The number of people living in the Winchester district grew by nearly ten per cent between 2011 and 2021 - but the population is ageing and getting more diverse.

A council meeting that the population grew from 116,595 to 127,500, a rise of 9.4 per cent.

People said to be economically active dropped from 57.4 to 55.6 per cent.

Cllr Lucille Thompson, Cabinet Member for Business and Culture, warned: "We have a real imbalance in the district, with an ageing population."

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According to census figures, the number of people aged between 65-84 has risen from 15.9 to 17 per cent and those over 85 years from 2.8 to 3.1 per cent. Those aged 15-64 has fallen from 64.1 to 62.6 per cent; children up to the age of 14 has dropped from 17.1 to 16.5 per cent.

People identifying as white British has dropped from 91.8 to 88.1 per cent.

Another major change has been the level of commuting in and out of the district. In 2011 commuting-in were 34,137, compared to 21,944 in 2021 although that figure would have been affected by Covid and the rise of home working. Commuting out the number was 17,151 in 2011 compared to 10,720 in 2021.

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Cllr Thompson was speaking at the economy and housing policy committee.

The committee discussed the new Council Plan that will set our priorities between 2025-2030.

Tackling the climate crisis will continue to be a keystone. In the current plan period from 2020-2025 carbon emissions from the council have fallen by 34 per cent, 58 electric vehicle charging points have been built and recycling rates have increased from 36.1 per cent to 40.5 per cent.

Cllr Steve Miller raised the issue of the link between where new businesses will go and where new houses will be built.

He said most new houses will go in the rural parts of the district. "Where are jobs going to be? We don't have employment sites in the plan. There aren't sites in the rural areas where we are building the houses. How are we going to create jobs where people are going to be living?"

A public consultation on the new Council Plan will be launched in October.