Les Planchettes
Encyclopedia
Les Planchettes is a municipality
in the district of La Chaux-de-Fonds
in the canton
of Neuchâtel in Switzerland
.
Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 1.5% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.1%. Out of the forested land, 52.3% of the total land area is heavily forested and 4.4% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 0.3% is used for growing crops and 22.6% is pastures and 14.6% is used for alpine pastures. Of the water in the municipality, 1.8% is in lakes and 0.8% is in rivers and streams.
The municipality is located in the La Chaux-de-Fonds district, north of La Chaux-de-Fonds. The municipality stretches from the Doubs river to the northern slope of the Pouillerel.
of the municipal coat of arms
is Chevron rised Argent, and Argent an inscription 1812 Sable. 1812 refers to the foundation of the municipality.
Most of the population speaks French
(205 or 91.1%) as their first language, German
is the second most common (16 or 7.1%) and Dutch
is the third (2 or 0.9%). There is 1 person who speaks Italian
.
, the population was 48.9% male and 51.1% female. The population was made up of 100 Swiss men (45.2% of the population) and 8 (3.6%) non-Swiss men. There were 109 Swiss women (49.3%) and 4 (1.8%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 71 or about 31.6% were born in Les Planchettes and lived there in 2000. There were 89 or 39.6% who were born in the same canton, while 43 or 19.1% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 14 or 6.2% were born outside of Switzerland.
, children and teenagers (0-19 years old) make up 34.7% of the population, while adults (20-64 years old) make up 56% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 9.3%.
, there were 105 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 105 married individuals, 9 widows or widowers and 6 individuals who are divorced.
, there were 72 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.8 persons per household. There were 16 households that consist of only one person and 11 households with five or more people. , a total of 72 apartments (63.2% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 37 apartments (32.5%) were seasonally occupied and 5 apartments (4.4%) were empty.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
the most popular party was the SVP
which received 31.06% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP
(20.96%), the Green Party
(12.63%) and the PdA Party (12.12%). In the federal election, a total of 83 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
was 50.9%.
the total number of full-time equivalent
jobs was 39. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 20, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 10, all of which were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 9. In the tertiary sector; 6 or 66.7% were in a hotel or restaurant.
, there were 10 workers who commuted into the municipality and 62 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 6.2 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 6.5% used public transportation to get to work, and 51.9% used a private car.
. Of the rest of the population, there were 6 individuals (or about 2.67% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There was 1 individual who was Islam
ic. 44 (or about 19.56% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
or atheist
, and 15 individuals (or about 6.67% of the population) did not answer the question.
). Of the 16 who completed tertiary schooling, 68.8% were Swiss men, 18.8% were Swiss women.
In the canton of Neuchâtel most municipalities provide two years of non-mandatory kindergarten
, followed by five years of mandatory primary education. The next four years of mandatory secondary education is provided at thirteen larger secondary schools, which many students travel out of their home municipality to attend. The primary school in Les Planchettes is combined with La Chaux-de-Fonds
. During the 2010-11 school year, there were 0.5 kindergarten classes with a total of 7 students in Les Planchettes. In the same year, there were 113 primary classes with a total of 2,042 students.
, there were 26 students from Les Planchettes who attended schools outside the municipality.
Municipalities of Switzerland
Communes , also known as municipalities, are the smallest government division in Switzerland, numbering 2,596 . While many have a population of a few hundred citizens, the largest cities such as Zürich or Geneva also have the legal status of municipalities...
in the district of La Chaux-de-Fonds
La Chaux-de-Fonds (district)
La Chaux-de-Fonds District is one of the six districts of the largely French-speaking canton of Neuchâtel, Switzerland, lying in the Montagnes Neuchâteloises Region. The district capital is the town of La Chaux-de-Fonds...
in the canton
Cantons of Switzerland
The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton was a fully sovereign state with its own borders, army and currency from the Treaty of Westphalia until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848...
of Neuchâtel in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
.
Geography
Les Planchettes has an area, , of 11.7 square kilometre. Of this area, 4.39 square kilometre or 37.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while 6.66 square kilometre or 56.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.35 square kilometre or 3.0% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.3 square kilometre or 2.6% is either rivers or lakes and 0.02 km² (4.9 acre) or 0.2% is unproductive land.Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 1.5% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.1%. Out of the forested land, 52.3% of the total land area is heavily forested and 4.4% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 0.3% is used for growing crops and 22.6% is pastures and 14.6% is used for alpine pastures. Of the water in the municipality, 1.8% is in lakes and 0.8% is in rivers and streams.
The municipality is located in the La Chaux-de-Fonds district, north of La Chaux-de-Fonds. The municipality stretches from the Doubs river to the northern slope of the Pouillerel.
Coat of arms
The blazonBlazon
In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image...
of the municipal coat of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
is Chevron rised Argent, and Argent an inscription 1812 Sable. 1812 refers to the foundation of the municipality.
