9.3 Young Residents' Survey

Our volunteer distributors also asked how many young people there were in the household. For the purposes of the survey, we defined a young person as being between 12 and 17 years of age. The volunteers left a special "Young Residents' Survey" for each young person to complete and return. We received 68 completed surveys, which, based on the demographic data we got from the household survey, is a return rate of about 66% - slightly less than for the Residents' Survey.

9.3.1 About You

The young residents' survey began by asking which village the respondent lived in, in order to allow analysis of the results by village and thus establish where there were significant differences between each location. The total of responses from each village is shown in the table below:

Of those responding, 55% were female and 45% male. Their ages are shown in the table below:

93% of the respondents are currently attending school, with a further 6% at college. 7% said that they have a part-time job.

All of the respondents have access to a computer at home and only one said that they could not access the internet at home.

We asked the young residents how often they read the Benefice newsletter and how often they looked at the villages' websites:

From these results it's clear that the Benefice Newsletter is currently better than the websites as a means of communicating with the younger residents of the village - the same result as for the adults. However, neither is particularly effective.

9.3.2 What you feel about living here

We asked the young residents whether they agreed with a number of statements about living in the village and whether they liked that aspect of living there. 97% said that they feel safe in their home and that Bealings has a good playing field. 95% agreed that there are good country walks and that we are surrounded by unspoilt countryside. However, only 45% agreed that there is a good Mobile Library service and just 32% agree that there is a good bus service. About half of the respondents did not like the fact that they did not have lots of friends living nearby. Their comments were that they dislike the speed and volume of traffic in the villages and the lack of a shop or post office. They also commented that they would like more buses. These viewpoints confirm other survey data and are covered in Action 18 and Action 20

9.3.3 Climate Change and Energy Efficiency

When asked about climate change issues, the young residents agreed that there should be solar panels on homes for hot water/electricity and solar panels or wind turbines on schools/colleges/workplaces. They also believed that people should walk, cycle or use public transport more and use their cars less.

9.3.4 Issues for You

When asked about other issues, it is perhaps not surprising that the statement which they agreed with most strongly was "We need better mobile phone coverage in the village", with 73% agreeing.

Action 15 Work with service providers to improve mobile phone coverage.

They also wanted public phone boxes kept open and more activities for young people at the Village Hall and Playing Field.

9.3.5 Other Comments

The young residents made a number of general comments and the list of these can be found in Appendix B.