High Bickington Community Appraisal 2001

Retail and Other Services

Q 32. Shopping in High Bickington

155 people (37%) say they shop or use mobile retail services in High Bickington on a daily basis, 166 people (40%) say that they use local shops weekly, 25 monthly and a further 52 say they use local shops less frequently. Only 17 say that they never use shops in High Bickington.

The appraisal examined the reasons for using local shops. 336 people (83%) say convenience of location, 291 (72%) like to support local shops, 262 (64%) need last minute items, 241 (59%) say hours of opening, 175 (43%) say they save on transport costs, 171 (42%) enjoy the personal service, 148 (36%) use local shops to save time and 119 (29%) use local shops for the good stock range.

Other reasons given for using local shops include “to keep the shop open”, and the availability of mobile shops. One person particularly likes the fish and chip van. One person says “I just happen to be near” and another does not use local shops but says “if we lived in the village we would support the shop”.

Q 33. Post Office

The appraisal looked at why people use the Post Office. 334 (79%) use postal services, 150 people (35%) purchase their TV licence and pay other bills, 92 (22%) use the Post Office to get their pension or other allowances. 38 use Giro bank services and 28 other banking services and 14 obtain information leaflets.

17 people gave other reasons for using the Post Office. Three people said for greetings cards, two people said for payment of bills, one person buys sweets at the Post Office, one says they buy books and one obtains official forms. One person replies that they use it just because they live near. Three people say they live too far away to use High Bickington Post Office and one respondent says they only use it occasionally because of working hours.

Q 34. Farmers or Local Produce Market

From the appraisal 372 people (94%) say they support the establishment of a local farmers or producers market. Vegetables are the most popular item, with 326 people (82%) saying they would buy vegetables from a farmers market. 308 people (77%) would buy fruit, 294 (74%) say dairy produce, 276 (69%) say meat, 217 (55%) say home baked produce and 85 would buy craft items. Other potential purchases include organic produce, plants, flowers, seeds, and wooden hurdles. Two people say that it would depend on the price and quality of the produce.

Q 35. Citizens Advice Bureau.

100 people (25%) say a citizens advice bureau is needed in the parish, 144 (36%) say it is not and 162 have no opinion.

Index Top

Employment

Q 36. Employment

The largest group of people (123) in High Bickington are wholly retired accounting for 30% of respondents. 97 people (24%) are employed full time, 68 (17%) are self employed, 47 (12%) are employed part time, 36 (9%) are in full time education and 24 people (6%) are unwaged. Five people say they are unemployed, two are on a government training scheme and seven are permanently sick or disabled. One person says they “work from home for a few hours a week”.

Q 37. Main Place of Work or Study.

85 people (30%) work from home and 21 (7%) work or study elsewhere within the parish. 96 people (34%) travel outside the parish but within 10 miles to get to work or study, 48 travel between 11 and 30 miles each day and 17 people travel more than 30 miles. 18 people say their work or study is based at various destinations.

Q 38. Seeking Paid Work

The appraisal asked people who are not in paid employment whether they are seeking work. 10 people say they are and 176 (95%) say they are not.

All those seeking paid work are looking for part time positions. Four of the people seeking paid work are looking for part time or full time positions. Four are looking for unskilled work, three for semi skilled manual work and two for professional or managerial positions.

Q 39. Reasons for Turning Down a Job

The appraisal asked for the reason if a job or training opportunity was turned down. 11 people say because of lack of transport, nine give family commitments, five lack of child care, and three cost of child care. A further three give other reasons for turning down a job but do not explain them.

Q 40. Self Employment

Eight people are considering becoming self employed in the next 12 months.

The appraisal asked which issues most concern them about self employment. Four people are concerned about lack of start-up finance, four people say lack of contacts, three people say lack of premises, two people are worried that they lack required technical skills and one person lacks confidence.

Q 41. Jobs in the Village.

267 people say that they would like to see more jobs becoming available in the village and parish.

