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Within 10-20 years, no one should be seriously disadvantaged by where they live.
Narrowing the gap between the most deprived neighbourhoods and the rest of the country.
Neighbourhood Renewal is a national government initiative that aims to drive down poverty in the most deprived neighbourhoods. It seeks to bring together service providers, the voluntary sector and the community in an equal partnership to tackle deprivation. For more information on the initiative visit the National Neighbourhood Renewal website.
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Hastings is the 39th most deprived local authority area in England (Rank of Ward Ranks, Index of Multiple Deprivation 2004). The town suffers from disproportionate levels of educational underachievement, unemployment, crime and poor health; this in turn has led to significant issues of social cohesion.
This deprivation is spread across much of the town, but certain neighbourhoods in particular have been identified as having severe problems and Hastings was awarded Neighbourhood Renewal Funding in 2001 to attempt to reverse this trend.
Hastings also has three neighbourhoods which fall within the 3% most deprived nationally and has consequently been awarded Neighbourhood Element funding between 2006-2010 for these localities. This additional funding seeks to intensify Neighbourhood Renewal work and to create new interventions that tackle deprivation in new ways.
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The Local Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy (LNRS) was drawn up in 2002 and revised in 2006/07 in response to the fact that national and local parameters for Neighbourhood Renewal had changed direction. The focus of the strategy is to target the most deprived neighbourhoods by adopting individual Area Delivery Plans. This revised LNRS does not stand alone, but accompanies the previous LNRS and includes detailed annual plans on how all concerned will seek to drive down deprivation across the Borough.
The policies contained in the strategy have been developed and revised through extensive consultation with our Neighbourhood Renewal (NR) partners and the local community and as a result of independent Impact Assessments which have been carried out.
The Strategy also introduces a sustainable framework for Neighbourhood Renewal through Area Coordination.
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Area Co-ordination builds on the good practice in the town of Neighbourhood Renewal in priority areas and the Neighbourhood Management Pathfinder in Greater Hollington. Four distinct areas of the town have been identified: North St Leonards, South St Leonards, Central and East Hastings. Each area has four wards, matching the pairing of County Council constituencies, and each has a population of around 21,000.
Map showing the 4 distinct areas
Four Area Management Boards across the town bring together local people, elected members and senior managers from service providers. They aim to shape services to respond effectively by overseeing the performance of Area Delivery Plans, sharing information about major area developments and providing local and specialist knowledge to better understand the needs of these specific communities and neighbourhoods.
To make the biggest impact on improving the quality of life, there needs to be a joint approach between public services, local people, businesses and voluntary organisations. This is fundamental to the work of the Local Strategic Partnership for Hastings and St Leonards and East Sussex.
The principal driving force behind the reform of service provision and the reduction in deprivation in the town will be the Local Strategic Partnership (LSP). This brings together public agencies, elected members, voluntary groups, community groups, and local businesses in an effort to develop a coordinated and effective approach to addressing the issues affecting the town. Each of the partners in the LSP is committed to working together towards the aims of this strategy.
Since April 2006 there has been an agreement in place between East Sussex Strategic Partnership and the Government called the Local Area Agreement (LAA). In return for certain funding it sets out what outcomes are going to be delivered, each of which will have a target to meet. Outcome 23 of the East Sussex LAA describes the targets for Hastings within the overall approach to narrow the gap between the most deprived neighbourhoods and the rest. These targets are in line with national Neighbourhood Renewal Floor targets and mandatory outcomes.
The LAA and progress against its targets can be viewed at www.essp.org.uk
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The approach of narrowing the gap is evidenced by setting targets to achieve improved rates of progress in the worst performing neighbourhoods, these targets are set out in Outcome 23 of the LAA.
In order to monitor performance, information on baseline data at area, ward and neighbourhood level and progress toward our identified targets are provided in the annual Area Delivery Plan for each area. Quarterly and annual monitoring reports for Outcome 23 are available via the ESSP LAA website link above.
Examples of how area, ward and neighbourhood performance is reported to Area Management Boards are also available, please contact us.
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Four Neighbourhood fora continue their valued work in the most deprived areas. Funds have been allocated so that they have adequate administrative support and can focus upon involving their whole communities in order to deliver local solutions to local problems.
The contact details for the fora are:
Delia Cattell: Area Support Worker
Renaissance House
Old Christchurch School
London Road
St Leonards on Sea
East Sussex
TN37 6AN
Telephone: 01424 451337
e-Mail: castlewardforum@talk21.com; dcattell@hastings.gov.uk
Web: www.castleward.net
Vivienne Reddick: Area Support Worker
The Bridge
361 Priory Road
Hastings
East Sussex
TN34 3NW
Telephone: 01424 420440
e-mail: vreddick@hastings.gov.uk
Web: www.orevalleyforum.co.uk
Jeanette Thomas: Area Support Worker
16 Silchester Road
St Leonards on Sea
East Sussex
TN38 0JB
Telephone: 01424 438291
e-Mail: jthomas@hastings.gov.uk
Web: www.gcsl.org.uk
35-37 Blackman Avenue
St Leonards on Sea
East Sussex
TN38 9EA
Telephone: 01424 428800
e-Mail: team@greaterhollington.info
Web: www.greaterhollington.info
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This page last updated: 04/09/2007