Rushmoor Borough Council’s Cabinet has approved a new plan which sets out how it will be working with public sector partners across Aldershot and Farnborough to support its communities and tackle inequalities.
The Rushmoor Together plan, highlights the collaborative approach focusing around three priority areas: physical and mental health, economic wellbeing and community belonging.
Some of projects already happening to support physical and mental health challenges include the council’s Active in Rushmoor campaign to promote physical activities and encourage residents to try something new over the summer (www.rushmoor.gov.uk/activeinrushmoor). Other highlights include the free weekly volunteer-led wellbeing walks run by Rushmoor Voluntary Services (check www.rvs.org.uk for details).
To support economic wellbeing, there are many projects supporting residents with cost-of-living challenges and helping people into employment. The Rushmoor works training platform offers a number of free learning opportunities and seminars (www.seedl.com/o/rushmoor). Advice in Crisis offered by Citizens Advice Rushmoor to support residents with cost-of-living challenges and direct people to local food banks.
A new area of partnership working focuses on community belonging which has been developed in response to community unrest seen last summer. Following on from this, the council was awarded funding from the government's Community Recovery Fund which enabled it to set up the Rushmoor Voices community engagement group to address community tensions and create safe spaces for people to talk. Other partnership success stories include the Rushmoor Link community directory (rushmoorlink.org) maintained by Rushmoor Voluntary Services which signposts people to local services and ways to connect with their community.
Many of the projects identified in the Rushmoor Together plan will be supported by grants from the council’s Supporting Communities Fund (£20,000 of funding is available) and the Pride in Place Grant (£10,000 of funding is available) and applications will be opening in the autumn.
Anyone with a community-based project that supports one of the priority areas can find out more about the grants available from Rushmoor Borough Council at (www.rushmoor.gov.uk/grants) or contact communitydevelopment@rushmoor.gov.uk for advice.
Councillor Sophie Porter, Cabinet Member for Healthy Communities and Active Lives at Rushmoor Borough Council, said: “We are very proud of the longstanding relationships that we have with our partners. Together we can achieve so much and the Rushmoor Together plan pulls this all together in one place.”
Councillor Porter added: “While many of our residents live happy, comfortable lives it is not the same for everyone and many face daily challenges and inequalities that affect their quality of life and their health. By working together, we can tackle some of the inequalities that we see and make sure that our residents can feel connected and part of their communities. If you have a project which is making a difference in difference to local people, please get in touch to find out more about the grants we have available.”
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