Stanhope, Kent

Stanhope is a civil parish and suburb of Ashford in the Borough of Ashford in Kent, England. It was built in the 1960s on the southern edge of the town.

Demography
At the 2001 UK census, the Stanhope electoral ward had a population of 3,276. The ethnicity was 94.2% white, 1.4% mixed race, 1.6% Asian, 1% black and 1.8% other. The place of birth of residents was 93.5% United Kingdom, 0.7% Republic of Ireland, 0.9% other Western European countries, and 4.9% elsewhere. Religion was recorded as 65.9% Christian, 0% Buddhist, 0% Hindu, 0% Sikh, 0% Jewish, and 3.1% Muslim. 21.2% were recorded as having no religion, 0.3% had an alternative religion and 9.5% did not state their religion.

The economic activity of residents aged 16–74 was 38.3% in full-time employment, 12% in part-time employment, 4.3% self-employed, 6.8% unemployed, 2.6% students with jobs, 4% students without jobs, 6.9% retired, 13.1% looking after home or family, 8.1% permanently sick or disabled and 3.9% economically inactive for other reasons. The industry of employment of residents was 21.2% retail, 18% manufacturing, 9.6% construction, 8.4% real estate, 11.6% health and social work, 5.6% education, 7.9% transport and communications, 2.6% public administration, 4.9% hotels and restaurants, 2.3% finance, 2.1% agriculture and 5.8% other. Compared with national figures, the ward had a relatively high proportion of workers in agriculture, retail, manufacturing and construction. There were a relatively low proportion in finance, real estate, education and public administration. Of the ward's residents aged 16–74, 7% had a higher education qualification or the equivalent, compared with 19.9% nationwide.

History
The parish was formed in 1987 from the parish of Kingsnorth and part of the unparished area of Ashford.