Questions are invited from Elected Members about items on the Cabinet agenda. 15 minutes will be set aside for Member Question Time, if required.
Notice of any Member question must be given to the Monitoring Officer by midday Friday, 27 May 2022.
Minutes:
The following question was submitted in advance of the meeting by Councillor Carol Birchmore:
Radcliffe, is a former industrial town and many older residents have seen a significant change in their working life circumstances, having lost a highly skilled industrial jobs after the industries have left. Often, work was not simply somewhere you went nine to five but it also provided a social life through the working men’s social clubs and company outings e.g. at East Lancs Paper Mill.
Although it is hard to precisely measure social isolation and loneliness evidence shows that many adults aged 50 and over are either socially isolated or lonely which leads to their health being put at risk. Recent studies have found that social isolation:
· Significantly increased a person’s risk of premature death
· Was associated with a 50% increased risk of dementia
· Was associated with a 29% increased risk of heart disease and 32% increased risk of stroke
· Lead to higher rates of depression, anxiety and suicide
What policies is the Council planning to put in place as part of their Radcliffe Regeneration plans to ensure residents over 50 are listened to and the impact of the changes in a post industrial town like Radcliffe are taken into consideration when looking at regeneration plans?
Responding, Councillor Eamonn O’Brien reported that the question reflected what the Radcliffe People and Communities Plan was designed to do, to move beyond the ‘one size fits all’ approach and instead take us closer to understanding the issues and therefore finding the right solution. This was therefore the right starting point, having a plan to address neighbourhood-specific issues on a local level.
Some of the work has already started to roll out and address issues, in particular social isolation and loneliness, harnessing the spirit and strengths of local people across all protected characteristics, including age – and recognising the intersectionality with other characteristics - such as disability, faith, socio-economic status - and communities of interest such as Veterans. As such a blended approach based on input from the public, community groups and public service leaders had been taken including through community hubs, the VCFA and through Radcliffe Health Improvement Fund and Neighbourhood Pitch activity in which local residents voted for the projects which they wanted to see funded. Successful groups included Ainsworth Social Club; Radcliffe Litter Pickers and their Safe Haven Garden; Woodies Men in Sheds; Forever Friends chair based-exercises and monthly music activity; and Women’s Walking football.
We’ve also started to broaden the approach, looking at what the community can offer in a place like Radcliffe; the culture initiative Spirit of a Place Radcliffe has engaged local residents on the history and heritage of Radcliffe, including workshops at Radcliffe Library for people to add their specific connections to place, both to celebrate Radcliffe’s rich heritage but creatively to inform and celebrate the future.
Another aspect is the health and social care integration, and how we translate that from a complex Greater Manchester level to having an impact locally, pulling together social services around people to ensure a less siloed delivery. On top of that is using the hubs and VCFA to the fullest extent.
We are already starting to see how by working on a neighbourhood level can reach out to people that we really need to target. The plan outlines the means by which local people have shaped, and will continued to play an active role, in ensuring the opportunities for local people resulting from regeneration in Radcliffe are maximised. Looking at what we can all do to pull together and address some of these issues.
I have confidence we can achieve this, already examples of us doing it, and through this Plan, through health and social care integration, and through the neighbourhood approach. Councillor Tariq added that this year would be about the local system delivering on the ground, with health and social care at the heart, ensuring communities got their fair share of access to support and in a way that was meaningful and works for them.
A further supplementary question was submitted:
It’s relatively easy to identify areas that are not so affluent and areas where there are social problems, what’s more difficult is to identify people across the spectrum that may not be engaging with the system and feel disconnected. I don’t have the solution, but I wondered how you were going to identify and connect with those people?
Councillor O’Brien reported that this was a challenge for us, what we can do differently to engage with them. Councillor Tariq responded that identifying need and gaps in provision was very important. The Council has talked about public sector reform over the year, how the mix of services across the entire system can be alert to what’s happening in the community and look out for signs of e.g. social isolation and deprivation. It was hoped that, as the Council progressed health and social care integration, this message would be continually sent to the wider workforce. All partners and stakeholders need to work together and be alert to what is going on in the community and pick up those early signs from those in need.
Councillor O’Brien added that the Council did not currently have the answer as to how to connect with ‘hard to reach’ residents, but it was hoped through the People and Communities Plan these conversations could continue and shift mentality into the community to reach out. This Plan was a push to make us think differently and therefore act differently.