Community Strategy People and Places
Nottinghamshire covers 805 square miles and has a population of 755,000. If the City of Nottingham is also included the population of the geographic county is over one million. The largest concentration of population is in the Greater Nottingham area, where almost 600,000 people live. The conurbation is centrally important in providing both economic growth and cultural and sporting facilities that add to the quality of life of the county. Outside Greater Nottingham, the main towns are Mansfield (50,000), Sutton-in-Ashfield and Worksop (both 40,000), Newark and Kirkby-in-Ashfield (both 25,000) and Retford (20,000).
'Major issues face the county area and the links between the county's urban, suburban and rural areas.'
Each of the seven district and borough council areas in the county has a population of around 100,000. About a third of the county's population live in small towns and villages. The County and City Joint Structure Plan outlines the major issues facing the county area and the links between the county's urban, suburban and rural areas. Large areas of the county are rural and sparsely populated and this can cause problems with providing services and getting access to them.
The county has a slightly older population profile than the regional and English average, with fewer under-16s and more people aged 65 and over. There are over 83,000 unpaid carers in the county supporting at least as many elderly or disabled people.
Deprivation is concentrated in Nottingham City and in Ashfield and Mansfield, but pockets of need exist in many other parts of the county, alongside relative prosperity. Health inequalities are marked and these are explored in more detail under the healthier theme.
'There are 181,500 children and young people aged 0 to 19 in the county.'
The county's population is predominantly white with less than three per cent from the black and minority ethnic population; the small numbers of the black and minority ethnic population in some parts of the county can lead to isolation. There are larger percentages in Broxtowe, Gedling and Rushcliffe, with almost five per cent in Broxtowe. The largest group in the county's black and minority ethnic population is Indian.
There are 181,500 children and young people aged 0 to 19 in the county; it is expected that this will decrease by around 15 per cent by 2020. In recent years the percentages of children and young people have been increasing fastest in Rushcliffe and Bassetlaw and decreasing fastest in Mansfield.
In the 2001 Census almost 20 per cent of Nottinghamshire people said they had limiting long term illness, and almost six per cent said they were permanently sick or disabled. In some parts of the county, levels are significantly higher than this.
There are almost 19,000 businesses in the county; and unemployment is now lower than the national and regional level at 1.8 per cent. Some parts of the county record levels that are two or three times higher than this. In addition, levels of benefit claimants are also high, indicating poor health and disability or lower than average wages.
Many organisations cover the whole county, including the area covered by Nottingham City Council; these include the Learning and Skills Council, JobCentre Plus, Nottinghamshire Police, Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service, Connexions, Probation Service and so on.
There are also seven district and borough councils and seven Primary Care Trusts, each of whose areas is covered by a Local Strategic Partnership, (LSP), with a wide remit to address issues across the community.
The links below give a few facts about each of these areas and outline the current priorities for each of the LSPs. As outlined earlier, several LSPs are currently consulting on their priorities for the next few years. However, the following extracts show much common ground between areas.
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