Demographics
Les Planchettes has a population of . , 6.4% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000–2010) the population has changed at a rate of 0.4%. It has changed at a rate of -8.7% due to migration and at a rate of 9.1% due to births and deaths.Most of the population speaks French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
(205 or 91.1%) as their first language, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
is the second most common (16 or 7.1%) and Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
is the third (2 or 0.9%). There is 1 person who speaks Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
.
, the population was 48.9% male and 51.1% female. The population was made up of 100 Swiss men (45.2% of the population) and 8 (3.6%) non-Swiss men. There were 109 Swiss women (49.3%) and 4 (1.8%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 71 or about 31.6% were born in Les Planchettes and lived there in 2000. There were 89 or 39.6% who were born in the same canton, while 43 or 19.1% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 14 or 6.2% were born outside of Switzerland.
, children and teenagers (0-19 years old) make up 34.7% of the population, while adults (20-64 years old) make up 56% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 9.3%.
, there were 105 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 105 married individuals, 9 widows or widowers and 6 individuals who are divorced.
, there were 72 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.8 persons per household. There were 16 households that consist of only one person and 11 households with five or more people. , a total of 72 apartments (63.2% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 37 apartments (32.5%) were seasonally occupied and 5 apartments (4.4%) were empty.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
Politics
In the 2007 federal electionSwiss federal election, 2007
Elections to the Swiss Federal Assembly, the federal parliament of Switzerland, were held on Sunday, 21 October 2007. In a few cantons, a second round of the elections to the Council of States was held on 11 November, 18 November, and 25 November 2007...
the most popular party was the SVP
Swiss People's Party
The Swiss People's Party , also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre , is a conservative political party in Switzerland. Chaired by Toni Brunner, but spearheaded by Christoph Blocher, the party is the largest party in the Federal Assembly, with 58 members of the National Council and 6 of...
which received 31.06% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....
(20.96%), the Green Party
Green Party of Switzerland
The Green Party of Switzerland is the fifth-largest party in the National Council of Switzerland, and the largest party that is not represented on the Federal Council.-History:...
(12.63%) and the PdA Party (12.12%). In the federal election, a total of 83 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
Voter turnout
Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election . After increasing for many decades, there has been a trend of decreasing voter turnout in most established democracies since the 1960s...
was 50.9%.
Economy
, Les Planchettes had an unemployment rate of 6.5%. , there were 27 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 14 businesses involved in this sector. 10 people were employed in the secondary sector and there was 1 business in this sector. 12 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 3 businesses in this sector. There were 108 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 38.0% of the workforce.the total number of full-time equivalent
Full-time equivalent
Full-time equivalent , is a unit to measure employed persons or students in a way that makes them comparable although they may work or study a different number of hours per week. FTE is often used to measure a worker's involvement in a project, or to track cost reductions in an organization...
jobs was 39. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 20, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 10, all of which were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 9. In the tertiary sector; 6 or 66.7% were in a hotel or restaurant.
, there were 10 workers who commuted into the municipality and 62 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 6.2 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 6.5% used public transportation to get to work, and 51.9% used a private car.
Religion
From the , 48 or 21.3% were Roman Catholic, while 114 or 50.7% belonged to the Swiss Reformed ChurchSwiss Reformed Church
The Reformed branch of Protestantism in Switzerland was started in Zürich by Huldrych Zwingli and spread within a few years to Basel , Bern , St...
. Of the rest of the population, there were 6 individuals (or about 2.67% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There was 1 individual who was Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
ic. 44 (or about 19.56% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
Agnosticism
Agnosticism is the view that the truth value of certain claims—especially claims about the existence or non-existence of any deity, but also other religious and metaphysical claims—is unknown or unknowable....
or atheist
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
, and 15 individuals (or about 6.67% of the population) did not answer the question.
Education
In Les Planchettes about 75 or (33.3%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 16 or (7.1%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a FachhochschuleFachhochschule
A Fachhochschule or University of Applied Sciences is a German type of tertiary education institution, sometimes specialized in certain topical areas . Fachhochschulen were founded in Germany and later adopted by Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Greece...
). Of the 16 who completed tertiary schooling, 68.8% were Swiss men, 18.8% were Swiss women.
In the canton of Neuchâtel most municipalities provide two years of non-mandatory kindergarten
Kindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...
, followed by five years of mandatory primary education. The next four years of mandatory secondary education is provided at thirteen larger secondary schools, which many students travel out of their home municipality to attend. The primary school in Les Planchettes is combined with La Chaux-de-Fonds
La Chaux-de-Fonds
La Chaux-de-Fonds is a Swiss city of the district of La Chaux-de-Fonds in the canton of Neuchâtel. It is located in the Jura mountains at an altitude of 1000 m, a few kilometres from the French border. After Geneva and Lausanne, it is the third largest city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of...
. During the 2010-11 school year, there were 0.5 kindergarten classes with a total of 7 students in Les Planchettes. In the same year, there were 113 primary classes with a total of 2,042 students.
, there were 26 students from Les Planchettes who attended schools outside the municipality.