The Parish

A bit about the parish

Beckbury Parish is within the Worfield Electoral Division of the Bridgnorth, Worfield & Claverley Local Joint Committee (LJC).
A total of 4.8 miles of publicly maintained roads, all graded B or C class, lie within the parish boundaries. In addition there are 4.5 miles of bridleways and 2.6 miles of public footpaths. The boundaries on two sides are marked by streams which also serve as the main drainage systems of the area.

Utilities

Electricity is brought over ground and delivered from a substation. There is no gas supplied to the village. A natural gas pipeline runs though the parish but there is no local access point. Heating is provided by electricity, oil and liquid petroleum gas (LPG), with a lesser amount from coal and wood. Solar power is an increasing but currently insignificant source. Wind power is not evident. Mains sewage is available within the village servicing the majority of the population. Septic tanks manage waste for some.

Leisure

The community is serviced by one pub and restaurant, a community hall and a playing field. Various community groups provide a social life within the village and link the village to neighbouring parishes.

Education

The village maintains a nursery with 11 pupils on role and a Church of England primary school with 59 pupils on role, mostly from outside the parish. State secondary schools are located at Shifnal, Bridgnorth, Wolverhampton and Telford. Tertiary Colleges are located at Telford, Wolverhampton and Shrewsbury

Health

National Health facilities are provided by a GP Practice at Albrighton, The Princess Royal Hospital at Telford, The Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Bridgnorth Infirmary.

Some Statistics

The 2011 census records 340 residents (162 male, 178 female). Generally the population reflects the norms for Shropshire but some variations are significant. The statistics indicate a homogeneous, healthy, well-educated and stable community which has low levels of crime.

Beckbury is a caring community in that some 13% of individuals are recorded as unpaid carers for a population with about 16% with limiting long-term illness. The community relies on private transport. The census records 90% of the households as having a car, with 75% requiring them to access work. No one is recorded as using public transport to access work. Time taken to access any significant public facility – school, college, job centre, and hospital is recorded as being two to four times greater than the national average. The infrequency of public transport means travelling to any unplanned event can be difficult without access to private transport.
Of the 139 properties, 69% are privately owned, 20% are local authority owned, and the remainder are privately owned tenancies. Of the properties, half are detached and half semi-detached and terraced.

Of those employed, 76% are recorded as working ‘away’ and 24% at home or within walking distance. There is an above average proportion of residents working in professional and managerial jobs. All males have held jobs and there is no male in the community who has not worked; only 3% of females have never been employed, though presently about 8% of the total population are unemployed.
It is against this background that the Beckbury Parish Plan has been written. The questionnaire was completed by about 40% of the residents, representing between them over 2,000 years of life in the village. The average period of residence of respondents was over 20 years.

Compared to the census figures, males were a little under-represented in the survey returns (45% not 52%) and private owners over represented (88% compared with the census 69%); hence tenants were under represented (12% compared with the census 31%). Vehicle owners were well represented in both surveys (90% and over). Those working ‘away’ are fairly represented. There were no responses from residents aged 16-20 so the survey contains no statistics from that group. A separate questionnaire was prepared for those aged under 16.