Bournville
Bournville is a 19th century model village on the southwest side of Birmingham, England, founded by the Quaker Cadbury family for employees at its Cadbury's factory, and designed to be a "garden" village where the sale of alcohol was forbidden. Historically in northern Worcestershire, it is also a ward within the council constituency of Selly Oak and home to the Bournville Centre for Visual Arts and the Cadbury's chocolate factory. Bournville is regarded as one of the most desirable areas to live in the United Kingdom; research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation in 2003 found that it was "one of the nicest places to live in Britain".
History
Originally the area that was to become Bournville consisted of a few scattered farmsteads and cottages, linked by winding country lanes, with the only visual highlight being Bournbrook Hall, which was built during the Georgian era.The bluebell glades of Stock Wood were said to be a relic of the Forest of Arden and there are Roman remains nearby.
Though Selly Manor and Minworth Greaves date back to the 14th century or earlier, they were each moved to Bournville in the 20th century, and are operated as a museum.
Cadbury
Having taken over their father John Cadbury's expanding business in 1861, the Quakers George and Richard Cadbury needed to move their cocoa and chocolate factory from Bridge Street in central Birmingham to a greenfield site to allow for expansion.Cadbury were reliant on the canals for milk delivery, and on the railways for cocoa deliveries from the ports of London and Southampton. They therefore needed a site which was undeveloped and had easy access to both canal and rail. The brothers noticed the proposed development of the Birmingham West Suburban Railway, which would extend from central Birmingham south along the path of the Worcester and Birmingham Canal into the then green fields of southern Birmingham and the villages of northern Worcestershire.
In 1879, they moved their business to Bournbrook Hall, to the south of Birmingham. The location was chosen as it was regarded as cleaner, healthier and more amenable to longer-term expansion plans. Although rural, it was also already serviced by the new Stirchley Street railway station, which itself was located right next to the canal.
The Cadburys named the area 'Bournville' after a local river named The Bourn ; with 'ville' being French for 'town'; this set Bournville apart from the local area. Then the Cadburys began to develop their factory in the new suburb. Loyal and hard-working workers were treated with great respect and relatively high wages and good working conditions; Cadbury also pioneered pension schemes, joint works committees and a full staff medical service.
In 1893, George Cadbury bought 120 acres of land close to the works and planned, at his own expense, a model village which would "alleviate the evils of modern, more cramped living conditions". By 1900, the estate included 313 cottages and houses set on of land, and many more similar properties were built in the years leading up to the First World War, with smaller developments taking place later on in the 20th century. These almost 'Arts and Crafts' houses were traditional in design but with large gardens and modern interiors, and were designed by the resident architect William Alexander Harvey. These designs became a blueprint for many other model village estates around Britain. It is also noteworthy that, because George Cadbury was a temperance Quaker, no public houses have ever been built in Bournville; however, since the late 1940s, there has been a licensed members' bar at Rowheath Pavilion.
The Cadburys were particularly concerned with the health and fitness of their British workforce, incorporating park and recreation areas into the Bournville village plans and encouraging swimming, walking and indeed all forms of outdoor sports. In the early 1920s, extensive open lands were purchased at Rowheath and laid to football and hockey pitches together with a grassed running track. Rowheath Pavilion was designed and built in accordance with the instructions of George Cadbury and opened in July 1924. At that time, it served as the clubhouse and changing rooms for the acres of sports playing fields, several bowling greens, a fishing lake and an outdoor swimming lido, a natural mineral spring forming the source for the lido's healthy waters. The Rowheath Pavilion itself, which still exists, was used for balls and dinners and the whole area was specifically for the benefit of the Cadbury workers and their families with no charges for the use of any of the sporting facilities by Cadbury employees or their families. The lido was eventually closed in the 1970s after complaints of noise disturbance were made by residents of the newly built Oak Farm estate, coupled with new and stringent health and safety regulations relating to outdoor public swimming facilities. Cadbury's also built the Bournville indoor swimming baths on Bournville Lane, the Valley pool boating lake and the picturesque cricket pitch adjacent to the factory site, that was made famous as the picture on boxes of Milk Tray chocolates throughout the 1950s and early 1960s.
