Herefordshire people reveal lifestyles

Herefordshire residents feel safer in their homes and neighbourhoods and experience lower levels of crime than those in the region generally and this is an important factor influencing their decisions about where to live, according to the results of a region-wide lifestyle survey funded by Herefordshire Council and Herefordshire PCT.

Herefordshire people also have a stronger sense of belonging to their village or town than other people in the region while living in a village or the countryside near to a town is the most popular choice of where they would like to live for residents of the region as a whole as well as those living in Herefordshire.

Adult residents were asked about their health and lifestyle and also for their opinions on quality of life issues such as community safety, access to and use of services, recycling, travel to work and barriers to employment, qualifications and training.

One of the major concerns for people living in Herefordshire is litter in their neighbourhoods but they are less likely than their regional counterparts to be troubled by speeding, joyriding, dangerous driving, troublesome teenagers, vandalism and graffiti.

On health issues, Herefordshire people are more likely to describe their health as good with some 47 per cent taking moderate physical activity for five or more days a week. In the rest of the region this figure drops to 41 per cent. County people are also more likely to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables every day (34 per cent compared to 27 per cent in the region).

Overall rates of smoking in Herefordshire are similar to those in the region. However, those aged 35-44 in Herefordshire were more likely to smoke than people in this age group in other areas of the West Midlands.

Areas where Herefordshire residents felt that they were worse off than those in the rest of the area were in being able to use health services, public transport, learning, training or leisure facilities. Some 20 per cent, compared to 12 per cent regionally, had problems accessing health services.

More people in Herefordshire never use buses or trains (50 per cent) than their regional counterparts (38 per cent) but are more likely to live further away from facilities such as adult learning centres, food stores and banks or cashpoints.

However, Herefordshire people were more likely to have qualifications than people in the rest of the region and a greater proportion do voluntary work, especially in the 55-64 age group.

Some 1,973 people in Herefordshire replied to the survey.

Council leader Cllr Roger Phillips said: “It is wonderful to see so many people in the county find Herefordshire a safe and enjoyable place to live in and also feel a strong sense of local identity. Having helped to fund this survey, we will take the findings on board and the results will help us to pinpoint areas of concern and further improve the life of residents.”

Frances Howie, Associate Director of Health improvement at the PCT, said: “I am pleased to see that people in Herefordshire feel generally healthier than they do elsewhere in the West Midlands. However, the survey has given us some causes of concern with, for example, smoking still being a particular issue.
Most people are still not following Department of Health guidelines in terms of healthy eating and exercise, and we would hope to see some changes in this. We will be taking the survey findings into account as we plan our work programmes in the coming year.”

The West Midlands Regional Observatory and West Midlands Public Health Observatory carried out the Regional Lifestyles Survey 2005.