Central Ward Together Plan

CENTRAL WARD TOGETHER HYNDBURN COMMUNITY FIRST

COMMUNITY FIRST

Community First is a Government funded initiative that is administered by Community Development Foundation. The programme is to help deprived Wards in England to enable communities to come together to identify their strengths and local priorities in order to plan for their future and become more resilient.

Community First Panel: In Hyndburn Central Ward has developed a panel that is made up of local residents to represent their communities. The panel has been consulting and working with local residents to assist create plan for the local area. Members of the panel and in particular Councillor Allah Dad has been involved in raising awareness of the initiative, he is working with the panel members to discuss how they will work together for the improvement of Central Ward.

Ideas are invited from residents that will improve the Ward, therefore, panel is encouraging residents to give their views how they wish to see the improvement of their Ward.

Hyndburn is the Borough in East Lancashire that covers 73 square kilometers and in 2011 it had a population of 80,700. In terms of land area, Hyndburn is the smallest of the 14 authorities in the broader Lancashire area. In common with some of the other districts in East Lancashire, there are significant issues with regard to net migration population, health, housing, unemployment and areas of severe deprivation. In 1998 Hyndburn was ranked as the 76th most deprived English district. Within Hyndburn, the Central ward is in the worst 7% of English wards nationally.

Central ward – What Matters?

Central ward is one of the 16 wards of Hyndburn; it is in the main township of Accrington with a population of 5013. Central Ward in Hyndburn is one of the deprived wards that has been recognised under the Community First programme.

Some key facts about Central ward:

 41% of the Central ward’s residents have no qualifications, compared with 27.9% in Hyndburn and 22% in England. 10.2% of the residents in Central ward have achieved a level 4 qualification and above compared with 18.9% in Hyndburn and 27.4% in England.

 64% of the Central ward’s population is Asian / Asian British, in comparison with 11.2% across Hyndburn.

 61% of residents of Central ward consider they are in good health compared with 64% in Hyndburn and 69% in England. 23% of the residents of Central ward have a long term limiting illness, in comparison to 22% in Hyndburn and 18% in England.

 Although statistics relating to life expectancy are not available at the ward level, it is known that life expectancy at birth in Central ward is significantly lower (around 74 years) than the England average (78 for males and 82 for females).

 Central ward has the second highest recorded crime in Hyndburn. It is 93.7per 1,000 of the population, in comparison with 64 across the district and county.

 55.7% of households in Central ward are owner occupiers, compared with the Hyndburn average of 65.4%. The ward has 44.3% of the households who rent their accommodation from social and private sector.

 74.4% of Central ward’s housing stock is terraced housing in comparison to 54.3% in Hyndburn and 25.8% in England. 9.3% of housing stock in Central ward is semi-detached, in contrast to 26.4% in Hyndburn and 31.6% in England.

 Over 51% of working age people (16-74) in Central ward are classed as economically active, this is significantly lower than Hyndburn figure of 67%. 12.8% of people in Central are unemployed compared with 6.9% across Hyndburn. Department of Work and Pension benefit claims in Central was 31.3% (November 2012), in comparison to 18.8% in Hyndburn and 14.3% nationally.

 The key sectors of employment for Central ward’s residents include: Process plant and machine operatives (25.7%), elementary occupations (17.7%) and skilled trades occupations (11.9%).

CENTRAL WARD TOGETHER

In Hyndburn the Central ward has been selected for the Community First Programme and a Community First Panel has been set up under the name of “CENTRAL WARD TOGETHER” headed by Mr Allah Dad. Mr Allah Dad is a local Councillor and an active and respected community member who has a history and a track record of community development.

The Central Ward Panel members have selected a local charity, Aawaz Women’s Group as their partner organisation. Aawaz is a voluntary sector organisation that was formed in 1997 and is a well established within the Central Ward assisting women and families in community regeneration work. .

The Central Ward Panel members are raising awareness about the Community First programme and working with Aawaz have created the Development Plan. The Plan has come together through consultation with residents who have informed the members how together they can bring about positive changes in their neighbourhood.