File:Bournville Rest House -2Oct2005.jpg|thumb|left|Bournville Rest House was built to celebrate the Silver Wedding Anniversary of George and Elizabeth Cadbury, and was paid for by the employees of Cadbury Brothers Ltd. The design is by William Alexander Harvey, who was architect of many of the buildings on the estate and is based on the 17th century Yarn Market in Dunster, Somerset. Currently, the building houses the Visitors Centre for the Carillon.
In 1900, the Bournville Village Trust was set up to formally control the development of the estate, independently of George Cadbury or the Cadbury company. Elizabeth Cadbury succeeded her husband as chair of the Bournville Village Trust in 1922. The trust focused on providing schools, hospitals, museums, public baths and reading rooms. As Bournville is a conservation area, another job of the Bournville Village Trust is to accept or reject plans for building extension and modification.
An almost campus feel evolved, with a triangular village green, infant and junior schools, the School of Art and the Day Continuation School and a host of events such as fêtes and Maypole dances. The carillon and a Quaker meeting house are also beside the village green.
The trust continues to exercise an international influence on housing and town planning generally. Now containing 7,800 homes on 1,000 acres of land with 100 acres of parks and open spaces, Bournville remains a popular residential area of Birmingham.
Cadbury is still one of Birmingham's main employers, and continues to make chocolate products.
The dark chocolate Bournville Plain is now manufactured in France and sold in the UK.
Cadbury also named their brand of malted drinks Bournvita after Bournville.
Cadbury World is now established here.
Governance
The ward is served by two councillors, Liz Clements and Fred Grindrod. It is within the boundary of the Birmingham Selly Oak parliamentary constituency. The current Member of Parliament is Alistair Carns.Bournville has adopted a Ward Support Officer with the current holder of the title being Karen Stevens.
Demography
The 2011 UK Census found that 21,866 people were living in Bournville with a population density of 4,217 people per km2 compared with 3,649 people per km2 for the city of Birmingham as a whole. Bournville had an area of 639.8 hectares, and within this, it has a population density of 39.8 people per hectare. 52.9% of the population was identified as female, above the city average of 51.6%. A number of students from The University of Birmingham live there, although not as many as in the nearby wards of Selly Oak and Edgbaston.Bournville has a White broad ethnic group representation of 70.9% of the population. The Asian broad ethnic group was the second largest at 15.4%. More specifically, the White British group is the largest ethnic group at 64.1%, well above the city average of 48.5% and below the national average of 85.4%. Ethnic minorities represent a much lower percentage of the ward's population as opposed to 59.6% for Birmingham. 28.7% of the ward's population was born outside the United Kingdom, below the city average of 16.5% and the national average of 9.3%. Christianity was the most prominent religion in the ward, with 70.6% of the population identifying themselves as Christians. 16.6% of the population identified as having no religion.
98.3% of the residents lived in households, equal to the city average and 0.1% higher than the national average. The other 1.7% lived in communal establishments. The total number of occupied households was 11,032, resulting in an average number of people per household of 2.3. This is below the city average of 2.5 and national average of 2.4. 62.5% of the occupied households were occupied by the owner and a further 15.4% were rented from a housing association. Terraced houses were the most common form of houses at 38.9%, followed by semi-detached houses at 32.9%.
The largest age group in the ward was the 25–44 age group which was represented by 30.1% of the population, above the city average of 28.3%. The second largest age group was the 45–54 years, which was represented by 17.9% of the population. 18.6% of the population was of state pension age, above the city average of 16.7% and the national average of 18.4%. 60.7% of the population was of working age, above the city average of 59.8% but below the national average of 61.5%. 68.4% of the population was economically active. The unemployment rate was 6.2%, of whom 36.7% were in long-term unemployment. The city unemployment rate is higher at 9.5%. Of those who worked, 18.2% worked in the Finance, Real Estate, & Business Activities sector. A further 16.7% worked in the Health sector. The largest employer in the area is Mondelez International, employing approximately 6,500 people. Serco Integrated Services is the second-largest employer in Bournville, employing approximately 1,800 people.
Although Bournville is most famous for its turn-of-the-20th century Cadbury style homes, a significant amount of more modern stock also exists in the area – not all of which was built by Cadbury's. The local authority built several homes around Bournville before and after the Second World War. Bryant Homes built a collection of upmarket and mostly detached houses in the west of Bournville during the 1970s.