Education

Winkleigh is fortunate in having a very good village school and it was encouraging to see the question "How important is the school to the local community?". Of those who responded only 3% had no opinion, 3% thought it was not very important, but 93% told us that it was either very important (79%) or important (14%).

Only around two thirds of households with pre-school age children said they would send their child to Winkleigh school. In common with most, if not all, village schools, Winkleigh has to face competition from other primary schools and the high degree of mobility which allows parents to exercise an ever increasing choice in the field of education. Naturally, all schools will be concerned to attract as high a number of pupils from their catchment area as possible and it is for them, rather than us, to look for solutions, with their community's support.

Residents were also asked about the provision of adult education in the area. The pie-chart above shows that most people giving an opinion considered that it was only reasonble or poor, very few think it's good. The question doesn't tell us the extent to which such demands exist but it might be worthwhile trying to establish the need for either provision in the village or transport to a local centre.

Employment

Current Occupational Status: (Q13)
Of a total number of 700 people who answered this question the number of people employed was 195 with a further surprising 168 self-employed.

Out of 240 not in paid employment only 18 are unemployed. The largest majority of this group are retired or unwaged (e.g. housewife/husband), or in full-time education. The Community Appraisal shows a fairly even split in the community between employed, self-employed and retired/unwaged.

Main Place of Work/Study: (Q14)
Of 502 replies, 182 people worked from home with 123 working within a radius of 11-30 miles. 88 people work within the Parish, 82 people within a 10 mile radius and 27 travelled over 30 miles. It does not appear that there is a serious unemployment problem in the area, however the opportunities are limited career wise. There is a need for computer/technical, professional, skilled agricultural and rural craft related training.

Kind of Work: (Q15a)
Of a total of 336, 106 were in Skilled Manual, 65 Professional, 45 Unskilled Manual, 43 Managerial, 33 Retail, 25 Other and 19 Clerical. Many people would like to make a career change away from skilled manual work into new technology/professional jobs. This is proving difficult due to a lack of local vacancies with training and a lack of qualifications and/or financial restrictions.

Seeking Work if not Paid: (Q16)
Of a total of 275 who answered this question only 41 are seeing work. Question 16b showed there is not a long-term unemployment problem.

Barriers to Employment: (Q17)
Of a total of 274 responses from people currently seeking employment, who may or may not be working presently, the main barriers appear to be lack of employment opportunities (41) and lack or public transport (36). Others mentioned were financial (22), lack of qualifications (20), family commitment (19), lack of private transport (16) and benefit restrictions (16). 66 people felt there were no barriers at all.

Light Industrial Workshops: (Q18)
Of a total of 676 answers, 562 are in favour of workshops with only 40 against.

Training Needs: (Q22a)
338 responses of which 87 would like New Technology/Computing training, 68 would like Skilled/Craft related and 59 Professional/Managerial training. 42 would like Rural/Agricultural skills, 28 Clerical/Secretarial and 24 Technical, 19 Supervisory and 12 Other.

Training Centres: (Q22b)
For ease of travel, Okehampton seemed the most popular choice with 164 stating that this was the place they could get to most easily with Torrington at 139 and Crediton 131. Only 79 opted for Bideford.

**The following figures relating to Q45 exclude the largest employers in the parish as they are not owned by people living within the parish. The questionnaire is only sent to householders and therefore the results below only apply to businesses run by Winkleigh residents.

Do You Run a Business (Q45a)
From a total of 279 responses, 168 people run a business, employing 232 employees

Type of Business: (Q45b)
The main business in this area is agricultural with 71 (43%), then a big gap to 28 (17%) in retail/repairs, 19 in the professional services, 12 in construction followed by 11 in hotels and catering/tourism, 10 other, 9 in services and 7 in manufacturing.

There is a high number of small businesses run by people living in the parish and, not surprisingly, these are mainly agricultural.

Business Located: (Q46c)
140 businesses owned by householders are located in the Winkleigh Parish with 24 outside.

Over the Next 12 Months Workforce Will: (Q45e)
Out of 132 replies, 109 expected the workforce to remain the same, 21 expected an increase and only 2 expected to decrease.

Difficult Vacancies: (Q45f)
112 businesses responded - 72 had no vacancies, 9 expressed difficulty in recruiting skilled manual labour and 5 expressed difficulty in recruiting professional/technical people.

Company Training Facilities: (Q45g)
Of a total of 131 responses, 87 had no formal training facilities at all, 14 have in-house training, 12 each either use other establishments (colleges) or have training for qualifications and/or apprenticeships. Only 4 have a training budget and only 2 have a written training policy.

Major Issues Likely to Affect Business Growth Over the Coming 12 Months: (Q45)
General economic decline at 62, interest rates at 61, agricultural policy changes at 57 and declining demand for product/service at 56 were the top reasons out of 136 responses. 29 thought the local business rate, followed by other at 18, 12 for the exchange rate and 7 skills shortages and only 4 the infrastructure/transport.

Self Employed inNext 12 Months: (Q46a)
179 responses of which only 6 said they would become self-employed over the next 12 months.

Restrictions to Becoming Self-Employed: (Q46b)
72 responses. 26 thought the lack of start-up finance, 13 lack of premises, 10 lack of confidence and 9 each, lack of contacts and need of business skills with 5 stating the lack of required technical skills.

Industrial Units - Buy or Rent: (Q47)
From 39 responses 30 would like to rent a unit, and 9 would buy. Expansion of small businesses would benefit the local workforce and economy, but lack of premises is a restriction. However there is a strong positive opinion in favour of local workshops being built, with a high number of people being keen to rent or buy.