"Sustainable Community"

My Super Output Area at home is Sandwell 016A (Lower Layer). =http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadAreaSearch.do?a=3&r=1&i=1001&m=0&s=1269894440453&enc=1&areaSearchText=NN2+7AL&extendedList=false&searchAreas= I do not believe my Super Output Area is a “sustainable community”. Is this backed up by data though?

Economic Activity shows 34.29% of people are economically inactive (aged 16-74) in Sandwell. This seems quite high considering this does not include retired people, students, homemakers and sick or disabled people. In my estate and the newer estates around me you get the impression that these homes are affordable by working/middle class families with nice cars, conservatories and patios. I was surprised at the unemployment rate in my Super Output Area, especially because of how small Output Areas are.

From my assumption above I looked at Household Compositions. The most people living in a household in Sandwell was one family with dependent children, this was 24.71%. This social structure does not surprise me at all, especially with there being a primary school in the estate I live and a high school which is a 10 minute walk away. From what I mentioned earlier there has been newer estates built in my Super Output Areas which seem to be attracting young families.

Environmentally I looked at statistics for Physical Environment. Here it says that there is 0 unused land, in my Super Output Area, available for redevelopment. It just goes to show how huge the housing development has been. All unused land from factories/industrial estates has been used up and I have seen this as I have grown up. This is a sustainable use of development working on brownfield sites. The downside to this is all the traffic moving into the new housing estates and them commuting in the area to and from work. During the two rush hours of the day the road outside my estate is guaranteed to be at a standstill.

Socially I believe I had a safe environment growing up with nice neighbours around me. There are always children playing around the estate now. Economically there is some deprivation with unemployment rates. Environmentally I believe air pollution is high because of so many vehicles travelling through the area. I did think my community was not so "sustainable" but it is also not that bad.