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A new decade, a new census

NewsMany residents will have been sent the 2011 census forms, if not then they should be with you soon.

It is important that these forms are completed and returned – results of the census directly affect our community, determining how the government plans and funds our schools, social housing, transport and healthcare. The better the government knows each community, the more local authorities can understand it’s residents and meet their needs.

If you prefer to complete the census online, you can use your unique code listed on your paper copy to complete this online (for the first time) – this can be done over separate sessions if you cannot complete it in one go! Each census should only take approximately 10 minutes to complete.

Forms should be completed and sent back (by freepost) as near to ‘Census Day’ 27 March 2011 as possible. All residents in England and Wales are required by law to complete the census – failure to do so could lead to a fine and even a criminal record.

All questions are mandatory except for the religion section and data as with previous collections is kept confidential for 100 years. The census has helped the government monitor statistics and patterns in the population since 1801 and was originally to determine whether food shortages were imminent due to the increasing population.

For the statisticians amongst you, some summarised results from the 2001 census & more recent studies are available from Richmond Council for Teddington and Teddington & Hampton Wick combined.

There are no real surprises in the statistics, in Teddington/Hampton Wicks 8,354 households, ethnic minorities made up 7.2% of the total – about average for England & Wales but low in the context of London (29%). Teddington’s unemployment rate in 2005 was just 1.5% – perhaps the high cost of living the in area and low numbers of council housing explain this number. Average income in Teddington as surveyed in 2004 was £48,076 – making it one of the highest average earning areas in England.

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