Blackpool Local Area Agreement
Contents / PagesAmbition and Vision / 3
Story of Place / 4
Refreshed Cross Cutting Issues / 9
Economic Development and Enterprise / 13
Children and Young People / 23
Healthier and Older People / 31
Stronger and Safer Communities / 40
Allocation of Area Based Grant / 58
Legacy Performance Reward Grant Measures / 61
Commitment to Blackpool’s Local Area Agreement / 62
Indices of Multiple Deprivation and Neighbourhood
Management Areas / 63
2
Ambition and Vision
Blackpool’s refreshed Local Area Agreement remains focused on the achievement of our original principles and priorities as set out in our original agreement.
Blackpool is confident and ambitious in its future plans for the town. Our resilience matches the level of challenge which the Council and partners are tackling together to improve social outcomes for local people by reversing social and economic decline in the town to make Blackpool – a great place to visit, a better place to live.
This refreshed LAA builds on the success of the original, and reflects the changing context of regeneration in Blackpool. This is articulated in our new Sustainable Community Strategy (SCS). The SCS now focuses on four goals which align with the four themes of the LAA and provides the strategic framework to drive forward our programme of radical improvement in both economic prosperity and improved quality of life in the town. We want to:
§ Continue to focus our efforts to generate employment and reduce worklessness and benefit dependency in the town by maximising the benefits and opportunities created through our economic development, skills development and regeneration initiatives targeting the most deprived neighbourhoods.
§ Continue to tackle community safety and environmental issues in an integrated approach to neighbourhood improvement to ensure that we have stronger, safer, cleaner and greener communities
§ Continue to support Children and Young People through improvements in mental health services, reductions in teenage pregnancy, and improvements in education, employment and training, and participation in positive activities.
§ Continue to improve health outcomes for communities and older people through support for people at home, improving health and lifestyle through action on smoking, obesity, breastfeeding and encouraging participation in sport, we will continue to reduce health inequalities in our population.
In each of the themes we will continue in our approach to deepen and accelerate our radical change programme – building on the achievements of the original LAA in joint service delivery so that Blackpool is ’a great place to visit, a better place to live’
Delivering through Refreshed Partnership
Partnership working is vital to delivering the improved outcomes that Blackpool needs.
Our experience to date has been one of achieving outstanding outcomes through joint service delivery with our partners. In this refreshed LAA our intention is to build on and further strengthen this success. More broadly we are delighted by the energy and commitment that our private sector partners have contributed to Blackpool’s Enterprise Board, its Business Leadership Group and LEGI.
Our intention is to continue to actively support this involvement and emulate it through our ambitions for the third sector. New arrangements for a Third Sector Strategic Forum will be put in place over the coming weeks and will offer Blackpool and its residents a third sector contribution that reflects the town’s ambition for the future.
Our programme of partnership improvements is now turning to our strategic partnership arrangements. With the prompts of the new Sustainable Community Strategy and a refreshed LAA we will ensure that our priorities have the partnership arrangements in place that are required for delivery.
This programme of improvement across the strategic partnership family has accelerated with the allocation of Area Based Grant to the new priorities of the SCS and LAA. Refreshed thematic partnership arrangements are therefore the next step for the LSP.
Wide and extensive involvement of partners in both the refresh of the LAA and the development of the Sustainable Community Strategy, which has of course underpinned our process of refresh, has added considerable value to the LAA. Through this process we have continued to benefit from the consideration, involvement and expertise of our senior colleagues from across all sectors.
Partners from all sectors across the breadth of our partnership arrangements; such as the Local Public Service Board and range of thematic partnerships including Blackpool’s Childrens Trust and Enterprise Board, have been actively included in the refresh process; in terms of the prioritisation and selection of our national indicator set, the allocation of resources via the LSP as well as shaping the Sustainable Community Strategy. The commitment of our partners to the implementation of the Local Area Agreement is set on page x.