Central Ward Together

The aims of Central Ward Together are to bring about benefits for the residents through small projects that will help to:

 Improve the quality of life for local people living in this ward.  Promote a sense of ownership not only of problems but of local solutions and opportunities  Encourage more new neighbourhood groups and help with infrastructure development of existing community groups  Play a leading role in regenerating their area.

The local community has a regular opportunity to raise issues that concern them with panel members who have been meeting with local residents and calling on them door to door to gather their views and their ideas for improvements. Also, the partner agency AAWAZ has held two consultation events attended by 89 people, volunteers from AAWAZ have carried out a door step survey of 100 households during the period January 2012 to January 2013 to collect resident’s views.

Together the panel and residents agreed these initial priorities for the Central Ward:

1) Create a cohesive community in the Central Ward. 2) Work to improve the environment and enhance the outlook of Central Ward 3) Work towards a more inclusive Central ward taking into account the needs of young, old and members of diverse communities who live in Central Ward 4) Work to capacity build and assist with empowerment to develop sense of belonging amongst the residents

During this period the Panel received 12 project proposals and put forward for approval 9 of these projects.

What has been achieved so far?

 Over 55s group – Day outings for older people  Litter pickups around Portland street and Steiner street organised by YAP members  Women’s Together group- Three trips for residents  Kehkashan community group - Luncheon Club for older residents has started and is assisting many older people in the ward.  Aawaz volunteers carried out a survey of 100 households about the needs of the residents and the issues in this area.  Interfaith activities – A programme of workshops to bring about understanding between communities.  A Community Together event is being planned for 13 August 2013.

The ongoing consultation has further strengthened Panel’s priorities for Central Ward Together.

The panel is aware of difficulties through consultations that residents are experiencing

1) Frederick Street seating area – clean up and use more planting and greenery to make it a pleasant open space for all residents who can enjoy the outdoor area safely with their children. Also to explore the possibility of installing a gate so parents can use that area safely with their young children. 2) Need for play area serving the Frederick Street/Steiner Street/ Portland Street and lower Blackburn road side of Central Ward. 3) Young people congregating on a number of street corners - causing anxiety and undue stress to some older and vulnerable residents. 4) Need to set up an advice, information, interpretation and translation service to offer support to some of the most vulnerable residents. 5) Residents have raised an environmental issues concerning in particular rising numbers of vermin, this is causing distress. Many households have been assisted to report this to the local council and advised about any remedial action they could take. 6) Older residents require support, befriending and practical help, for many preparing meals and eating healthy is a problem and ready-made meals are not appropriate. An idea of a Community Kitchen has been put forward and a proposal is being developed. 7) A number of residents are interested in volunteering and coming forward to be more active in caring for their own neighbourhoods, they need an induction programme to make them aware and better informed of the protocols.

Residents have raised a number of issues regarding council tax, and changes in the social welfare benefits system. These are actually the responsibility of one or more public body and the Panel are raising these with the appropriate agencies.

Taking into account the residents’ views the Panel has also decided to focus its efforts over the next year on more thematic day to day issues such as poor diet, health and wellbeing issues, play area for children, and advice information surgeries particularly for elderly people in the Ward. A local councillor and GP have approached the panel to highlight the need for a programme of awareness for residents in to help them make appropriate and timely use of the wider health services.

Central Ward Together Panel meets quarterly at Access Point on Blackburn Road.

The panel is inviting ideas to improve the Ward: every resident of Central Ward can give their views how they wish to see things are done to improve their Ward.

Our partner organisation Aawaz has agreed to offer the support that many people require in developing project ideas. Aawaz will also provide access to IT facilities, many of the residents have already come forward with ideas but they are not IT literate. Panel has therefore asked that Aawaz offer additional IT coaching to assist people in order to ensure that the project proposals are progressed appropriately for the benefit of Central Ward residents and that is required by Community Development Foundation. Contact details:

People can contact Panel members or attend the next meeting to discuss your ideas. You can email us on [email protected] Tel 07980573834 to speak to Councillor Allah Dad

You can also contact panel partner organisation Aawaz at Access Point, 225 Blackburn Road, Accrington Lancashire BB5 0AL. Tel 01254 398176 Email address - [email protected]

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