great missenden

• Background information

  Affluent village in the Misbourne Valley in the Chilterns Hills in Buckinghamshire, situated between the towns of Amersham and Wendover

  - direct rail connections to London Marylebone
• Locale

  Known as hometown of Roald Dahl - museum, tourist attraction

  Train station built in 1892 - commuter village + residential area - acted as a coaching stop between London and Midlands

  Before 1892 it was a farming town and was self-sustaining

  Main job type is professional - 2011 census

  Daily telegraph states its one of Britains' richest villages and ranked 4th Best place to raise a family in

  - low crime, peaceful, rural typical English Village
• External agencies

  HS2 destruction of towns natural beauty

  GM village association is an NGO- protects and makes voices heard and address key things to improve local areas
• endogenous factors

  physical geography: located in Chiltern hills, in misbourne valley

  - ancient woodland: provided rich habitats for flora and fauna

  - built environment: victorian era buildings on high street, from the building of hotels as it was a commuter village

  - style of brick and flint construction: seen as special and distinctive character of chiltern area
• Demographics - 2011 census

  96.% white - higher than UK average of 79%

  Population of 10,138

  Ageing population

  10% of least deprived areas - evident through high percentage of people employed in high paying sectors

  Average house price - £700k

  Christianity - 27 churches, no other religions

  Most people work in London - transport links

  2% of population claim unemployment benefits (April 2022) - lower than bucks average of 2.8%
• Hometown vs Clone town

  More independent stores than chain stores - Matilda cafe - shows residents boycott chain stores and promote independently owned shops

  Lack of ethnic culture - on Sri Lankan takeaway
• Lived experiences

  Matilda barista - people are nice, people prefer independently owned over costa due to personal care

  Old female in co-op - lived in GM for 20 years, captivated by nature and countryside
• Representation of GM

  Fantastic Mr Fox - highlights natural beauty and landscape

  Richmond Sausage - portrays GM as quiet and peaceful

  Media place through HS2 - shows sense of community

  - positive portrayal in media

  - highlights community spirit
• exogenous factors

  train station: connects to central London

  Train station built in 1892 - commuter village + residential area - acted as a coaching stop between London and Midlands

  Before 1892 it was a farming town and was self-sustaining

  tourism and recreation: people are down to natural environment of chalk hill

  - roald dahl museum --> generates lots of income and had 90,000 visitors in 2016/2017 - Matilda cafe

  HS2
• HS2

  Set to go through a chunk of Missenden (less than a mile away from the village centre) to provide faster journey times to Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds in order to reduce the two speed economy

  GM parish council expressed their opposition to the scheme, emphasising that it will have a detrimental impact on environment

  Falling house prices and declines in business

  Noise pollution - unable to enjoy lesiure activities

  Loss of tourism as town will not be a commuter town - detrimental effect on economy