Looking Ahead
The Government has identified a need for health services to be more coordinated and delivered closer to people’s homes.
Neighbourhood Health
Neighbourhood health reinforces a new way of working for the NHS, local government, social care and their partners, where integrated working is the norm and not the exception.
Details can be found here NHS England » Neighbourhood health guidelines 2025/26
This will bring about big changes in working practices and a real opportunity for Brighter Futures members to participate.
Well Together
Well Together is a grants programme funded by the Integrated Care Board, which recognises the essential role that community and voluntary organisations play in addressing health inequalities at a local level.
Delivered in partnership between Community First Oxfordshire (CFO) and Oxfordshire Community and Voluntary Action (OCVA),Well Together is providing funding and support to community-led health and wellbeing activities across the county.
The programme invests in community-led health and well-being activities and projects for all ages – children, young people and adults.
There are 10 priority areas in the County of Oxfordshire, and they include Banbury Ruscote, Neithrop and Grimsbury.
Funding can be used for current projects where the reach and impact will be expanded, or for new projects to be established.
Well Together will support projects to address the root cause of preventable health conditions, which enable people to lead healthy and independent lives for as long as possible. In addition, it seeks to fund projects which address the community’s immediate needs.
These are the types of projects which many of the Brighter Futures partners have extensive experience of developing and delivering.
Read more at Community Health & Wellbeing - Community First Oxfordshire
Well Together Programme - Oxfordshire Community & Voluntary Action
Local government reorganisation
On 16 December 2024, the government published a white paper on a national programme of devolution and reform to local government.
The vision is to simplify structures and make it easier for residents to know who they can look to on local issues.
The structure of local councils will be reorganised – district and county councils (like Cherwell and Oxfordshire) will be replaced by single or unitary authorities. The proposals are as follows:
- One unitary Council: One council: Your Oxfordshire | Let's Talk Oxfordshire
- Two unitary Councils: Home - Two Councils
- Three unitary Councils: Three councils for Oxfordshire and West Berkshire – Oxford City Council
Banbury Youth Partnership
The formation of a Banbury Youth Partnership is a result of the Insight Work funded by Oxfordshire’s Public Health team. Also, the National Youth agency conducted a peer review of Oxfordshire’s youth services and recommended the establishment of such a partnership.
The reviewing team noted that Banbury had many issues of service crime and community safety – and that these issues were worse than those in Oxford.
Oxfordshire County Council is a Pathfinder authority selected by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport – one of twelve authorities chosen nationally. This will bring funding which will be distributed to local partner organisations by August 2026.
The Partnership has members at both a strategic and grassroots level, including Thames Valley Police, Cherwell District Council and youth services. The Youth Partnership will be responsible for holding the Action Plan for the Pathfinder work.
Insight Funding
The Brighter Futures partnership members will benefit from the extension of the Insight funding from Oxfordshire County Council Public Health Team. A further £19.5k has been awarded to each of the Brighter Futures wards and the Community Health Development Officer will continue to bring expertise to support the organisations who receive funding.
PlayZones
Funding has been secured through the Football Foundation, Cherwell District Council and Banbury Town Council to build state of the art PlayZones, floodlit facilities with a 3G synthetic turf surface suitable for football and other sports. The size of the pitch is 30 x 20 metres and suitable for all-weather play.
The development of PlayZones was made possible by the Community Insight work which evidenced a need for them. This was only possible due to the relationships already in place with BFIB to get credible insight quickly to put towards application and show need along with partners to deliver sessions – for example, the Mosque held sessions on a Thursday night for women and girls, and The Hill sessions on a Friday night for young people.
The PlayZones will be sited in the Brighter Futures area at Princess Diana Park and Chandos Sports Ground. They will give low cost access to high quality astro turf facilities promoting healthy physical activity.