Communicating with Local People
Communicating with the public is a vital ingredient for success in our work to transform Blackpool. We understand that communicating the Sustainable Community Strategy and Local Area Agreement in ways that are relevant and meaningful to local people is key. In our Sustainable Community Strategy we describe what will be achieved in practical ways, that are both meaningful and visible.
Our communication methods provide effective ways of communicating with local people and receiving their feedback. An example of this includes Your Blackpool. Your Blackpool is a bimonthly community newspaper delivered to every household and business in Blackpool. The publication is co-funded by the Council, Police and PCT and is therefore an ideal way of getting the message across. Electronically the Council website homepage can be utilised to communicate specific messages to make milestones. The local media will also be targeted with appropriate news stories and features as the plans unfold.
We have also reshaped our consultation arrangements. Our Area Forum’s are now able to be more responsive to local matters and will link effectively with our neighbourhood arrangements.
As well as these well used communication methods we will be launching both the Sustainable Community Strategy and Local Area Agreement in July, as we mark the completion of the Stanley Park Heritage Lottery project with the celebration it rightly deserves.
Blackpool’s Story of Place
The new Sustainable Community Strategy (SCS) and LAA are underpinned by this story of place. The Sustainable Community Strategy vision is:
‘Our aspiration is for Blackpool to have a prosperous, vibrant, high quality, all year round economy; generating healthier, better skilled and educated communities, enjoying a safer and more pleasant place. We will create a place where children and young people are proud to grow up; where people aspire to live, play, work and establish business in; a place that brings prosperity to all local citizens and contributes to the long-term sustainable growth of the North West economy; a place that the UK is proud to proclaim as a great, high quality, culturally rich resort destination’
To help achieve this vision we have sharpened our focus towards four SCS goals which align with the LAA themes, these are:
§ Goal 1: Improve Blackpool’s Economic Prosperity - creating jobs and opportunities for local people
§ Goal 2: Develop a Safe, Clean and Pleasant Place to Live, Work and Visit
§ Goal 3: Improve Skill Levels and Educational Achievement
§ Goal 4: Improve the Health and Well-Being of the Population
Our aspiration over the SCS period to 2028 is to create ‘a world class destination – a great place to visit, a better place to live’. We will do this within the context of the Fylde Coast with the increased resources and capacity that a Fylde Coast Multi Area Agreement will provide to support the delivery of the LAA.
The issues we have identified in the SCS align directly to the objectives and actions of the strategy and the refreshed LAA. This has provided the guiding principles and rationale for both the LAA national and Blackpool’s local indicator sets.
Economic Development and Environment
The continued fall in tourism visits and spend in the local economy has created a growing number of complex and interrelated economic, social and environmental problems, including:
§ The lowest average wages in the UK
§ One third of Blackpool is now amongst the 10% most deprived areas within the country
§ Extremely high levels of worklessness (23% of the working age population claiming a work related benefit)
§ Over 13% of all adults of working age claiming incapacity benefit - many are often extremely detached from the labour market and face formidable obstacles in moving toward employment;
§ High proportion of children aged 0-15 live in income deprived households
§ Visitor numbers have reduced by some million since 2002 (STEAM 2006) combined with stagnation in the overall tourism related revenue between 2002 – 2006
§ Lack of private sector investment as a consequence of declining visitor numbers and falling confidence;
Blackpool’s local economy is dominated by tourism. This in an area not reflected in the NIS. In the absence of this Blackpool has invested significant time and energy in creating a local Visitor Economy Performance Index to drive improvements locally.
