North Somerset
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| North Somerset District | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Geography | |
| Status: | Unitary district |
| Region: | South West England |
| Historic county: | Somerset |
| Ceremonial county: | Somerset |
| Area: - Total |
Ranked 125th 144.66 square miles (374.68 km²) |
| Admin. HQ: | Weston-super-Mare |
| ONS code: | 00HC |
| Demographics | |
| Population: - Total (2006 est.) - Density |
Ranked 67th 201,400 538 / km² |
| Ethnicity: | 98.6% White |
| Politics | |
| North Somerset Council http://www.n-somerset.gov.uk |
|
| Leadership: | Leader & Cabinet |
| Executive: | Conservative |
| MPs: | Liam Fox (C) John Penrose (C) |
North Somerset is a unitary authority in England. Its area covers part of the ceremonial county of Somerset but it is administered independently of the non-metropolitan county. Its administrative headquarters are in the town hall in Weston-super-Mare.
North Somerset borders the local government areas of Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset and Sedgemoor. North Somerset contains the parliamentary constituencies of Weston-super-Mare and Woodspring, although the latter will be renamed North Somerset at the next general election.
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[edit] History
Between April 1, 1974 and April 1, 1996, it was the Woodspring district of the county of Avon (named after Woodspring Priory, an isolated mediaeval church near the coast just north east of Weston-super-Mare). The district of Woodspring was formed from the municipal boroughs of Weston-super-Mare, Clevedon and Portishead urban districts, Long Ashton Rural District, and part of Axbridge Rural District.
[edit] Settlements and communications
The principal towns in the district are the coastal towns of Weston-super-Mare, Portishead and Clevedon and the commuter town Nailsea.
- Abbots Leigh,
- Backwell, Banwell, Barrow Gurney, Blagdon, Bleadon, Bourton, Brockley, Burrington, Butcombe,
- Chelvey, Christon, Churchill, Clapton in Gordano, Claverham, Clevedon, Cleeve, Congresbury
- Downside, Dundry
- East End, East Rolstone, Easton in Gordano
- Failand, Farleigh, Felton, Flax Bourton
- Ham Green, Hewish, Hutton
- Icelton
- Kenn, Kewstoke, Kingston Seymour
- Leigh Woods, Locking, Long Ashton, Lower Langford, Lower Failand, Loxton, Lulsgate Bottom
- Maiden Head, Milton
- Nailsea, North End
- Portishead
- Pill, Portbury, Puxton
- Redcliff Bay, Redhill, Regil, Rickford
- Sandford, Sheepway, Sidcot, St Georges, St Mary's Grove
- Tickenham
- Uphill, Upper Town
- Walton in Gordano, West Wick, West Hill, West End, West Town, Weston in Gordano, Weston-super-Mare, Wick St. Lawrence, Winford, Winscombe, Worle, Wraxall, Somerset, Wrington
- Yatton
[edit] Places of interest
North Somerset's natural environment and coastal towns attract visitors from the nearby cities. Notable geographical features include:
- Gordano Valley
- Mendip Hills – the ridgeway forms part of the district boundary
- Sand Bay and Sand Point
- Worlebury Hill
- Burrington Combe, Goblin Combe, Brockley Combe
- North Somerset Levels
The district is noted for the religious buildings at:
[edit] Economy
North Somerset's economy is traditionally based on agriculture, including sheep raised for wool on the Mendip Hills and dairy farming in the valleys. During the Georgian era tourism became a significant economic sector in the coastal towns, most notably Weston-super-Mare which grew from a small village to a large resort town. Though tourism declined in the mid to late-20th century, in common with most British coastal resorts, this sector of the economy has stabilised.
In the 19th century the major port city of Bristol found that modern ships had outgrown the narrow river approach and the Port of Bristol company began seeking locations for new docks on the coast. The first of these was Portishead Dock, which handled coal from South Wales, though this too has seen shipping outgrow its facilities. The newer Royal Portbury Dock is noted for the large volume of car imports.
