6.1 Changes in rural settlements

Question 1

How are differences between rural and urban settlements becoming less clear

Answer 1

• Increase in car usage
• Increase in commute towns
• Better technology so people working from home
• Doing similar jobs e.g. service sector
• Green space and less pollution, as well as increasing building of housing and urban sprawl, the obvious gap environmentally is decreasing
• People still shop in supermarkets and working in business parks

Question 2

How are differences between rural and urban settlements becoming more clear

Answer 2

• May still predominantly rely on land for a living - farming, fishing, forestry, hunting/shooting, countryside-based tourism
• More likely to ‘eat local’, live in small settlements,
  resist development

Question 3

What is chalgrove changing into

Answer 3

• Situation of Chalgrove as a growing commuter village – good access to A roads and M40, so easy to
  commute to Oxford and London
• It isn’t in the Green Belt or the Chilterns AONB so it has been designated as Key Settlement for Expansion by County Council
• Population has grown from around 652 in 1961 to nearly 3,000. It has mainly commuter families and elderly but few young adults

Question 4

What are the issues for accessible villages like chalgrove

Answer 4

• Rural character lost - spread of urban values and loss of community spirit
• Improvement of services
• Bus routes, local shops and post offices
  may still be lost due to high levels of car ownership and changes in technology and shopping habits

Question 5

Different issues for more remote/ inaccessible villages – e.g. Christmas Common, Northend – Chiltern

Answer 5

• Population decline, ageing profile, and
• Falling service provision (village shop, post office, bus).
• But, kept rural character and still seeing house price inflation as elderly and perhaps a few e‘telecommuters’ move in looking for peace and quiet.
• Lack of public transport could become an issue for elderly if lose ability to drive

Question 6

Explain the commuter village phenomenon and how it is not ideal

Answer 6

• Lack of community, ghost village during the day
• High levels of carbon emissions/pollution from cars