The appraisal asked what sort of additional employment would be acceptable. Jobs in agriculture, fishing and forestry have the most support, listed by 154 people. 124 people consider jobs in the horticulture and garden centre sector as acceptable, 90 say education, 80 say information technology, 73 say distribution, hotel, catering and repairs, and 61 say building services. Manufacturing is acceptable to 44 people, office facilities by 39 people, and transport and communications by 33.

23 people mentioned other areas of acceptable employment including art and craft, engineering, ‘new media’, small-scale craft workshops (three people), the sports sector, child minding, horse riding, paper round or leaflet delivery, and police. One person suggested creating workshops for the self-employed. One person recommended developing a larger village shop combined with a post office. Several were concerned that additional employment development did not make the village into a “centre or town”.

Q 42. Light Industrial or Craft Workshops

The appraisal asked what the reaction would be to a proposal for a few small-scale light industrial or craft workshops in the village. 240 (62%) people are in favour of them, 68 people are against and 79 have no opinion

Four people are concerned about the siting of any light industrial development. One person is against the development of a green field site, another says it should not be near the traffic calming area. One person is suspicious of the wording of the question, “few and craft - what does this mean?”

Q 43. Tourism

224 (57%) people say that more tourists should be encouraged to come to High Bickington, 93 say they should not and 79 have no opinion.

A visitor attraction, such as a working farm or eco tourism, is the most popular amenity to encourage tourists, listed by 161 people (62%). 147 people (57%) suggest bed and breakfast accommodation, 99 think a guest house will encourage tourists, 85 suggest a campsite, 41 say an hotel and 18 people suggest a permanent caravan site.

Other suggestions to encourage tourists to come to High Bickington parish include the development of local crafts and history in a small museum or visitor centre, walks using guide booklets, horse riding, fishing lakes, self catering holiday accommodation, country fairs, village fetes and agricultural shows. Several people suggest opening a tea shop to attract visitors, another recommends a picnic site to bring tourists.

One person says that the local sites of interest, such as the church and the golf club, attract visitors. One person suggests developing a wildlife study centre. One ambitious resident suggests opening a theme park with an indoor swimming pool “like Centre-Parcs”. Other comments are that improving the look of the village will encourage more visitors, and that before encouraging tourists High Bickington needs “a car park, loos and a cafe”.

Negative concerns are that increased visitor numbers might encourage building, and that “traffic would be a nightmare and the village would disappear”. Two other people are also concerned that encouraging of tourists will bring more traffic and congestion. One person comments “we feel there are enough of these facilities in the area”.

Index Top

Sport and Leisure

Q 44. Recreational Space

The appraisal asked if the village needs additional indoor and outdoor space for recreation. 317 people (79%) say additional space is needed for indoor and outdoor activities, 26 say it is not. 58 have no opinion. The top six activities are swimming, keep fit, badminton, painting, drawing and sculpture, tennis and short mat bowls. Activities in order of popularity are shown below.

Table: Activities by popularity

Activity	No respondents
Swimming	116
Keep fit/Tai Chi/Yoga	102
Badminton	74
Painting/drawing/sculpture	68
Tennis	66
Short mat bowls	52
Football	47
Snooker	42
Luncheon club	42
Cricket	41
Photography	39
Clay pigeon shooting	32
Archery	31
Needlecraft	28
Netball	24
Judo/Martial arts	22
Bingo	20
BMX facility	16
Skateboard	14
Cubs/Scouts	12
Volleyball	11
Hockey	11
Bridge	11
Rollerblade	9
Chess	6

35 people give other suggestions for activities, including skittles (two people), basketball, mountain biking (two people), bicycling in general, table tennis (two people), horse riding and the care of horses (four people), motor sport, dancing, music club, bowling club, rural crafts (egg felt making and spinning), ecological studies and wildlife.

One person suggests building an all weather recreational pitch and another a hall for all sports activities, parties and meetings.

One person is concerned that any additional activities should not negatively affect the ones High Bickington already has.

Two people feel that the present facilities are not used to capacity and ask “why build more?” Another says that there are insufficient “people in the village to support additional indoor or outdoor (recreational facilities) on a large scale”.

