Basildon Local Strategic Partnership

In 2009, Basildon had a population of 174,000 people (just over 12% of the total Essex population), making it the 2nd most populated Essex district.  By 2031 the population will have grown to 194,600 and will continue to have a higher proportion of under-15s and smaller proportions of 15+ males, than the England average.  Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) population estimates based on 2007 projections show that Basildon has the 6th highest proportion of BME residents (9.9%), below the Essex, Eastern Region and national average.  However, Basildon does have a significant traveller population being home to 31% of all the caravans in Essex.

There are 74233 homes in the district, of these 70% are owner occupied, 28% are social housing or private lets and the remaining 2% shared ownership or other types of tenure. The district has a high proportion of terraced property and estates developed using experimental building techniques, which have now fallen into disrepair. Basildon has the strongest concentration of social housing in the South Essex sub-region, comprising of 16153 properties across the Basildon District. Basildon’s Arms Length Management Organisation (ALMO) manages 70.4% of the total social housing stock (11,367 properties). 

Basildon is ranked as the 3rd most deprived of the Essex districts according to the 2007 Index of Multiple Deprivation, ranked 136th of 354 authorities nationally (where 1 is the most deprived). 31 of Basildon’s 110 (Lower Super Output Areas) local areas are in the 10% most deprived in Essex. There are a further 15 areas that are in the 20% most deprived in Essex. This highlights the level of diversity and inequality that exists within the district. 

The proportion of the Basildon population that are economically active is lower than the Essex, Regional and national averages (78%) and 6.8% are unemployed. The ONS Annual Population Survey shows that the proportion of residents in skilled trades, professional and elementary occupations has increased above the district average over the last 4 years.

Basildon District lies in the southern part of Essex, 30 miles east of London.  Formed in 1974 and covering some 42.5 square miles, the District’s main towns are the new town of Basildon and the older towns of Billericay and Wickford. Basildon is a key partner in the Thames Gateway South Essex Partnership regeneration project with Thurrock, Castle Point, Rochford and Southend on Sea, which delivers regeneration projects across a range of priorities including housing, the environment and town centre regeneration. 

Some 70 per cent of the district is rural with large areas of open farmland and scattered rural developments.  The district also boasts more parks and open spaces than anywhere else in the county for people to relax and enjoy outdoor life. There are country parks in Basildon, Billericay and Wickford and various nature reserves across the county. 

Basildon has the largest economy in Essex, producing 20% of the county’s Gross Domestic Product and a quarter of its manufacturing outputs.  The A127 corridor, which provides 40,000 jobs, is the second biggest employer in the Thames Gateway (behind Canary Wharf) and also the second largest in the East of England (surpassed only by Cambridge). 

The 2009 Place Survey Tracker 

When asked how satisfied they were with their local area as a place to live, three in four residents (73%) were either very or fairly satisfied with their local area. The satisfaction level rose to 87% when asked how satisfied they were with their home as a place to live.  There has been a decrease in satisfaction in the last year. (In 2008, satisfaction with the local area was 76% and satisfaction with their home as a place to live was 89%). 

The 2009 Place Survey Tracker identified the level of crime (62%), health services (57%) and clean streets (51%) as the top three things most important in making somewhere a good place to live. Respondents also stated that the top three areas for improvement are road and pavement repairs (62%), activities for teenagers (42%) and the level of crime (35%).  Analysis of issues that make somewhere good to live and areas that need improvement show crime, clean streets and road / pavement repair are most important to local residents and considered to be a priority for improvement.

Comparison of 2008 Place Survey and the 2009 Tracker Survey 

• Performance across all but four of the indicators has improved, however across a range of indicators performance is below that of the average District and all Council scores. 
• General satisfaction with the local area has reduced and we know that performance against this indicator is closely linked to concerns about anti-social behaviour (ASB). Across two of the three ASB indicators (NI17 and 21) performance has improved, however more could be done to involve residents in addressing issues of crime and ASB in local areas. The Community Safety Partnership has a number of community events planned for 2010/11 aimed at increasing the involvement of residents and providing community reassurance that the partnership are addressing these priorities. 
• The proportion of people who consider their health to not be good has increased. The Basildon Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) understands that a number of factors influence this indicator (including income, education, social interaction and the living environment) and the partnership is working hard to join up activity to deliver holistically to improve the quality of life for our residents.

