Looking Ahead
Strategic Alignment
We will continue to scan the strategic horizon and align our work with relevant strategies such as Oxfordshire County Council’s Health and Wellbeing Strategy, Cherwell District Council’s Wellbeing Strategy, ‘Everyone’s Wellbeing’ the LEP Local Industrial Strategy. We will make use of census data as it continues to be released, and will use the latest JSNA report to inform our work.
Listening to partners and communities
We will continue to develop and enhance ways of reaching the communities that the Brighter Futures partnership was created to serve. We have a strong tradition of doing this and of using the knowledge gained to inform our work at the strategic, partnership and grassroots levels.
Cost of Living
The cost-of-living crisis remains a major focus for the Partnership’s work. The rate of inflation has slowed, but this follows a period of very high increases particularly in food and energy costs. Many people remain in a precarious financial position, and others are entering one due to higher costs including mortgage interest costs.
Citizens Advice in North Oxfordshire and South Northants have reported that “More people in higher income households are at risk of homelessness due to rent arrears.”
Specific Project work will be developed from this year's strategic work
Projects receiving funding attached to the Community Insight work
Funded by the Public Health team, the findings from the ward profiling work quoted below will be used to inform a series of activities, available through a grant / bidding process. The Brighter Futures Partnership will be key to supporting this work.
”A range of local assets to support health and wellbeing were identified, from green and open spaces to local shops and services, community spaces, community groups running a range of activities and external-based institutions active locally. For residents, green spaces and parks were highly used and valued assets, with people also enjoying walking and socialising. There are some improvements that would be welcomed here, for example to address litter, the state of repair of facilities, and develop local walks. Location is also seen as a benefit, with the proximity to shops and services frequently mentioned.
Many respondents however, had issues accessing health care, giving rise to anxiety. It is clear that many residents value the groups and activities available locally as well as the physical assets such as community centres and other settings which host or facilitate these activities.
Various non-Ruscote and Neithrop-based organisations (e.g., charities or agencies) are also locally prominent and valued for the support (and funding they provide). Collectively, there is a range of much-needed support in relation to social interaction and health and wellbeing with a number of successful initiatives developed and rolled-out over recent years (many ongoing). Local community networks are well-developed and there is a strong sense of a commitment to improvement across the long term.
That said, there was a generalised lack of awareness in the wider community about what is available locally in terms of local groups, organisations, and support. Significant numbers of residents do not know where to get information about what is happening locally and do not feel listened too. This is widely acknowledged, there being a sense across the board that communication within the community needs to improve in order to reach more people.
Additionally, while most felt safe in the community and a sense of positive identification and neighbourliness was generally expressed, significant minorities do not feel part of the community. In addition, while some enjoyed the multicultural make-up of the community, there was evidence of racial tension and a sense that more could be done to build bridges between different parts of the community, building more trust and connection. A range of health and wellbeing challenges were raised.
Mental health and isolation were common concerns and there was a generalised perception that COVID-19 has contributed (negatively) to already existing concerns. The cost of living is also contributing to stress and anxiety. There was a strong sense that the community could benefit from more mental health initiatives and support. There was also much comment in relation to young people, and the need to provide more youth workers and offer informal but supported spaces which could offer pathways to positive engagement with a range of identified issues including mental health and bullying.”
Delivery of the levelling up funding projects Year 1
Grimsbury Community Centre refurbishment
Funding secured to invest in Grimsbury Community centre to refurbish the toilet and washroom facilities to enable more people to access the community facility engage in community opportunities. This will support all users of different ages and abilities and allow a key centre, in a BFIB ward, to offer high quality, hygienic, accessible washroom facilities , in turn more users will access the services on offer.
The Mill Arts Centre Community Connect initiative
The Mill Community Connect initiative allows all community groups, schools, and organisations in the BFIB wards to access high quality arts and cultural opportunities and has been made possible from levelling up monies under the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. This will allow all ages of residents living in the Banbury wards to choose to visit live performances, workshops, and activities free of charge and where transport or accessibility are a problem, this is funded too.
The objective of this funding pot is to enable residents from target neighbourhoods to access arts and cultural opportunities at The Mill, which they would otherwise be unable to access.
The fund will be prioritised towards:
- Reaching people who have not previously attended any of The Mill’s programme
- Community groups who have never previously or haven’t recently accessed The Mill’s programme
- Groups who have enabled their users to choose what they want to access.
Through this programme, The Mill is aiming to build stronger links with local communities to help shape the future programme, so that its programme better reflects the community it sits within.
Bridge Street Community Garden
Bridge Street Community Garden has also secured 3 years of UKSPF monies to encourage new groups to use the garden and have their own growing spaces for their users to access all year round. The monies have also been used to develop a programme of skills workshops for Banbury residents to learn and encourage the importance of growing food and accessing nature.
Supporting Organisations who support the community
A recent Oxfordshire Community Foundation report highlighted an issue which is of concern to the Brighter Futures Partnership – the need to support staff within the support organisations: -
The report writers found through consultation with charitable and community groups that
“More support is needed for frontline practitioners to make sure they are equipped to be handling those issues” Oxford Parent-Infant Project (OxPIP)
In the Public Health ward profiling report, Oxfordshire Community First commented that
“Another prominent theme of the research is that locally based groups and organisations are struggling with resources. Funding is an ongoing problem and the volunteer pipeline for many is drying up (exacerbated by COVID-19). A sense of frustration was generally expressed – given that there is a clear and growing need for services and support, more people could be reached if more resources were available. Organisations want to do more and what they do is valued by those accessing it – but further development is being stymied by a lack of capacity. Innovation in the type of funding being offered should also be considered - more focus on core as opposed to (or in addition to) project funding could permit organisations to more creatively deploy their resources and contribute to longer-term financial sustainability.”
The Brighter Futures Partnership provides support to organisations through:
- Bringing partners together to make joint funding bids – working collaboratively rather than competitively
- Allowing partners an easy route to share and access data about the Brighter Futures wards
- Providing this report as a resource which can be used to support funding bids
- Developing a buddy scheme to provide peer support particularly to managers in small organisations where there is no comparative role in the staff of the organisation.
Looking ahead, we will remain a growing partnership, welcoming new members, listening to communities so that we can understand their ambitions. We want to find the balance between planning ahead and being able to respond quickly to changing circumstances and we know that our ability to do this is rooted in our relationships with local people and the organisations who serve them. We will support communities to build on the assets they hold within themselves, making those small incremental steps described by Councillor Chapman in his introduction. And they may be small steps, but they can be powerful agents of change when supported by the amazing community groups our area holds.