Graph Eight: Number of Cars and Vans per household.
Historical information
Coventry is a medieval city. Earliest records of the city were in approximately 700 AD when a small settlement on the edge of the Forest of Arden known as Cofa’s tree was noted. From there Coventry continued to expand and develop. Coventry is an industrial city well known for its car industry. The birth of the car industry was important for Coventry where the cycle industry had left a highly skilled workforce. Today, LTI (The London Taxi Institute), Peugeot and Jaguar are all still based in the city, and a quarter of the working population are still manufacturing based. (Brooks 2000). Between 1901 and 1961 Coventry was Britain’s fastest growing city as people flooded there to work in the motor industry. Since the fall in car manufacturing in the city the population has shown a sharp slow down in growth. The change that took place in Coventry is what would be expected as a city moves from a manufacturing base, to a more tertiary based economy.
The origins of lady Godiva can be traced back to Coventry. The story of lady Godiva is known worldwide and one of the ways she is represented within Coventry is a statue in her honour. The story is a mix of history and myth. The story is that Lady Godiva’s husband, Leofric earl of Mercia, promised to abolish taxes if Godiva would ride naked through the streets of Coventry. This ride was supposedly watched by ‘Peeping Tom’ who was instantly blinded.
“The legend was record by Roger of Wendover at the beginning of the thirteenth century, though there was no mention of peeping tom in this account. Tom seems to date from the first painting of the ride.” (Brooks, 2000, pg 5)
The cathedral quarter is also well known. Coventry’s cathedral was bombed in the second world war and the outer shell still stands as well as a new cathedral which draws on forgiveness and reconciliation. Coventry has three spires in the city centre, St Michaels, Holy Trinity, and Christ church. Today Coventry has drawn on this for a recent image change that claims, “Coventry Inspires”.
Education
Coventry’s education has been praised for its continually improving standards. “In 2001, schools continued to do very well - at GCSE/GNVQ our rate of improvement was twice the rate of the national.” (Coventry Evening Telegraph, 22nd November 2001, pg 12).
This will hopefully continue to be the case as pre-GCSE students are shown in recent statistics to be doing better. “Compared to the 10 statistical neighbours Coventry is first in English, second in science, third in maths and second overall” (Wilson, L., 20th August 2003, pg17). Despite this, the city is below national average, but is constantly improving.
A total of 51,244 pupils attend the 117 local authority schools across the city - 87 primary schools, 19 secondary schools and 12 special schools.
Nearly 70,000 people in Coventry left school with no qualifications at all while 36,000 went on to study at a higher level. This is due to the rise in adult education courses being promoted in the city over the past decade. (Clarke, S., 14th February 2003, pg 3)
Climate
Coventry’s climate is typical of a city in the midlands. On average, Coventry’s coldest month is January and the warmest month is July. The following statistics are from Bablake weather station, close to the centre of Coventry. This statistics have been produced from over thirty years of data and summarised, especially for the Coventry region.
Warmest day of the year 28th July
Warmest nights of the year 27th, 28th, 30th July
Coldest day of the year 16th February
Coldest night of the year 13th January
Wettest days of the year 29th July and 6th December
Driest day of the year 28th February
Sunniest day of the year 24th July
Dullest day of the year 1st December
Windiest day of the year 23rd March
Calmest day of the year 25th September
(http://bws.users.netlink.co.uk/ accessed 20th August 2003)
Cost Of Living
All housing costs in Coventry are below the national average for housing costs. This is probably due to averages being high due to London prices being included.
(http://www.upmystreet.com/overview/?l1=coventry accessed 10th August 2003)
Social Services
Coventry Social services have had an expansive amount of bad press lately, with it reaching the national news papers in August. Despite this, Councillors and Cabinet members claim the service is constantly improving. Cllr Kevin Maton claims that, “All the hard work of so many people across social services is beginning to result in real, positive change in the quality of a whole range of services being offered to the people of Coventry.” (Social Services Department, 2001, pg 1). In the Social Services annual review for the year 2001, 52% of services offered are average, and 21% are worse than average. Also, 23% of Coventry feel the services offered are very poor or worse.
Bablake Weather Station, [Internet], http://bws.users.netlink.co.uk/, accessed
20th August 2003
Brooks, 2000, A Jarrold Guide to the Historic City of Coventry, Jarrold, Norwich.
Coventry Census results, 2001, Coventry and Warwickshire Economic Review, Issue 18, pg 3.
Clarke, S., 2003, ‘City reveals its many faces in head count’, Coventry Evening Telegraph, 14th February, pg 3.
Mandier, M., 2001, ‘Education leagues show Coventry as improving’, Coventry Evening Telegraph, 22nd November 2001, pg 12.
Up My Street, [Internet], http://www.upmystreet.com/overview/?l1=coventry, accessed 10th August 2003.
Social Services Department, 2001, Annual Review, Coventry City Council.
Wilson, L., 2003, ‘Pre-GCSE students doing a bit better’, Coventry Evening
Telegraph, 20th August 2003.
