Shropshire seeing huge rise in elderly population
Monday 8th November 2010, 11:13AM GMT.
South Shropshire and Bridgnorth have two of the fastest growing elderly populations in the country, a study published today has claimed.
It also found that Shropshire as a whole had one of the highest rates in England for people over 65 moving into the area.
The study – for the BBC’s Living Longer season – is reporting on social care, the impact of caring on families, the cost to the NHS, work and retirement, as well as the opportunities of ageing.
Ludlow Mayor John Aitken today said the town was making plans for the needs of the elderly.
Councillor Aitken said: “A lot of people see the advantages of coming to a town like Ludlow before or at retirement.”
He added: “We have noted in the town plan that the requirements and needs of the post-retirement population is something we need to focus on.”
After seeing the report, Michelle Mitchell, Charity Director at Age UK: “The fact that there are growing numbers of people in later life is a cause for real celebration.
“People past retirement age are playing a more active role in the job market and contributing to the nation’s wealth for longer, as well as volunteering in large numbers within their communities.
“At the same time there are challenges and changes society needs to make to prepare for an ageing population.
“For example, as people are expected to work for longer, employers need to provide far more job opportunities for people in later life and remove the ageist barriers which often prevent older people getting back into work.”
She added: “We also need to invest in the sort of services which an ageing society will rely on.”
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It’s all very well making plans for the needs of the elderly, but what about the younger generations?
Shropshire, if the planners aren’t careful, will become one huge waiting room for God!!
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The younger generations should ‘get up and go!’
That is, if you are not interested in the many jobs of caring for the aged. They still eat and drink you know and would welcome help with various chores.
The world has changed so rapidly in the years 1970 onwards making it desirable for older people to seek calmer waters. Ludlow is such a place.
On a visit from Brisbane to my old home in Frankwell Shrewsbury in 2001 my old next-door neighbour took some rousing. She was 80 years living in the house her father had spent all his life in too.
She told me, “I don’t get up until the afternoon, there’s nothing for me to get up for, I don’t recognise Shrewsbury now!”
Beware youngsters; if and when you reach such an age, you too will be dizzy with the changes, unless you live in Ludlow.
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I quite agree, Observer. The fact that we don’t have anything in the way of real work (i.e. not tourism-related) apart from agriculture in the south of the county attracts these incomers and the Council just seems to pander to them when they join the NIMBY brigade to protest against development. The Council needs to pull its finger out and develop large areas of industrial premises in the south of the county otherwise there will be no young people around to balance the population mix – and that will threaten schools and other services.
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Shropshire’s a great place to grow up, and a great place to retire. The bit in the middle, though, is a problem. I left to go to university and never returned – there were no jobs. Now I’ve got kids of my own, I know they’d have a better childhood in Shropshire, but I’d never find a decent-paying job there.
Bridgnorth, Alveley and other places to the south-east of the county suffer less in this regard, as at least they allow an easy commute to the West Midlands. But anything west of the river, you have to be pretty dedicated to commute that distance.
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I mirror Andrew’s Comments. I have had to move away from the area to find good, well paid work and now I have kids would rather bring them up in Bridgnorth. Economically I get paid better, enjoy better valued housing with better transport links and more to entertain the kids. The heart says bridgo, but the wallet shouts No
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Bridgnorth is a great place to live – but the jobs available don’t pay enough to get a mortgage on a reasonable house – hence a lot of people have to move away once they’ve finished education.
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