Section A - General Issues

Housing

A very high percentage of people living in South Brent felt little need to look for alternative accommodation. The 8% (46 people) who said they were in need of alternative accommodation were mainly looking for family homes to buy or rent.

People were asked what type of housing South Brent needed. Over 1000 people responded. 23% (358) said housing is needed for local people, 19% (298) for young people, 18% (279) said no more housing, 14% (211 ) said for low income housing, and 9% (130) housing for the elderly.

Employment

30% (244 people) of respondents work or study from home. With the benefit of hindsight, it would have been more useful to know how many work from home as opposed to 'work or study' as we think this could be relatively high. It would have been good to know how many potential users of a business centre there are.

The following seem to be barriers to employment or training. All the following scored highly: lack of employment opportunities, lack of childcare facilities, lack of public & private transport, lack of qualifications, family commitments. A smaller but still important percentage said it was because of benefit restrictions, or lack of information and advice.

Of the 871 people who answered the question about work based training opportunities, 38% (329) said "yes" they wanted more, The types of things that prompted most interest were: new technology & computing (176), also popular were professional & managerial (114), skilled trades/crafts (96) and agricultural skills (43). Ivybridge and Totnes were identified as the most accessible existing training centres.

The results of the question are significant in relation to the community centre project. One possible use is a computer training/distance learning centre as at Yealmpton. See later in Section B.

Businesses within the community employ 374 people excluding the proprietors. 81% (94) of these businesses are located within South Brent. Over one third of them employ between 75-100% local workforce, but most anticipated that the size of their workforce will remain the same.

Lack of premises and lack of confidence were the greatest inhibitors to the few people who indicated that they might become self-employed. Business and start-up advice sessions could be held in the community centre.

Health and Social Services

Generally the response was that the health service was good, except that 20% (173) of those who responded said they have some difficulty getting to hospital. Problems were also mentioned in getting to other medical services by some people.

This seemed to be one of the most uncontentious areas. For instance nearly 80% (789) said that the service provided by the Doctors was good. Some other services received more mixed responses, which is a cause for concern.

Transport and Highways

7% (75) of respondents "often" have difficulty, and 25% (258) "occasionally" have difficulty in getting out of South Brent: the main reasons cited are the lack of personal transport (188 respondents), and the lack (204), and cost (154) of public transport.

50% (542) of respondents use the current bus service - quite a high level of usage.

Suggestions for improvements to the service rated as follows:

(NB respondents could tick more than one option).
Exeter, Newton Abbot and Ashburton would be the most popular new routes. NB the extra services running from Bishopsmead in the centre of South Brent were welcomed but no new routes have been offered to date.

South Brent Railway Station

This deserves a heading of its own given the history of discussion on the subject. Over 1000 people responded to Q27 "If the railway station was to be reopened would you use the train service?". 78% (821) said they would use the service. From the question on frequency/reason for use, the results show the biggest use being "occasional" use for shopping (532 people) and leisure/social activities (520 people). There also looks to be a core of people who would use the service frequently, eg 80 people said they would use the service "often" to get to work. This data clearly shows a large potential pool of customers for the train service.

Traffic

37% (384) of the people responding to Q28... "Do you think that traffic approaching the village along the old A38 is a problem?" thought that it was and 53% (561) did not. Those that thought it was identified the following reasons: speeding traffic (305 people) and a lack of crossings (295 people). This prompted support for traffic calming schemes at both the Police Station crossing and in the London Inn/Garage area.

Almost half the people responding feel that traffic in the centre of the village is a problem (519), and we found this referred to many times in the comments section. However, 437 respondents do not feel it is a problem.

Various ideas were voiced for alleviating the problem including making Totnes Road and Plymouth Road a one-way system, and banning lorries over a certain size from the centre of the village.

Recreational and Social Facilities

Of those that expressed an opinion, 89% (620 respondents) think that provision for 15-24 year olds is 'poor', and 55% (340 respondents) feel likewise for provision for 8-14 year olds. Provision for other age groups was deemed to be "reasonable".

The last question asked in this category was if parishioners would like to see further improvements to the playground. Of those who responded 40% (383) said yes,11% (101 ) said no and 49% (468) had no opinion, reflecting we presume, the user groups who would benefit.

Finance

Where would the money come from for any suggestions raised within the questionnaire?

Given that more than one box could be ticked, the most favoured sources were:

There is some support for moderate increases to the precept or council tax, but only by 5.5% (139) and 7% (188) of respondents respectively.

General

The question referring to the Dartmoor National Park's proposal of a footpath between the Recreation Ground and Station Yard resulted in 70% (749) of people approving of the idea, especially if the station were reopened.

25% (259) of people within the community are involved in voluntary work of some kind.

The question asking about banning dogs from the Island resulted in 45% (476) of people ticking "yes", 38% (402) ticking "no" and 17% (186) having no opinion. It has been pointed out to us that this question was not appropriate as the Island is owned and managed by a Trust. It is up to the membership to decide such matters. There were quite a few comments about dog fouling in general.