Stronger and Safer Communities
§ Despite overall crime reducing by 6% in 2007, acquisitive crime reducing by almost one-third and criminal damage reducing by 15%; the perception of crime remains high amongst residents, as does the level of violent crime and particularly domestic violence;
§ Declining quality of the visitor offer within a tired and outdated infrastructure and urban environment;
§ Acute and accelerating housing market imbalance, driven in large measure by the declining trade in hotels and guest houses, this undermines efforts to regenerate the resort and concentrates deprivation. Nearly half of Blackpool‘s Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO’s) are in four central wards which also house a high proportion of Housing Benefit recipients in former holiday accommodation. This market is largely created and sustained by Housing Benefit which dominates much of the private rented sector. In June 2007 Blackpool had 20,888 Housing Benefit claimants; this places Blackpool in 48th position out of all the 354 English district authorities.
§ The imbalance in Blackpool’s housing market reflects the particular and unique circumstances to Blackpool. The National Indicator Set reflects the national housing position rather than that of a tourism based economy. Local housing measures that are pertinent to the issues affecting Blackpool will drive improvements in the local housing market. These make up our local indicator set.
§ Blackpool’s CO2 emissions are approximately 5.8 tonnes per capita - this is less than the UK average of 9.1 tonnes though it does reflect the pattern of other places with high levels of deprivation. Household waste recycling has increased over the past three years, with the introduction of specific recycling collections. However, the highly transient population, numbers of Eastern European migrant workers and high-density accommodation areas present a constant challenge to participation in the recycling schemes. A concerted and consistent education and publicity programme is required to encourage all residents to recycle and thus reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill;
§ The issues of street cleanliness and crime have been prioritised by our citizen’s and reflected in our political administrations priorities.
Children and Young People
§ Many of Blackpool’s children do not get a good start in life. Levels of breastfeeding are low, in 2005/06 45.3% of Blackpool mothers initiated breastfeeding. This was the 14th lowest out of 238 PCTs.
§ High levels of child and adolescent mental health problems exist also a survey by the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (2005) suggests that there is population of over 2,800 children and young people with mental health disorders in Blackpool.
§ The high levels of population mobility prevalent in Blackpool impact disproportionately on young children; 2005/06 ONS data based on GP registrations shows that inter-authority population migration and levels of transience are highest for young children aged 0-5.
§ Poor educational and skills attainment – over 20% of the working age population in Blackpool have no qualifications, compared to a national average of 14%, and a lower than average proportion possess Level’s 2, 3 and 4 plus qualifications (NOMIS). This is reflected in the number of young people progressing to further education or work based learning remaining below national averages. The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) report that in 2005, 75% of Blackpool’s 16 and 17 year olds were participating in education or work based learning. This compares to both a North West and a national figure of 81%.
§ Blackpool is an area with a relatively high level of offending, with the rate of first time entrants to the youth justice systempeaking between April and October each year. Thisreflects the town's large transient community throughout the holiday season.The Blackpool Youth Offending Teammetthe national targetto reduce the number of first time entrants to the youth justice system by 5% by March 2008compared with the March 2005 baseline,in the context ofan upward trend, nationally.The local trend in the last 2 quarters of 2007/8has been downward. First time entrants fell to 85 between October and December 2007,and 68 between Januaryand March 2008. However,our rateremains above ourstatistical neighbours and thenational average.
Healthier Communities and Older People
§ Older people’s issues are more pronounced in Blackpool. Issues of vulnerability for the proportion of adults living over 85 years of age in Blackpool are therefore exacerbated by a higher proportion of single pensioner households; 17.4% compared with 15.1% of the North West and 14.4% for England and Wales (Census 2001);
§ Indeed poverty, high levels of alcohol consumption, and general ill health among the population in Blackpool are compounded with the population under 85 exhibiting many of the characteristics and needs of those associated with the over 85 years of age group; accelerating age related debility, vulnerability and dependency;
§ The issues of alcohol affecting Blackpool are significant, as are the resources that we are investing to tackle this issue. The response to our Blackpool particular circumstances is a comprehensive programme of effective interventions. These interventions are designed to start to break the reliance on alcohol with early action especially through frequent contact with those at risk. Simply measuring admissions would not be constructive or we believe helpful, in driving a solution to this significant problem for our town.