Community Profile
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EAST CLEVELAND VILLAGES BIG LOCAL Loftus New Skelton Lingdale Carlin How Skinningrove Liverton Mines Margrove Charltons Boosbeck Dunsdale Easington Community Profile 1 What is the Big Local? Big Local is an exciting opportunity for our community to undergo positive change which will provide a lasting legacy. It is about bringing together all the local talent, ambitions, skills and energy from individuals, groups and organisations who want to make East Cleveland Villages an even better place to live. Through the Big Local Trust we have funding of £1m to spend on local need. WE decide what the local need is and we can be helped by a range of partners who provide expert advice and support as well as finances so that we can develop our local partnership. You can find out more about partners and training opportunities through the website http://www.localtrust.org.uk/ where you will also be able to look at what is happening in other areas and read local case studies. The four programme outcomes are directly about local people putting YOU firmly in the driving seat:- Communities identify local needs and take action People will have increased skills and confidence so that they can continue into the future The community will make a difference People will feel that their area is an even better place to live Remember the Big Local is NOT about the government or a national organisation telling you what to do. It’s NOT about individual groups fixing their favourite problem without talking to a wide range of different people who live and work in the community and it’s NOT about short-term thinking – you have got 10 years or more to plan and deliver the best options for your area. 2 Big Local is underpinned by the following:- Continuous involvement of residents Accountable local partnership Maximising long-term benefit Building ability and sharing learning Flexible and realistic Additional to public money Each area’s journey through the first few steps of the Big Local Pathway (appendix 1) will be different – including the plans you make, the resources you use and the time it takes. The pathway is a series of steps to guide you on your journey but it is YOUR choice how this evolves. What is different about Big Local? It is truly about YOU being in charge but supported by a BIG Local Representative and the Big Local Trust. The Local Trust is the organisation running and supporting the Big Local. Our £1m local funding comes from a £200m endowment from the Big Lottery Fund. OUR VISION Eleven rural communities in East Cleveland are working together through the BIG Local programme to improve opportunities and facilities within the area. We want our area to be able to meet the challenges it faces and this is a chance for a range of new and existing groups and individuals to grow and flourish. The partnership development group see this as an investment which will enable them to build on their local heritage and be a means to attracting, jobs, local business and loads more local activity for the benefit of the community. 3 ABOUT OUR AREA We know we live in a beautiful area of strong natural assets, sandwiched between the coastline, North York Moors National Park and the industries of Teeside but because of our isolation we are not a typical location for commercial uses. Also our beauty and our area being seen as a visitor destination, is often missed because perceptions are distorted by its location close to Industrial Teeside. People living here are rightly proud of their environment. However it is also an area of stark contrasts with some areas of severely deprived and made worse by rural isolation. Transport is an issue as there is low car ownership and a declining public transport provision. Indeed public transport is not seen as an option for most of our local people and in setting up the East Cleveland Big Local, this has certainly added to the challenge of reaching people to become involved. Public transport has an impact on our young people, as it is a major barrier to them being able to access/take up jobs. Other challenges are that we have an ageing population with less and less available services leading to more of our communities being isolated which in turn can contribute to making them poorer within other areas of community life. The population within the Big Local area is 16,331 and there are more 0-5 year olds and 65 years + than the English average but less 16 – 49 year olds. This could be because the working population leave the area to find work and those in the 18+ age group may move to University elsewhere. The area has a predominantly white population which is higher than the English Average. There is also a higher smoking population and more people with life-long limiting and general poor health. (see appendix 2 for more statistics). 4 We believe this area has been left out and/or overlooked for many years and more so since the decline of the Rural Development Programme in the early 90’s which has meant there have been few investment projects in this area. Other than the Big Local Funding we have more recently benefited as part of the North York Moors Coast and Hills LEADER area. Outcomes from LEADER identified the need for building up abilities, skills and vision in people so that they are more able to identify and access available funding. Local Services and Investment Our area is well served by primary schools in Carlin How, Hummersea, Handale, Lockwood and Lingdale but the local secondary school has closed and moved to Brotton which, leaves many of our young people with the need to travel over three miles to access secondary education. The nearest higher education facilities are in Guisborough, Redcar and Middlesbrough and we have a high number of school leavers who are not in education, employment or training (NEETS). There are 8 places of worship and 11 community meeting places. Although post offices are closing, there still remain 7 in the area, along with 1 leisure centre, 10 pubs and restaurants and only 1 bank. As previously indicated access to services is challenging and most people look to Loftus as the ‘service centre’ Neighbourhood Management In April 2010, the Borough introduced radical changes in service delivery. Front line council services including inspection (highways, play areas etc), clean & green, countryside, libraries and school crossing patrols have been reorganised 5 on an area and neighbourhood basis. The neighbourhood teams are based within the communities they serve. Lockwood and Loftus Wards are based within Loftus Library, Skelton and Brotton Wards are based within the Hillside Medical Practice. This has significantly improved accessibility and given a more consistent council face. The job of Neighbourhood Officers is to: Ensure the council and partner services meet local needs Take the lead on development of neighbourhood plans Champion neighbourhoods and draw in additional resources Facilitate community involvement Act as a link officer for ward members Key Issues and Challenges within the area. Many of the towns, villages and settlements within East Cleveland suffer from very similar challenges and hardships as those faced in some of Redcar and Cleveland’s towns such as low income and high unemployment, poor health and high teenage pregnancy which in combination with the problems of rural living;- accessing services, poor public transport and poor internet access, means that many residents face further significant problems in identifying/fulfilling their aspirations as well as meeting their needs. There is a historic local perception among East Clevelanders that urban parts of the borough, have been prioritised by past regeneration schemes and funding investment at the expense of the rural areas. This is reinforced further, by the latest Index of Multiple Deprivation indicating that whilst other disadvantaged areas of the borough have improved in terms of their performance, in the wards of Lockwood and Loftus, deprivation levels have actually increased and the ‘gap widened’. 6 8.2% of the residents of Lockwood ward are in receipt of unemployment benefit, which is 5% higher than the national average and 2% higher than the Tees Valley average. The percentage of the working age population in employment within the East Cleveland wards follows the same pattern as the unemployment benefit with Lockwood and Loftus wards having only 59.9% and 61.7% of the working age population in employment. This is significantly below the local and national levels. 2009-2010: Loftus had the 2nd and 3rd highest amounts of ASB and criminal damage in the borough, whilst also seeing the largest increase in shoplifting and the 2nd highest increase for ASB. Brotton ward has the joint highest amount of needle stick finds in the borough. Skelton has the 2nd highest figure of dog fouling and litter Brotton and Loftus wards have high pregnancy rates in females aged 15 to 17. E.g. Brotton ward has 70 pregnancies per 1000 in this age group. 67% of the participants from East Cleveland say they are satisfied with the local area as a place to live which is lower than the 72% in the borough as a whole 63% agree that people from different backgrounds get on well together, compared to 70% in the borough. 58% of participants from East Cleveland feel very strongly that they belong to their immediate neighbourhood. 81% of respondents did not feel that they could influence decisions affecting their area. The following priorities for Neighbourhood policing have been identified in the East Cleveland wards: Brotton: To reduce drug activity.