Tidworth Community Area (TCA) includes the parishes of Chute, Chute Forest, Collingbourne Ducis, Collingbourne Kingston, Everleigh, Tidcombe and Fosbury and the town's of Ludgershall and Tidworth (including Perham Down).  The Area is the fifth smallest in Wiltshire by population (over 16,000 in 2004) and the eighth smallest by area (12,267 hectares).  More than 85% of the population live in the two main settlements of Tidworth and Ludgershall.

Spread throughout the Area there is evidence of early and prehistoric activity; an early Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Collingbourne Ducis and a Pagan-Saxon cemetery east of Sunton village; a long barrow east of Brunton village, and several barrows on the western downs; the prehistoric Grim's Ditch in the Chutes and several other prehistoric ditches on Snail Down south of Everleigh which are part of a system converging on an Iron-Age fort on Sidbury Hill of North Tidworth and another Iron-Age hill fort close to Fosbury.

In his book “A Sense of Belonging”, published in 1998, John Chandler describes the Area as follows :

“Tidworth community area lies entirely on chalk, and its western edge from Tidworth to Everleigh is typical Salisbury Plain scenery, dominated by the forbidding profile of Sidbury Hill.  East of the Collingbournes, and around Chute and Ludgershall, the chalk is mantled by flinty clay, and in consequence is heavily wooded.

Ludgershall, historically speaking, is the most important settlement in the area, a miniature castle town and pocket borough, which became, at the end of the 19th century, the railhead for the army’s advance on Salisbury Plain.  One consequence of this advance was the creation, around and between two of the smaller villages, of the garrison town of Tidworth.  Tidworth’s population, depending on the vagaries of army postings, hovers around 9,000 , more than twice that of Ludgershall, and considerably larger than Marlborough, but much of Tidworth has the feel of some home-counties suburb which has been towed away and moored on Salisbury Plain.  Quite different are the Collingbournes, typical chalkland valley villages, or the woodland settlements of Chute and Chute Forest, or again the windswept downland villages of Tidcombe and Everleigh.  

Because service personnel dominate Tidworth itself the area has an unusually youthful population profile, with many more births than deaths.  Unemployment is very high, and incomes below average, for which the lowest proportion of qualified working males anywhere in Wiltshire, may be partly to blame.  Car ownership is correspondingly low.  

Much of the community’s boundary is the county border with Hampshire, which has remained largely untouched for a millennium.  However, South Tidworth and Faberstown (effectively part of Ludgershall) were transferred from Hampshire to Wiltshire in 1992.

The area’s present boundaries with neighbouring Wiltshire communities have little historical precedent and are based more on geographical and social reality, the natural barriers of Savernake Forest and the Avon-Bourne watershed, and the mushrooming of military Tidworth.”
 
He also compares fifteen social and demographic attributes of Wiltshire’s community areas including such things as income, qualifications, cars per household, unemployment, commuting patterns, new dwellings built, births and deaths. He ranks the community areas against all these attributes.  Tidworth Community Area has the lowest average ranking.

The Index of Multiple Deprivation 2004, shows that the Area’s highest level of deprivation is in respect of education, skills and learning and its lowest level of deprivation is in respect of crime.

The population of Tidworth is now 10,000+, but the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has selected Tidworth as one of its new “super garrisons” and as a result the garrison will grow over the next five years or so by some 2,300 military personnel, which, together with their dependants, will result in an increase in the population of Tidworth by some further 3,500 people.  This development will be carried out through a Private Finance Initiative with Aspire Defence Limited, spanning 35 years.

The first ten years will be the major construction phase, for which Aspire will be recruiting 1,500 transient employees (construction workers).  During this period Aspire will also be recruiting 2,000 full-time employees for the servicing of the thirty-five year contract.  Although the contract is for work within the Garrison, Aspire is committed to support the whole community and want to play a role in local partnerships and events and also intend to use local businesses.

The full Tidworth Community Area Profile is available to view as a PDF document.

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