The Blackdown Hills National Landscape has an estimated population of 16,400. The population’s average age is 48, while median earnings are £2,100 per calendar month. The same profile records deprivation, ethnicity and woodland measurements for the protected landscape.
Contents
- Population and age
- Ethnic composition
- Earnings and deprivation
- Woodland at a glance
- Managed and unmanaged woodland
- Ancient woodland
- Named woodland sites
Population and age
The population estimate for the Blackdown Hills National Landscape is 16,400 people. This is an estimate for the landscape as defined in the Blackdown Hills National Landscape profile, rather than a current census count for every settlement associated with the hills. The profile also gives an average population age of 48.
Taken together, these two figures describe a relatively small population with an average age measured in the late forties. They should be read as landscape-level statistics: they do not provide separate age averages for individual villages, nor do they show the number of residents in particular age bands.
The figures are reported in Blackdown Hills National Landscape Appendix 4. The appendix is the named source for the population estimate, average age, ethnicity percentages, earnings, deprivation measures and woodland areas used throughout this article.
Ethnic composition
The Appendix 4 profile records White residents as 98% of the population. Mixed or Multiple ethnic groups account for 1%. Each of the remaining categories is recorded as less than 1%:
- Asian, Asian British or Asian Welsh residents: less than 1%.
- Black, Black British, Black Welsh, Caribbean or African residents: less than 1%.
- Other ethnic groups: less than 1%.
The less-than-1% figures are thresholds as reported in the source, not more precise percentages. They should not be converted into exact counts from the population estimate. In particular, the source does not provide the underlying resident totals for each category in the supplied profile.
The categories also should not be added as if the three less-than-1% values each represented a known percentage. The only exact percentage statements supplied for the ethnic profile are 98% for White residents and 1% for Mixed or Multiple ethnic groups; the other three categories are reported below the 1% level.
Earnings and deprivation
Median earnings are £2,100 per calendar month. This is a monthly median, so it represents the middle value in the reported earnings distribution and is not an average. The supplied profile does not state whether the figure is gross or net, nor does it provide an annual equivalent; no annual conversion is made here.
The deprivation figures are presented as the share of residents living in particular deprivation deciles. The distribution supplied for the Blackdown Hills is:
| Deprivation decile | Share of residents |
|---|---|
| 5 | 33% |
| 6 | 44% |
| 7 | 8% |
| 8 | 15% |
The largest reported group is decile 6, at 44% of residents. Decile 5 accounts for 33%, while deciles 7 and 8 account for 8% and 15%, respectively. These are the four shares given in the profile; this article does not infer an unreported distribution for any other decile.
The average Index of Multiple Deprivation decile is 6 by mode and 6 by median. The mode describes the most frequently occurring decile in the underlying profile, while the median identifies the middle position. Because both reported summary measures are 6, the profile’s central deprivation indicators point to the same decile, although they describe different statistical properties.
Woodland at a glance
The profile records 5,413.3 hectares of woodland under sustainable management. It separately identifies managed private woodland, managed public woodland and unmanaged woodland:
| Woodland category | Area |
|---|---|
| Total woodland under sustainable management | 5,413.3 hectares |
| Managed private woodland | 1,445.1 hectares |
| Managed public woodland | 1,023.2 hectares |
| Unmanaged woodland | 2,945.1 hectares |
The private and public managed categories are reported as 1,445.1 hectares and 1,023.2 hectares. Unmanaged woodland is recorded as 2,945.1 hectares. These labels are retained as they appear in Blackdown Hills National Landscape Appendix 4.
The source also records 426.7 hectares of ancient and semi-natural woodland, 440.5 hectares of plantations on Ancient Woodland Sites, and 867.2 hectares of ancient woodland in total. The two component figures are presented separately in the profile, while the total ancient woodland figure is reported independently. No arithmetic is applied to reconcile or reinterpret the categories.
Managed and unmanaged woodland
The woodland figures show several distinct measurements rather than one interchangeable total. “Woodland under sustainable management” is the broad total supplied for that measure. “Managed private woodland” and “managed public woodland” identify two ownership or management groupings within the profile. “Unmanaged woodland” is another named category.
The largest single figure in this group is unmanaged woodland at 2,945.1 hectares. Managed private woodland covers 1,445.1 hectares, and managed public woodland covers 1,023.2 hectares. The sustainable-management total is reported as 5,413.3 hectares.
These measurements should not be treated as a land-use forecast or as a time series. The supplied Appendix 4 facts do not include measurement years, annual changes, planting rates, felling rates or restoration targets. They are therefore best used as a snapshot of the landscape profile, with the category names and units kept explicit.
Ancient and semi-natural woodland covers 426.7 hectares. Plantations on Ancient Woodland Sites cover 440.5 hectares. The profile gives ancient woodland as 867.2 hectares in total and states that ancient woodland represents 2.3% of the protected landscape.
Ancient woodland
Ancient woodland is recorded at 867.2 hectares, equal to 2.3% of the protected landscape in the supplied profile. That percentage is a landscape-level share and should not be read as the percentage represented by any one named wood.
The source separates ancient and semi-natural woodland from plantations on Ancient Woodland Sites. The first category is 426.7 hectares and the second is 440.5 hectares. Both are useful for describing the profile’s woodland classifications, but the supplied facts do not explain the management history or ecological condition of individual sites.
The named-area list below gives individual woodland measurements in hectares. These site figures are not described as a complete inventory in the supplied material, so they are presented as the named locations and areas recorded by Appendix 4 rather than as a total for all woodland in the National Landscape.
Named woodland sites
The largest named area in the supplied list is Murlinch/Adcombe Woods at 90.15 hectares. Farm/Buckland Woods covers 27.64 hectares, Higher Ash/Long Woods covers 23.64 hectares, and Bywood Copse covers 20.96 hectares. Middleroom/Castle Woods covers 20.53 hectares, while Luxhay Wood covers 18.29 hectares.
Other named sites above 15 hectares are Bickham Wood at 16.47 hectares, Pen Point Wood at 15.32 hectares and Coxs Wood at 15.05 hectares. The profile records The Chase at 10.61 hectares. Ashcombe Copse covers 7.45 hectares, Combe Wood 7.25 hectares, Great Copse 7.23 hectares and Court Wood 7.99 hectares.
The remaining named woodland measurements are:
- Fourteen Acre Copse: 5.69 hectares; Cotley Copse: 5.25 hectares; Trotts Wood: 5.13 hectares; and Wood Copse: 5.06 hectares.
- Wellands Coppices: 4.86 hectares; Buckhayes Covert: 4.64 hectares; Crown All Wood: 4.44 hectares; Blackborough Wood: 4.42 hectares; and Shapcombe Copses: 4.32 hectares.
- Butsons Copse: 4.25 hectares; Cummins Copse: 4.23 hectares; Sadbeer Wood: 3.74 hectares; Summerhayes Wood: 3.7 hectares; Hayne Wood: 3.52 hectares; and Rectory Wood: 3.22 hectares.
- Greyborough Copses: 3.16 hectares; Wellsprings Wood: 3.14 hectares; Cod Wood: 2.99 hectares; Parsonage Wood: 2.48 hectares; Knowles Wood: 0.8 hectares; Buckhayes Wood: 0.75 hectares; Hayne Wood West: 0.58 hectares; and Knapp Copse: 0.4 hectares.
The named figures range from 0.4 hectares at Knapp Copse to 90.15 hectares at Murlinch/Adcombe Woods. They use hectares throughout, and the names preserve the combined labels and spellings supplied in Blackdown Hills National Landscape Appendix 4. No ranking beyond the reported areas is implied for woodland not included in the list.