| 
Chiltern District Council is overall an excellent Council that has made incremental improvements in many services and has some areas that can further improve. The Council has a strong, open, ‘can do’ culture which effectively underpins its corporate and service delivery.
The district of Chiltern is in the South East of England in the county of Buckinghamshire and is located approximately 25 miles northwest of London, just outside the M25. There are good transport links to the capital by both road and rail and Heathrow Airport is approximately 25 miles away. The overall population of the district is 89,100. Around one-third live in the main towns of Amersham and Chesham. The district is rural in character, covering 196 square kilometres. The Chiltern Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) designation covers 70 per cent of the district, and the metropolitan green belt protects the district from development.
In 2001, 21 per cent of the resident population were aged under 16 and 22 per cent were aged 60 and over. The proportion of older people is increasing. Chiltern has a fairly small ethnic minority community population of 4.6 per cent. The largest ethnic minority group are Pakistani – 2.5 per cent of the population. In the last ten years the population has fallen by 610 and the number of households increased by 1,457. Unemployment is low at 1.9 per cent. The district is in the top five most affluent areas in England; however within the area there are pockets of relative deprivation at sub ward level.
|