Q 45. and Q 46. Village Facilities and Need for a New Village Hall

The reaction to current village facilities is mixed.

Church Hall

151 people (36%) think that the church hall is good or reasonable, 172 (41%) think that it is poor.

The comments are fairly consistent about what is wrong with the hall. 35 people say that it is not large enough: “the village (church) hall is too small to meet the village requirements” and “the church hall cannot accommodate or cater for adequately large numbers of people.”

The lack of facilities in the church hall concern 12 people, particularly the poor kitchen and toilets.

Parking problems around the hall are mentioned by eight people and nine people say that it is old, out of date and in need of repair, and is “not suitable for modern events”.

The hall location in the middle of the village is seen as a problem by five people;

“the hall needs to be in a location that can have meetings/sport/activities and noisy parties for adults and children”.

Other concerns are that it is damp, it needs an alcohol licence (two people), it lacks storage (two people) and there are too many restrictions from the Parochial Church Council committee. One person suggests that the village (church) hall should be licensed to hold weddings.

When asked if the village and parish needs a new village hall, 303 people (74%) are positive that it does and only 33 (8%) think it does not. 72 people have no opinion.

The favourite location for a new village hall is to have a combined education and community facility at Little Bickington Farm, recommended by 194 people (70%). 69 people think that Mill Road would be a better site and 13 people suggest other locations.

One person says that the Parish Council and Pearce’s have already agreed that Mill Road should be the location. One person asks why the appraisal question implies that a ‘combined education/community facility’ can only be located at Little Bickington Farm rather than on Mill Road. One person says “not on the estate”, another recommends locating the hall at Mill Road under certain conditions: “we support a new village hall for the site in Mill Road provided there is ample car parking and that means not in the road. If this cannot be guaranteed a new hall must go on a bigger area at Little Bickington Farm”.

Other suggestions include building a new hall off Wardens Close in Fountains Field, in the field next to the Golden Lion, or on the sports field (two people), while one person replies generally “somewhere in the village”.

Children’s Playground

158 people (38%) think that the children’s playground is good or reasonable and 155 think it is poor.

There appears to be some confusion in the responses to the appraisal between the school playground and the play area by the sport’s field.

The main complaint about the play area is its distance from the village, 17 people refer to this as a problem: “we need a children’s play area in the village, not out of it” and “the playground should be on the site provided, central to the village”. This presumably refers to the Barton Meadow site. One person feels it unfair that the play area is for ‘11 and under’ and bars older children.

14 people think the playground is too small and eight people say its facilities are inadequate or non-existent. The dangerous surface and lack of grass area is mentioned by six people. One person says the railings are unsuitable for ball games. One person complains that the playground causes “unnecessary noise for residents”. Finally one respondent points out that the playground has a notice limiting access to schoolchildren, when it should say it is available to all village children.

The Meeting Point

The reaction to the Meeting Point is very favourable; 155 people (37%) think it is good, 76 (18%) think it is reasonable and only 18 consider it poor.

The only comment concerning the Meeting Point is that “it is too small”.

Public Houses

265 people (65%) in the village think the two public houses are good or reasonable, 35 think they are poor.

One respondent says: “two (public houses are) more than enough”. Three people think the pubs are dirty and run down and “lacking in ambience”. One person compares High Bickington pubs unfavourably to the pub at Chittlehampton. Two people note that the pubs lack gardens or parking: “pubs need gardens to encourage families”.

Golf Course

People have a good opinion of the golf course; 161 (38%) think it is good, 77 (18%) think it is reasonable and only seven people say it is poor.

There are few other comments about the golf course. One person feels that the golf course is “not for locals” and another complains that it is “too dear”.

Sports Field

241 people (57%) say the sports field is good or reasonable, and 67 think that it poor.

11 people say the sports field is too far away from the village, especially for children, and that access is poor. Five people complain about the sloping site. Two people are concerned about dog mess on the sports field. One person suggests that the sports field needs better viewing facilities. Two people say it is difficult to use the same field for cricket and football: “cricket may be OK for footballers, for cricketers (football is).. terrible”