National indicators

Recession Consultation

In 2009, to inform the LSP review into the impact of the recession, the District Citizens Panel were asked for their views to inform a programme of recession busting initiatives to support local people and businesses.

• The majority of respondents felt that the following are concerns in their neighbourhoods: unemployment (67%), small/medium businesses ceasing to trade (54%), increasing debt (56%), increasing crime (43%) and repossessions (37%).  
• The main impacts of the recession are: spending less on fitness/leisure/recreation (48%), and reduced income due to low interest rates (50%). 
• The main changes that respondents have made due to the recession are: spending less on luxury items (74%), eating out less (67%), spending less on holidays (63%) and saving/investing less (62%).

Biodiversity Consultation 

In 2009 to inform the development of a district biodiversity strategy, the District Citizens Panel were asked for their views on a range of topics around the natural environment.

• 77% of respondents are not a member of a wildlife/conservation organisation.
• The most important aspect of protecting biodiversity is green spaces, which are local and accessible (80%).
• Overall, the most important type of habitat is woodland (57%), with road verges being the least important (11%).
• 51% of respondents feel that biodiversity in the District is fairly well protected.

Threats to Biodiversity

• Habitat loss is the most threatened aspect of biodiversity (45%).
• The main action to address biodiversity loss should be to create new habitats (68%).
• 90% of respondents agree that management for biodiversity should be an obligation that the Council meets when managing its own land.
• 85% of respondents think that the Council should do more to encourage private landowners to promote biodiversity, with 76% wanting to see more areas specifically managed for this purpose.
• When asked about how the community should get involved with biodiversity, many options were given, with a popular answer of Involve and inform children and adults of the importance of looking after and respecting their locality (32%).
• The majority of respondents said that if they could change one thing to boost biodiversity, they would want more information and education on the subject (24%), or to initiate each street to look after their own green areas with more encouragement for people to look after their front gardens (24%).

Fear of Crime Survey 2009

 A research study was carried out in autumn 2009 to better understand the concerns of local people around crime and to inform the priorities of the Community Safety Partnership – the key findings show that: 

• Fear of being a victim of crime in the next 12 months fell from 18% in 2008 to 16.7% in 2009.
• The crime most respondents were concerned about was burglary with 65% describing it as very serious or fairly serious concern.
• The issue of stray dogs (15%), environmental issues (14%) and neighbour nuisance (11%) were perceived by members to have improved the most in the last three years.
• 61% of people felt that alcohol related crime and disorder was not a problem in their area.
• The most common problems experienced by respondents and their households were youths causing a nuisance (50%), alcohol related nuisance (35%) and having a car broken into/vandalised (32%).
• The majority of respondents indicated that they do not feel that they have ever been victimised due to their race, ethnicity or gender.
• The vast majority of respondents said that they felt safe in their neighbourhood both outside during the day (92%) and in their home (89%).

Challenges

Life expectancy in the Basildon District is between 72.9 and 81.1 years for men and 78.7 and 83.5 years for women. These figures demonstrate the disparity of experience between the least and most deprived communities and the level of health inequality (8.2yrs male and 4.8yrs female) that exists across the district. Black and Minority Ethnic communities have the worst health and lowest life expectancy, with residents of Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Gypsy Traveller origins having the poorest life expectancy outcomes. The Basildon Local Strategic Partnership has commissioned a review of health inequality to identify the shared priorities and key activity for the partnership to address across a range of issues that impact on health and the quality of life. 

In 2007, Basildon had the 3rd lowest rate in Essex for female alcohol-specific hospital admission; 87.9 per 100,000 compared to an Essex average of 96.77. The rate for male alcohol-specific hospital admission was also considerably lower at 184.31 per 100,000 population compared to an Essex average of 198.89 (NWPHO alcohol profiles). 

From 2003-5 Basildon had an estimated adult obesity rate of 25.8%. This rate was above the Essex average.  In 2008-9, Basildon had the 3rd highest obesity rate in Essex for reception–age children; 9.0% were obese, which is above the Essex average of 8.2%. 16.8% of Year 6 children were obese, which is also above the Essex average of 16%10. Both of these rates increased from 2007-8 to 2008-9. 

