The Town Plan Survey was published online on 8 October 2016, and paper copies distributed to every household on 15 October 2016. The Survey closed on 28 October 2016. A paper copy of the survey can be viewed and downloaded by clicking here.
To read a summary report with the main findings of the survey click here.
To read a full report (including charts, tables and quotations from residents) click here.
You can download a spreadsheet showing all the answers to all the questions about Bruton (all questions about the person completing the survey have been removed, to prevent anybody being identified). The spreadsheet does not display well until it has been downloaded. To view the download click here.
If you want to more about how the survey was designed, and why we asked the questions that we did, click here.
The following are the highlights of the survey’s findings.
Living in Bruton
Your favourite thing about living in Bruton is the other Brutonians.
The thing that people most want to change is the traffic (too much, too fast).
82% of you read The Dove to keep up to date with what’s going on.
The community institutions are strong.
We need better banking facilities in the town.
How the town looks
People want to protect the Town Centre, Jubilee Park and the Duckpond/Tolbury area from residential development (other areas were mentioned too, but these were the most popular).
People don’t really want to see any development, but if there had to be, then sites off the Frome, Cole and Brewham Roads had the most support and the least objections (some support came from people living in these areas).
The Town Council shouldn’t sit back. The Council needs to work with developers and landowners to make sure that the right housing gets built in the right place.
The right housing is small two to three bedroom houses.
People are more concerned about litter (men even more so than women) and dog mess than they are about street signs or street lighting.
There were numerous suggestions about how to improve different parts of the town. The most popular in each area were:
- Better places to sit by and walk by the Brue
- Speed restrictions in Wyke Champflower and Redlynch
- Improve the Welcome to Bruton signs in the outskirts of the town
- Wider pavements in the town centre
- Better planting and keeping the area clean and dog-mess free were equal first for the town’s green spaces
Getting around
Bruton is a town of walkers. 60% of those surveyed come in to the centre once a day or more, and 70% come in on foot. If the survey is representative of the population as a whole, about 1,000 Brutonians walk into the centre of the town every day.
Having better walking routes and wider pavements is much more important than making it easy to drive through the town.
A lot of people support the 20 mph limit (only one person said they were against it).
The Library Junction needs improving and there needs to be disabled access to the Westbound platform at the station.
There was a strong vote against introducing parking charges in the town, and on balance people were against residents’ parking permits.
Leisure and places to go
Facilties for people with disabilities, for teenagers and for younger adults need to improve. Facilities for younger children and for adults of working age are satisfactory.
There is very strong support for the Council’s proposals to develop better sports facilities at Jubilee Park, and slightly less but still strong support for investing time and money in developing a modern multi-use community building.
The majority think that the Packhorse Fair and the Christmas Shopping night are great, and that we need more of this kind of thing. Only 1% thought these kinds of events of no benefit to the town.
The community toilet scheme was thought to be adequate, but only if it received better publicity.
We asked for suggestions about other things that could be done to improve leisure facilities in the town, and suggestions to help people enjoy the surrounding countryside:
- A swimming pool was the most often mentioned improvement, though several pointed out that the schools had facilities that could be shared more;
- There need to be better maps and routes which are well signed to help walkers and cyclists enjoy the countryside
Jobs
An estimated 360 people commute outside the town for work, but most adults of working age remain in the town during the day.
The survey suggests that quite a few people (around 80) drive to work within Bruton itself.
Over 80% of the people who answered do some or all of their food shopping in Bruton.
People wanted more shops. These need to be practical shops for local people, not more art and antiques.
Suitable accommodation at the right price was the biggest obstacle to creating more business.
Who completed the survey?
There were 355 responses, which is 33% of all the households in Bruton (though in some households more than one survey may have been completed). Over half the responses were received online.
Ages ranged from 6 to 96. More older people than might be expected completed the survey, and fewer younger people, so the survey does not give a good representation of the views of all ages.
30% of people had lived in Bruton for more than 25 years. This is the same proportion as in 2010.
Most people who moved to Bruton came because of work.
