Sustainable Communities
To ensure a strong, healthy and just society, we need to meet
the diverse needs of all people in existing and future communities.
We need to promote personal well-being, social cohesion and
inclusion, and create equal opportunities for all.
A sense of
community is key to the region’s residents feeling
positive about where they live. A true sense of community is a
culmination of three factors: fostering a sense of place, building
real communities and building sustainable communities.
A sense of place is about region’s residents having a belief in
the identity of the Northwest; about them taking a sense of pride
in the region. Building real communities is about: infrastructure,
housing and green spaces, as well as regenerating urban areas and
developing rural areas, to make the Northwest a better place to
live. It is also about working with communities to ensure equality
and economic inclusion.
Building sustainable communities is about the way we go about
building real communities and the methods we use. It is also about
how the changes we make can benefit our communities.
The NWDA actively promotes natural resource protection through a
number of projects and programmes:
Community Infrastructure
Building sustainable communities is about the way we go about
building real communities and the methods we use. It is also about
how the changes we make can benefit our communities. The NWDA
promotes a sustainable approach to developing the region’s
infrastructure, from public realm and regeneration projects, to
housing and green spaces.
We aim to achieve sustainable development for our communities
by: using our role as statutory consultee on
certain planning applications to promote sustainable planning;
supporting transport
developments; funding sustainable urban regeneration and rural development projects;
supporting housing
renewal; protecting our green infrastructure;
and revitalising brownfield
land.
Equality & Economic Inclusion
The NWDA is responsible for delivering the "Economic
Participation for All" strand of the Regional Equality & Diversity
Strategy, which we do through our Single Equality
Scheme.
The Single Equality Scheme is our framework for mainstream
equality and diversity for our projects, programmes, policies,
processes and procedures as well as our behaviours. It covers:
race; disability; gender (incorporating transgender); age; sexual
orientation; and religion or belief.
The Intensive Start-Ups programme for businesses provides
support for entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds and with special
needs. The programme supports: women; black and minority ethnic;
the disabled; young people ages 16-24; and the over 50s. The
Intensive Start-Ups programme is a business service funded by the
NWDA and available through Business
Link Northwest.
Health & Wellbeing
The NWDA’s work on the region’s health and wellbeing focuses on
living healthy lifestyles. Investing in the region’s green infrastructure can
encourage leisure and exercise activities such as walking, cycling
and sport which can improve the health and increase the wellbeing
of people in the region.
Promoting major sports
events in the region increases people’s interest in
sport and can encourage them to take part. It also leads to
increased access and the improvement of sport facilities in the
area. And developing the Food & Drink sector - through key sector support and
key sector
training - will improve access to affordable, fresh
and nutritious foods.
Improved health and increased wellbeing can: reduce demands on
public finances from sickness benefits and NHS costs; reduce the
burden of sick pay and absence for employers; and improve
productivity. Improvements in health strategy and NHS research
programmes can benefit those who do need to use NHS services.
The NWDA has supported the NHS Good Corporate
Citizen programme in the Northwest. Good Corporate
Citizenship describes how NHS organisations can embrace sustainable
development and tackle health inequalities through their day-to-day
activities in six key areas: transport; procurement; facilities
management; employment & skills; community engagement ;and new
buildings. The programme is a partnership between the NHS and the
Sustainable Development Commission.
Employment Opportunities
Access to education and training results in greater access to
employment opportunities. The NWDA has funded a number of education
initiatives to increase access to education across the region, such
as the University of
Cumbria, Burnley Further & Higher
Education College and the University Centre at Blackburn
College. The NWDA also funds a number of training
initiatives, such as Train
to Gain and Key
Sector Training.
Recreation & Leisure
The region’s green
infrastructure offers recreation and leisure
activities to those who live here as well as those who visit. Major
events - both sport and cultural - improve the
facilities in the area through investment in facilities and through
visitor spend.
As well as helping to sustain local shops and pubs, tourism also
helps sustain cultural activity and helps support the management of
our historic and natural environment. Tourism can also be the focus
of efforts to regenerate places, which raises the quality of life for
residents.
Faiths4Change
The Faiths for Change programme aims to improve community
cohesion in priority areas of Merseyside, Manchester and Lancashire
by engaging faith communities and other local groups in a range of
activities with positive social and environmental impacts.
The programme aims to give professional support, advice,
training and funding for communities where faith groups are key
partners. Using the environment as common ground, the individual
projects help local people from different backgrounds work together
to transform places and communities.
The Agency provides funding to projects: where the funding
contribution is matched; that are monitored and evaluated by NWDA
project managers; and that are promoted to the relevant Sub-Regional Partnerships.