Agenda item

To receive a briefing on the Council’s work to improve levels of deprivation and support residents living in high deprivation zones.

The Committee received a presentation from Officers on the Council’s work and policies aimed at supporting residents living in areas of high deprivation, and were asked to review the effectiveness of the policies.

The Committee noted that Officers had recently looked at data and statistics concerning levels of deprivation within Selby District; it had been identified that generally the District was a prosperous area with low levels of deprivation, ranked 254 out of England’s 326 Local Authorities by the Index of Multiple Deprivation.

However, Members were made aware that there were two small areas within Selby Town with comparatively high levels of deprivation. These areas were an area to the north of Selby Town centre near Charles Street and Flaxley Road, which ranked within the 10% of the most deprived areas in England, and an area near Abbots Road estate in the south of Selby Town which ranked within the 20% most deprived areas in England.

The presentation went on to provide an overview of deprivation levels in Selby District and the District’s  particular strengths and challenges, before emphasising the need to take a long term, whole system approach to various challenges. It was explained to Members that it was important to take a strategic look at the issues in question and what the Council could do to achieve the most impact to improve quality of life across the District.

Members welcomed a representative from Selby Big Local to the meeting who gave an update on their work and future priorities for the high deprivation areas of Selby Town.

The Committee discussed the matter in detail and raised a number of points, as set out below.

·      Members asked how areas of deprivation in other areas of the District were identified. Officers explained that understanding community resilience and engagement was key in order to identify issues and facilitate and support change.

·      The Committee noted the relevant links of the work on deprivation to a recent report circulated to Members on ‘Children’s Lives in North Yorkshire’ produced by the Children’s Society, and how population density in the areas identified as deprived could affect the scale of the problem.

·      Members agreed that some residents were harder to contact, and that significant effort would need to be made in order to reach these people; access or barriers to services, such as affordable housing, was a key reason for deprivation. Officers explained that being able to connect with hard to reach groups was the main reason that one of the Council’s Neighbourhood Officers moved her weekly surgery to a local school, to increase visibility and accessibility for these residents.

·      Concerns were raised by the Committee around the levels of housebuilding in some areas, such as Sherburn, and that such housing was not necessarily accessible by low skilled workers in the area. Transport for employment in areas such as Sherburn, in particular bus provision, was also raised as an issue by the Committee. Officers confirmed that they had been discussing the matter with local employers on the Sherburn Industrial Estate and local bus service provider Arriva and felt that some headway was being made in addressing the issue.

·      Members emphasised the importance of working with local schools to raise the aspirations of children from the areas identified as deprived, in order to try and break the cycle of deprivation.

RESOLVED:

i)       To note the content of the presentation.

ii)      To endorse the strategic approach to improving quality of life across the District outlined in the presentation, which focused on fostering inclusive growth to improve prospects for all of the District’s residents, and supporting residents and local communities.