Friendly Cranbrook is a good place to live say residents
Results from the first ever community survey show that Cranbrook residents are happy overall with the emerging community and are looking forward to future facilities and developments.
Residents responded to questions across five sections entitled ‘Your Community’; ‘Services’; ‘Healthcare’; ‘About your Home’; and ‘About You’ in the first ever ‘Community Needs Questionnaire for Cranbrook.
The headline results reflect that 94% of respondents feel Cranbrook is a good place to live, 90% get on well with the people they meet and that residents like the community spirit and the friendly people.
More than half (55%) are currently satisfied with access to services overall in Cranbrook with residents keen to see new facilities and amenities open, particularly the first a local shop and dedicated children’s play area.
Although 85% felt well informed about what’s going on in the community, 46% would like more information about travel and transport, 37% about youth and play, 25% about waste and recycling, 19% about healthcare and 19% about childcare.
Two-thirds (65%) would like to be better informed on where to go to enjoy the countryside in Exeter and East Devon, 56% about sports and leisure, 44% about cultural facilities and activities.
Regarding healthcare, the majority of people are currently registered with doctors in Pinhoe and Broadclyst and the survey revealed that residents prioritised a doctors’ surgery, then a pharmacy and then a dentist for Cranbrook.
The ‘About You’ section revealed that 61% had moved to Cranbrook from the Exeter area, while 22% had moved from elsewhere in East Devon and 11% moved from elsewhere in Devon. Among the 6% from outside the area, people had moved from Hampshire, Middlesex, Blackpool, York, Taunton, Portsmouth, Hertfordshire and Cheshire, mostly for jobs nearby.
Corena Ward, Cranbrook’s Community Development Worker, said: “The results are very interesting and give a real insight into not only what people want, but how they feel about their community. Having this snapshot of current needs within the community will help us to prioritise the delivery of a range of things for Cranbrook. Also, with a second round of data collection planned for 2015, we will be able to compare how well residents needs have been met during 2014”.
Councillor Paul Diviani, Leader of EDDC, commented: “The results are very pleasing for those of us who remember when Cranbrook was just a diagram on a map.
“Now it’s a real community with real families, most of whom have come from the Exeter and East Devon areas, as we predicted. A small percentage, as you would expect, come from elsewhere in the UK, drawn by the beauty of the region and the prospect of working in the area. Hopefully this finally puts the lie to the mischievous rumours of vast numbers of homes being bought up to rehouse problem families from urban trouble-spots elsewhere in the UK.
“We will continue to monitor how Cranbrook is progressing and in Corena we have someone who can keep her finger on the pulse and help people to sort out any teething troubles as they arise”.
The survey was designed and developed by Corena Ward in consultation with the Cranbrook Forum; EDVSA; the Growth Point Team and officials in East Devon District Council (EDDC).
EDDC donated time and resources to analyse the results using specialist software and provided printing services, return envelopes and additional officer time.
