Theme 4 - Lifestyle

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Family walking in the park

Theme 4 - Enabling everyone to enjoy a safe and healthy lifestyle

This Theme deals with making sure that everyone in the District has the best possible access to the services they need. It is split into five sub-themes, each with their own Community Priorities.

1. Access to Housing

Good quality housing is essential to ensuring a good quality of life and contributes to all of the priorities in the Sustainable Community Strategy.

The Community Priorities for this sub-theme are:

To increase the supply of affordable housing in the District
To prevent and reduce homelessness
To improve the condition of housing – particularly for vulnerable people
To address the housing and support needs of vulnerable people

2. Health and Well-Being

The District faces a number of challenges in terms of health inequalities, with a clear gap in life expectancy between its best and worst off wards. Changes are forecast in the make-up of the population which will present challenges for service providers.

The Community Priorities for this sub-theme are:

To reduce inequalities in health across the District, particularly in the most deprived areas.
To increase healthy life expectancy in the District
To improve health in the District – focusing particularly on obesity, smoking, sexual health and drug and alcohol misuse
To improve access to health services in the District
To support elderly people to enable them to stay in their own homes rather than going into care
To improve support to carers – including those who provide care to elderly people and people who are terminally ill

3. Children and Young People - their well-being and education.

Children are the future. They deserve the best that we can provide for them and the maximum opportunity to be the best that they can be.

The Community Priorities for this sub-theme are:

To provide a framework of support that promotes positive parenting across the age range
To increase the number of young people who take a full time job or stay on in full time education and employment.
To maximise the opportunities for children and young people to remain healthy and reduce obesity
To ensure children and young people are kept safe where caught up in domestic violence
To reduce the number of children and young people who have been victims of crime and anti social behaviour
To co-ordinate approaches for participation of children and young people and their families
Increase the number of young people leaving care who have their accommodation needs met
To ensure that children and young people achieve the expected outcomes at Foundation Stage, Key Stage 1 to 4
To improve standards in speech and language across the District
To further develop early intervention services to children and young people suffering emotional and mental health difficulties
To increase the opportunities for children and young people to access out of school activities

4. Leisure, Sport, Recreation and the Arts

Consultations have shown that improved leisure, recreation and sports facilities, parks and open spaces are all top priorities in making somewhere a nice place to live. They also contribute to how people live their lives, what they do for enjoyment and accordingly how healthy their lifestyles are.

The Community Priorities for this sub-theme are:

To increase participation in sport, physical activity and volunteering across the District
To enable the provision of accessible high quality green spaces and sport and recreation facilities which meet the recreational needs of all sections of the community
To secure the best possible benefits and legacy for the District as a result of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games
To promote the availability of recreational and cultural activity wherever possible in addressing all of the Community Priorities for the Braintree District

5. Community Safety

The District has one of the lowest crime rates in Essex and is well below the national average. Notwithstanding the statistics, fear of crime remains a real issue for people. Every year, a Strategic Assessment of Crime and Disorder for the District is carried out. From the 2008 Assessment, the crime and disorder priorities have been developed into the Annual Partnership Plan and are the priorities for the sub-theme of the Sustainable Community Strategy.

The Community Priorities for this sub-theme are:

Youth offending and disorder (Prolific & Priority Offending & Young People as Victims of Crime)
Anti-social Behaviour (including criminal damage)
Substance related crime and disorder (Alcohol and Drugs)
‘Hate’ crime (Racial, Homophobic, Faith Transphobic, Faith Related, Sectarian, Disabilist)
Domestic Abuse
Road Safety

We are working towards achieving all of these priorities in a variety of ways and will monitor progress using national and local indicators and regular progress reports to the LSP's Steering Group.