From 2003 to 2005, Basildon had the highest rate of (estimated) smoking prevalence in Essex; 28.1%, compared to an Essex average of 23%, the figures were highest in the Fryerns ward, which has the highest smoking mortality rate amongst males in Essex.

In 2006-7 Basildon had a below average number of service users with physical impairments in Essex; 2.2 per 1,000 users, compared to an Essex average of 2.4 per 1,000. However, this masks small areas with higher rates, such as Pitsea, which has one of the highest rates of people with a disability in Essex. 

In 2006-7 Basildon had a below-average rate of people with sensory impairments; 3.7 per 1,000 compared to an Essex average of 4.4. Of those experiencing sensory impairment, 0.7 per 1,000 had severe impairment; an above average rate compared to the rest of Essex. 

From 2005-7 Basildon had the 2nd highest teenage conception rate in Essex; 41.6 per 1,000 15-17 year old girls, compared to the Essex average of around 32. Basildon’s rate is above the national average of 41.2 (Teenage pregnancy unit, 2009). 50% of teenage pregnancies in Basildon lead to abortions. This is comparable to the national average, but below the Essex average of 54%. 

There remains a challenge to provide suitable accommodation for the increasing demand from gypsies and travellers currently on occupied pitches as their families grow as well as to address the needs of this very disadvantaged group in our society, which suffers the worst health and lowest life expectancy.

Projects

The Basildon LSP awarded £10.8K of LAA funding to deliver Health MOT sessions (NI 120) - Led by the Working Neighbourhoods Group (a sub group of the Basildon Inclusion Group), 10 events have been organised across the district to make up the Healthy Benefits Road show. Taking place between October 2009 and January 2010, the events bring together partners who are able to advise the community on both financial and health issues in a positive response to the recession. Sixteen partners, including CAB, Swan Housing, BDC Healthy Lifestyle, Revenues and Benefits and IMPACT are participating in varying locations at differing times of the day. 

Funding of £6.5 million has been secured for the Thames Gateway Sub Regional Housing Partnership to improve housing. This includes £4.4 million funding to deliver warm homes for the private sector, and £1.5 million funding to reduce the number of empty homes, which has enabled the empty homes initiative to be launched.

Initiatives to promote healthy eating to local people have included local businesses serving healthy options are being credited with a Healthy Eating Award, in partnership with the NHS.  Local businesses have been helped to reduce the amount of salt they serve and residents are being made aware of simple ways they can reduce the amount of salt they consume.  Council-led children’s centres also deliver courses to parents and families on healthy eating, cooking with children and cooking on a budget.  Northlands park has a community garden that is partly used to grow vegetables, which children and families then cook with. 

The Council, working closely with South West Essex Primary Care Trust (PCT), have secured funding for a public health specialist to work with us on health initiatives such as free stress awareness training, 300 free flu vaccinations and cholesterol / prostate cancer checks at reduced cost to employees.  The Council have been shortlisted for a national public and private sector award for its employee health and well-being initiatives.

Partnership working with the PCT has resulted in clinics running at Surestart Centres. This brings clinics to the heart of the community and increases access to services. Clinics include child dietetics, occupational health assessment for children who are not meeting their developmental milestones, weight management and smoking cessation.

The Council in partnership with NHS South West Essex launched a new £80K healthy living scheme in May 2009 called “Get Out There” with the aim of tackling obesity and enabling people of all ages to get fit. The scheme offers more than 50 discounted sports and leisure activities to local people for as little as 50p. This targets families “getting back into” leisure activities together. The programme also provides for sections of the community that currently do not access activity on regular basis e.g. people with disabilities and also targets businesses to improve the health of their workforces. A website has been introduced to assist in the communication of the programme, http://www.getouttherebasildon.co.uk/. The programme itself has also been commended by the Institute of Sport and Recreation Management (ISRM).

The PCT has commissioned free structured and individually tailored physical activity programmes for local people with BMI of above 30 via local GP referral and free weight management programmes, including slimming world and weight watchers for 12 weeks for clients with BMI>30. The programme covers the entire District and GP’s refer clients to Basildon Council leisure facilities, over 1300 people have been referred to the scheme. Results indicate that over 50% of clients who complete the programme reduce their BMI by 5%. Following a partner review of the programme and some changes to improve the scheme, the target increased to 60% in 2009/10 which has been achieved (67%). Clients on the programme are also able to access other interventions such as smoking cessation.