This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of North and North East Somerset and South Gloucestershire at current basic prices (pp.240-253) by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling. [1]
| Year | Regional Gross Value Added | Agriculture | Industry | Services |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 5,916 | 125 | 1,919 | 3,872 |
| 2000 | 8,788 | 86 | 2,373 | 6,330 |
| 2003 | 10,854 | 67 | 2,873 | 7,914 |
^1 Components may not sum to totals due to rounding
^2 includes hunting and forestry
^3 includes energy and construction
^4 includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured
[edit] Demographics
| North Somerset Compared | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK Census 2001 | North Somerset UA[2] | South West England[3] | England[3] | ||
| Total population | 188,564 | 4,928,434 | 49,138,831 | ||
| Foreign born | 9.5% | 9.4% | 9.2% | ||
| White | 97.1% | 97.7% | 91% | ||
| Asian | 1.7% | 0.7% | 4.6% | ||
| Black | 0.9% | 0.4% | 2.3% | ||
| Christian | 75.0% | 74.0% | 72% | ||
| Muslim | 0.2% | 0.5% | 3.1% | ||
| Hindu | 0.1% | 0.2% | 1.1% | ||
| No religion | 16.6% | 16.8% | 15% | ||
| Over 75 years old | 9.9% | 9.3% | 7.5% | ||
| Unemployed | 2.1% | 2.6% | 3.3% | ||
North Somerset covers an area of around 145 square miles and has a resident population of 193,000 (1.4% BME) living in 85,000 households.[4]
The population of North Somerset has doubled since the 1950s and is predicted to rise by 6,184 or 3.0% to 2011 and to 2026 by 17%. Whilst the proportion of people in North Somerset who are under 45 is lower than the national average, population growth is predicted to be strongest in the 2034 age group. Conversely North Somerset has a 4.2% higher percentage of older people (60+ female, 65+male) than the rest of England and Wales. This disparity increases with age with the percentage of the population over 75 years almost 30% higher than the national average, resulting in a relatively aged population.[5]
In 2001 there were 134,132 people of working age living in North Somerset and 91,767 were in employment; an economic activity rate of 68.4%. This is very close to the economic activity rate of the West of England sub-region which was 68.8% in the 2001 census.[4]
The 2001 census stated that 1.38% of North Somerset residents identified themselves as belonging to a visible ethnic group and a further 1.27% identified themselves as ‘white other’.[6]
| Population since 1801 - Source: A Vision of Britain through Time | |||||||||||||
| Year | 1801 | 1851 | 1901 | 1911 | 1921 | 1931 | 1941 | 1951 | 1961 | 1971 | 1981 | 1991 | 2001 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Population North Somerset[7] | 16,670 | 33,774 | 60,066 | 68,410 | 75,276 | 82,833 | 91,967 | 102,119 | 119,509 | 139,924 | 160,353 | 179,865 | 188,556 |
[edit] References
- ^ Regional Gross Value Added (PDF). National Statistics (21 December 2005). Retrieved on 2007-06-03.
- ^ United Kingdom Census 2001 (2001). Key Figures for 2001 Census: Census Area Statistics: Area: North Somerset. statistics.gov.uk. Retrieved on 2007-12-12.
- ^ a b United Kingdom Census 2001 (2001). Key Figures for 2001 Census: Census Area Statistics: Area: Bath and North East Somerset. statistics.gov.uk. Retrieved on 2007-12-12.
- ^ a b Local Area Agreement for North Somerset 2007-2010. North Somerset Partnership. Retrieved on 2007-12-30.
- ^ Culture, Leisure and Tourism and Topic Paper (PDF). North Somerset Core Strategy document.. Retrieved on 2007-12-30.
- ^ North Somerset Council Race Equality Scheme 2007-2010 (Word). North Somerset Council. Retrieved on 2007-12-30.
- ^ North Somerset: Total Population. A Vision of Britain Through Time. Great Britain Historical GIS Project. Retrieved on 2007-12-13.
[edit] External links
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