Town Centre Facts and Figures

Town Centre MapA few facts about the town centre:

KCC Town Centre Survey 2007:

Please note that the last two figures are rounded to the nearest 1,000 square metres.

From the 2001 Census:

Town Centre Residents

Age

The census information shows a higher proportion of people aged 20-39 than for Dartford Borough or the South East region.

The proportion aged 0-19 is similar to Dartford Borough and the South East region. The proportion of people aged 85 and over is similar to that for the Borough.

This table shows the Usual Resident Population by single year categories of age from Under 1 to 74, in five year age groups from 75 to 99, and people aged 100 years and over.

For the purpose of Dartford Town Centre this was then reduced into larger group sizes of 5 years from Under 1 to 89 and people aged 90 years and over.

Age is derived from the date of birth question on the 2001 Census, and is the age at a person's last birthday.

Dates of birth that imply an age over 110 were treated as invalid and the person’s age was imputed. 

Dartford Town Centre Dartford Borough
All People  6699 85911
0-4 7.2 6.5
5-9 6.7 7.0
10-14 5.8 6.6
15-19 5.6 5.8
20-24 7.0 5.8
25-29 9.8 7.2
30-34 10.4 8.6
35-39 9.6 8.6
40-44 6.9 7.0
45-49 5.6 6.1
50-54 5.4 6.6
55-59 4.3 5.3
60-64 3.6 4.7
65-74 3.4 4.2
70-74 3.0 3.8
75-84 4.0 4.8
85-89 1.1 1.1
90 & over 0.7 0.6
100.0 100.0

Approximated Social Grade

The table demonstrates that the majority of households in the town centre are of approximated Social Grade C1, meaning that the Household Reference Person is employed within a supervisory, clerical, junior managerial, administrative and/ or professional job.  This is similar to Dartford Borough and the South East region.

Dartford Town Centre Dartford Borough
All People Aged 16 and over in Households 5178 66345
AB:  Higher and intermediate managerial / administrative / professional 18.0 20.2
C1:  Supervisory, clerical, junior managerial/administrative/professional 32.6 31.2
C2:  Skilled manual workers 17.4 17.4
D:   Semi-skilled and unskilled manual workers 19.2 16.9
E:   On state benefit, unemployed, lowest grade workers 12.8 14.4
100.0 100.0

The table shows all people aged 16 and over living in households by their approximated social grade. Social Grade is the socio-economic classification used by the Market Research and Marketing Industries, most often in the analysis of spending habits and consumer attitudes.

Although it is not possible to allocate Social Grade precisely from information collected by the 2001 Census, the Market Research Society has developed a method for using Census information to provide a good approximation of Social Grade. Persons are classified by the approximated Social Grade of their Household Reference Person (HRP) which is based on occupation. For households where the HRP is not aged 16 - 74 the Social Grade of the HRP, and all persons in the household, has been estimated using household tenure.

Industry of Employment

The percentage of residents by industry type in general reflects that for the Borough and the South East region.

  Dartford Town Centre Dartford Borough
All People 3403 42255
A. Agriculture, hunting and forestry 0.4 0.8
B. Fishing 0.0 0.0
C. Mining and quarrying 0.3 0.2
D. Manufacturing 13.5 13.2
E. Electricity, gas and water supply 0.4 0.6
F. Construction 8.6 9.4
G. Wholesale and retail trade, repairs 17.2 18.7
H. Hotels and restaurants 3.5 3.1
I. Transport, storage and communications 9.7 8.7
J. Financial intermediation 6.9 6.8
K. Real estate, renting and business activities 12.3 11.9
L. Public administration and defence, social security 5.6 5.5
M. Education 6.7 6.4
N. Health and social work 10.8 10.2
O. Other community, social and personal service activities 4.3 4.5
P. Private households with employed persons 0.0 0.1
Q. Extra-territorial organisations and bodies 0.0 0.0
100.0 100.0

The table shows the usual resident population aged 16 to 74 in employment by the industry they work in. The industry in which a person works is determined by the response to the 2001 Census question asking for a description of the business of the person's employer (or own business if self-employed).

The responses were coded to a modified version of the UK Standard Industrial Classification of Economic Activities 1992 – UK SIC (92).

Accommodation Type- Household Spaces

The Census data shows that the majority of dwellings within Dartford Town Centre are either houses or bungalows. However, the Town Centre has a much higher proportion of flats, maisonettes or apartments in comparison with Dartford Borough and the South East region.

The South East region including Dartford Borough and Dartford Town Centre has very few shared dwellings with over 99.5% being unshared.

  Dartford Town Centre Dartford Borough
All Household Spaces 3056 36028
In an Unshared Dwelling 99.7 99.9
In an Unshared Dwelling: House or Bungalow 76.0 81.9
In an Unshared Dwelling: Flat, Maisonette or Apartment 23.9 17.7

The table shows all household spaces by the type of accommodation. Accommodation type describes the type of accommodation occupied by an individual household, or if unoccupied, available for an individual household, for example the whole of a terraced house or a flat in a purpose built block of flats.

Cars or Vans

The majority of town centre households own one or more vans or cars. However, over 30% of town centre households do not have a car or van, this is a much higher proportion than in Dartford Borough or the South East region.

The percentages of households with 2 or more cars within the town centre are much lower than those in the borough and South East region.

The table also shows that in Dartford Town Centre the number of households is greater than the number of cars and vans. In Dartford Borough and the South East there are more cars and vans than there are households.

Dartford Town Centre Dartford Borough
All Households 2958 35240
No car or van 30.3 19.9
1 car or van 50.5 46.1
2 cars or vans 16.8 27.1
3 cars or vans 1.9 5.2
4 or more cars or vans 0.5 1.6
100.0 100.0
Total cars or vans 2723 43348

The table shows all households by whether there are any cars or vans owned or available to the household, and if so how many. It also includes a total count of cars or vans in the area.

The number of cars or vans available for use, by one or more members of a household includes company cars and vans available for private use. The count of cars or vans in an area is based on details for private households only. Cars or vans used by residents of communal establishments are not counted.

Town Centre Workers

Method of travel to work – Daytime Population

The census information shows that the majority of the daytime town centre population travel to work by driving a car or van (53%). This is higher than for Dartford Borough or the South East region. Even so, over a fifth (21%) either walk to work or travel by public transport.

Dartford Town Centre Dartford Borough
All People 10121 66471
Works mainly at or from home 2.3 4.6
Underground, metro, light rail or tram 0.4 0.2
Train 4.4 2.5
Bus, minibus or coach 6.6 5.4
Taxi or minicab 0.6 0.5
Driving a car or van 52.6 45.2
Passenger in a car or van 5.8 5.2
Motorcycle, scooter or moped 1.0 0.8
Bicycle 1.2 0.8
On foot 10.4 4.8
Other 0.3 0.3
Not currently working 14.4 29.8
100.0 100.0

The table shows the daytime population aged 16 to 74 by the method of travel to work. The day-time population is defined for people aged 16 to 74, as those people who live and work in the area (or do not work) and those people who live outside the area and work inside the area.

'No fixed place of work' is counted as if working in the area. The method of travel to work is for the longest part, by distance, of the usual journey to work. Counts do not include people whose usual residence was outside England and Wales.

Lowfield
Central Park
Copyright © 2008 Dartford Borough Council If only all councils were like Dartford