Assessment Blog Two - How Sustainable is my Community

I have never really thought about how sustainable where I live is. I live in a village called Flackwell Heath which is a large village on the outskirts of High Wycombe and has a population of around 6000 people. Flackwell Heath falls in the Super Output Area Wycombe 018.

According to DEFRA, a sustainable community should be:

·         Active, Inclusive and Safe

·         Well Run

·         Environmentally Sensitive

·         Well Designed and Built

·         Well Connected

·         Thriving

·         Fair for everyone

(http://www.defra.gov.uk/sustainable/government/what/priority/sustainable-communities/what-makes.htm)

High Wycombe and the surrounding villages (including Flackwell) are quite popular for people who commute into London to work. High Wycombe is just 29 miles from Charing Cross. Because of this there are quite a lot of cars moving around the village. There are also 3 schools, so during rush hour the village can get very congested. This doesn’t make the village very sustainable.

There is also no major supermarket in the village. The nearest supermarket is in the next village, roughly a 5-10 minute drive away. There is a local Budgens located at the centre of the village, but as the village is so large, many people choose to drive to it rather than walk, particularly in cold weather. Again, not a very sustainable way of life.

However, one thing I can think of that is sustainable has to do with one of the primary schools. In July 2005, Carrington Junior School unveiled its new addition to the school, a wind turbine. The new wind turbine takes pride of place on the school field, and generates one third of the schools energy

According to 2001 census data, Flackwell Heath/SAO Wycombe 018 had a population of 5874 and a total area of 435 hectares. These figures meant that the area has a population density of 13.51.

(http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadTableView.do?a=3&b=280887&c=HP10+9DW&d=140&e=16&g=425148&i=1001x1003x1004&m=0&p=1&q=1&r=0&s=1290105689195&enc=1&dsFamilyId=789)

On the Office National Statistics website, there is a tool you can use to look at postcode specific statistics within your Super Output Area. There is a tab showing details for: People, Health, Business, Work, Education, Crime and Environment and a summary, showing your neighbourhoods rank of total deprivation.  I used this tool for my postcode. It came back showing the total deprivation at 18064th out of all 32428 neighbourhoods in England (the most deprived coming in at 1). [taken from indices of deprivation 2007]

(http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/NeighbourhoodSummary.do?width=1366&a=3&i=1001&m=0&s=1290105632820&enc=1&profileSearchText=HP10+9dw)

The neighbourhood statistics show the table below with the consumption of energy for my postcode. As you can see the consumption figures in my area is higher than both Wycombe’s and England’s, suggesting that people are not using energy in a sustainable manner.

Domestic energy consumption, 2008

Your area Wycombe England Average consumption of ordinary domestic electricity K/watt hours 4,779 4,468 3,800 Average consumption of economy 7 domestic electricity K/watt hours 7,935 7,070 5,789 Average consumption of domestic gas K/watt hours 22,492 19,603 16,799

On the other hand, according to the data, there are no empty homes (2008). Another good aspect of the village is from April 05-May 06 there were no serious reported crimes in the SOA Wycombe 018.

I definitely feel that Flackwell Heath could definitely be more sustainable. The wind turbine was certainly a step in the right direction, however as far as I’m aware there hasn’t been any more progress to become a more sustainable community. Since the end of 2009/beginning of 2010, some new houses have been built on a plot of land where a pub used to be. The plans for these could have incorporated some ideas like solar panels to help better the villages image as a sustainable community.