Communities
Communities
We know that vibrant communities are crucial in addressing the future challenges we have as a district and we want to enable more people to participate and have a role in how things are done on matters that impact them and where they live. Communities have the ability to improve people’s quality of life and the support they can bring is also essential to reducing health inequalities.
Helping residents to help themselves to stay healthy and well is key to tackling inequality of life expectancy. Providing affordable housing and initiatives aimed at providing safe and decent living conditions can also contribute to the improvement of people’s health and wellbeing. The Braintree district has an ageing population with more people likely to be living in worse health in their later years. The impacts of the COVID pandemic have widened existing inequalities across physical, mental and social health (for example issues of loneliness)
What we heard from our residents, communities, members and stakeholders highlighted the following:
- The importance of feeling safe within their communities and the link this has with being able to thrive in an area.
- The importance of supporting our more vulnerable residents, creating a friendlier environment and a sense of belonging.
- The need to support communities to feel connected by informing and involving people in local activities.
- The importance of accessing health services with a focus on mental health and leisure services for young people to enable healthier lifestyles.
- The importance of having more affordable, sustainable homes.
We will work with our partners to reduce inequalities, to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our residents and build on the strengths and resilience of our communities across the district.
Our Key Priorities:
- Improve the health, wellbeing and quality of life for individuals and families and reduce health inequalities focusing on prevention and early intervention.
- Provide affordable, high quality and safe homes that meet the needs of our residents.
- Reduce social isolation and loneliness and support communities to build positive social networks and connections.
- Develop safer and more resilient communities, empowering residents to take ownership of local projects and initiatives.
We will do this by…
Better understanding the wider determinants of health through data and research to target prevention and early intervention efforts where they are most needed.
We will work in partnership to integrate healthcare services with community-based services and engage with families and children at a young age to instil healthy habits that can last a lifetime as well as providing residents with the knowledge and skills to make informed decisions about their health emphasising the importance of regular exercise and opportunities to lead active and healthy lifestyles.
As well as providing more affordable homes, we will collaborate with our partners to address causes of homelessness such as unemployment, mental health and domestic abuse and establish programmes and initiatives to prevent homelessness in the first place
We will work with the Community Safety Partnership to develop effective community safety initiatives as well as empowering residents to take ownership of their safety and wellbeing and feel safer within the areas they live and visit.
We recognise and appreciate the contributions our volunteering community make and will do more to align volunteering opportunities with community needs. We will encourage residents to participate in local projects in their community, providing access to grants to support community projects and simplifying the process that may hinder people getting involved in community-led initiatives.