts within the county council area.
4. Community Safety
Pendle crime rates are below average for the Lancashire (14) area. Between October 2010 and September 2011, the district had a rate of 58 crimes per thousand population, a reduction from 69 in the previous twelve month period.
The North West Violence Profile shows that there were 203 emergency hospital admissions for assaults by Pendle residents between April 2007 and March 2009, an average of 68 per year. Half (50.2%) of all admissions resided in the 20% most deprived areas. In addition, there were 987 ambulance call outs to assaults between January 2008 and December 2010.
More community safety figures for 2010/11 are available on the neighbourhood statistics website. Pendle's relative position within Lancashire, for key offence types, is available on these interactive maps.
For general ward level maps and summary statistics for community safety indicators in the last three years please access these interactive maps. Crime is not spread evenly across Pendle, varying from Waterside at 152 crimes per thousand population April 2010 to March 2011, to Higham and Pendleside, with 20 crimes per thousand population. Waterside covers central Colne.
For more details on community safety in your neighbourhood, please enter your postcode into Safer Lancashire.
31% of respondents to the Place Survey 2008 felt that anti-social behaviour was a problem in their local area, which was above the England and Wales average of 20%.
The Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service website contains details of performance monitoring at the local authority level. The website also highlights the fact that the authority has four local fire stations. There were 8 people killed or injured in dwelling fires in 2010/11, a small reduction on 2008/9 when there were 9.
39.4% of respondents to the Place Survey 2008 felt that drunk and rowdy behaviour was a problem in their local area, which was above the England and Wales average of 29% and 46% of respondents felt that drug use or drug dealing was a problem, which was above the England and Wales average of 30.5%. Only 52.4% of respondents felt that their local area is a place where people from different backgrounds get on well together, compared with 76.4% for England and Wales.
In line with the low crime rate, the majority of respondents to the Living in Lancashire survey, Wave 32, (89%) felt safe or very safe whilst out in their local area during the day. As would be expected, this drops to 45% who felt safe or very safe whilst out in their local area at night. These responses are well below the county average, not reflecting the relative crime rate in the district.
The Ministry of Justice identify how likely it is for offenders to commit further crimes in the authority and how many crimes they typically will commit. The rate of reoffending in Pendle is 31% and they commit an average of 2.9 offences per reoffender. This measures, over a 12 month period, the proven reoffending for all adult offenders who were released from custody, or who received a non-custodial conviction at court, a caution, a reprimand, a warning, or who tested positive for opiates or cocaine.
Each year community safety partnerships (CSPs) undertake strategic assessments to identify priority work areas for the partnership. Plans, detailing these priority work areas and activity to address them are available from Pendle CSP. Priorities identified for 2011/12 are:
- Reduce Alcohol & Drug Misuse / Alcohol and Drug Related Crime and Disorder
- Protect Vulnerable People - including Domestic Abuse and Child Sexual Exploitation
- Reduce the harm caused by Anti-Social Behaviour
- Reduce all Violent Crime
- Reduce Serious Acquisitive Crime – including Organised Crime Groups
- Improve Road Safety
5. Environment
Pendle is situated at the end of the M65, and with good road links in to north Manchester.
The air quality in the urbanised central core area of the authority is of concern but poorer levels are found in a selection of other Lancashire authorities. A cluster of LSOAs in Pendle, mainly within Nelson/Colne appear to have seen some deterioration in air quality.
In common with several other East Lancashire districts Pendle has relatively low total carbon dioxide emissions. The rate of carbon dioxide tonnes per resident is low when compared with the county and national averages.
Overall road casualty numbers reveal a strong pattern of decline in the authority over recent years. The county council's road safety engineering group's web pages list a number of local road safety schemes in the authority.
Transdev is a major provider of bus services within the Boroughs of Burnley and Pendle, with links to and from Manchester, Accrington, Clitheroe and Keighley.
Nelson Interchange provides good connections between local bus and train services.
The authority is serviced by three railway stations, Nelson, Colne and Brierfield, which are all maintained by Northern Rail. The Lancashire Local Transport Plan is the strategic transport document for the wider area and contains many references to transport issues in the authority. See also the Lancashire and Cumbria rail route utilisation strategy. Selrap is an organisation that promotes the reinstatement of the former Colne to Skipton railway line.
Facilities for cyclists in the authority have improved over recent years and include the canal towpath.
The county council's rural policy and projects team has produced maps and tables that categorise areas in the authority as being either 'urban', 'town and fringe' or 'village, hamlet and isolated dwellings'.
The Lancashire Local Transport Plan is the strategic transport document for the wider area and contains many references to transport issues in the authority. See also the Lancashire and Cumbria rail route utilisation strategy. Selrap is an organisation that promotes the reinstatement of the former Colne to Skipton railway line.
Green belts have been an enduring element of national planning policy. They check the unrestricted sprawl of large built-up areas; prevent neighbouring towns from merging into one another; assist in safeguarding the countryside, preserve the character of historic towns and encourage the recycling of derelict and other urban land. Pendle has an average proportion of land designated as green belt (12.2%) that is similar to the figure for England as a whole.
Part of the authority is classified within the Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Beauty.
The Local Development Framework for Pendle provides the overall spatial planning outline for the area.
The household reuse, recycling and composting rate of 34.8% for 2008/09 was low in comparison to most other Lancashire authorities.
6. Health and Wellbeing
The total fertility rate (TFR) represents the average number of children per woman that would be born to a group of women if current age-specific patterns of fertility persisted throughout their childbearing life. The TFR rate for Pendle per 1,000 women aged 15-44 is well above the national rate.
Figures for life expectancy at birth by local authority reveal that Pendle district has male and female rates that are below the national averages. The infant mortality rate in the authority for 2006/08 was however one of the worst out of all they local authorities in England and Wales.
The Pendle Health Profile, published by the Association of Public Health Authorities, reveals that the health of people in the area is generally worse than the England average. Priorities area in the authority include health inequalities, and mental health and wellbeing.
Pendle is one of the authorities in the NHS East Lancashire area and the organisation's annual reports present details of standards and performance.
The Trauma and Injury Intelligence Group (TIIG) was established to develop an injury surveillance system covering the North West. The publications section also includes injuries across Lancashire reports to accident and emergency departments.
The Sport England website contains local sport profiles for each local authority in England. The Lancashire Sport partnership website includes lists of sports clubs by local authority in Lancashire.
7. Older People
In general terms, there is not a significant number of pension claimants in the district. Pension credit is for pensioners at the lower end of the income scale and the caseload in the authority is in excess of 4,500.
The personal incomes report has in Table 4, figures for pension incomes. The average and middle value (median) figures for Pendle are particularly low in comparison to other districts and the national average.
Life expectancy as mentioned earlier is increasing but there is no guarantee that the extra years of life will necessarily equate to extra years of healthy life expectancy. However, it is not a foregone conclusion that "extra" years of life expectancy should necessarily lead to additional years with ill health or disability. More suitable community services to enable independent living and more effective practice of preventive lifestyles and medicine has the potential to lengthen disability-free life expectancy, particularly in the case of the prevention and treatment of non-fatal but disabling diseases.
The county council has a number of care services establishments that include sites in Barnoldswick, Colne and Barrowford.
The Lancashire Care Homes Association is an organisation that represents care providers across the broader Lancashire area. The website lists a large number of care and nursing homes, along with domiciliary care agencies in the area. The details are listed to by major urban localities across the county.
Appendix
The Local Strategic Partnership for Pendle sets out its vision for the future in the local Sustainable Community Strategy. The partnership monitors performance of the strategy at the local level.
Please also note that the Local Development Framework for Pendle is a statutory planning policy process that covers a wide range of issues. It deals with how the area will change over the coming years and annual monitoring reports review progress towards achieving set milestones.