The multi-agency team has successfully delivered the 2^nd greatest drop in the teenage conception rates in Essex since inception of the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy. Basildon had the highest rate in Essex 53.5 per 1000 in 1998-2000, considerably higher than the national rate. The team has achieved a 22.2% drop to 41.6 per 1000 and is now place 2^nd to Harlow, close to Tendring and just above the national average (Case Study). Rates in other parts of Essex have risen or reduced more slowly.

Challenges

Child poverty is an area of concern within Basildon with children in poverty more likely to be tired, hungry and disengaged with education; the impact of this is seen in pupil achievement and attendance levels. In 2009 only 44% of the District’s children made a good level of development at foundation level. The Child Wellbeing Index 2009 which consider factors such as housing, health, education and crime, to gain an idea of the wellbeing of children in local areas shows Basildon as 230^th out of 354 local authority Districts (354th being the worst). The index shows that issues for Basildon in relation to child poverty include education, crime and material wellbeing. 

The number of people with learning difficulties in the Basildon district is 4.8 per thousand. Analysis at a GP practice level show ranges of between 2% and 10.5% of patients with a form of learning difficulty. Mental health emergency hospital admissions are highest amongst those with neurosis and schizophrenia. 

A household is said to be in fuel poverty if it needs to spend more than 10% of its income on fuel to maintain a satisfactory heating regime. 8 of Basildon’s 110 Lower Super Output Areas (LSOA) are in the 10% most at risk of experiencing fuel poverty in Essex. A further 12 areas are in the 20% most at risk. 12 of Basildon’s LSOAs are in the 10% least at risk of experiencing fuel poverty, with a further 12 in the 20% least at risk. 

Basildon has a high proportion of looked after children (in 2007/08 72 per 10,000 children under18 years of age), evidence shows that they are twice as likely to become teenage parents or over represented in the youth justice system. 1 in 4 adults in prison were looked after as a child and between a quarter and a third of rough sleepers were looked after at some points in their lives.

Projects

Performance Reward Grant funding was secured to provide additional mentors in primary settings to work with children at risk of social exclusion. The intervention will also identify parent’s needs and issues. 

The Basildon LSP awarded £50K LAA funding to deliver life skills training to people with mental health needs (NI 141/NI 156). The course is targeted at raising self esteem to facilitate access into employment, training, education and volunteering. 83 people have attended the training so far and feedback indicates that participants were growing in self-awareness and becoming more proactive.

From 2010/11, electronic safeguarding children training is being rolled out across all Council staff (beginning with those who have most contact with children). A range of key front-line staff from services such as Housing, Revenues and Benefits, Environmental Health and the Council’s Arms Length Management Organisation (ALMO) have been trained to use the Common Assessment Framework. The Council is in discussions with the IDeA regarding the potential to work with them on further policy development as well as to provide additional support to Members in this field of work. An e-mail address and whistle blowing policy have been launched to allow staff to raise issues relating to child protection confidentially. The Council has issued a Z card to all staff outlining what the procedures are if they are concerned about a child’s wellbeing. Safeguarding Children is a standing agenda item for all team meetings across the Council.  The monthly corporate Team Briefing that is circulated to all service managers and Heads of Service are used to cascade key messages to all staff surrounding issues such as the Vetting and Barring Scheme and the need to obtain written consent before using images of children in promotional publicity.  A Safeguarding Children Service Home Page has also been created on the Council’s intranet to provide additional information as well as advice and guidance to staff in a single place.

The Council has updated its safeguarding, disciplinary, whistle-blowing and recruitment and selection policies to reflect the Southend, Essex and Thurrock (SET) Child Protection Procedures, as well as the revised Working Together to Safeguard Children guidance issued in March 2010. Safeguarding children considerations have been embedded within the Council’s procurement and risk management procedures.  It has also audited its practices against the Essex Safeguarding Children Board’s Safer Recruitment and Employment Standards and agreed an action plan of next steps.

Extended Services introduced a scheme to improve access to activities for children with Special Needs in Wickford. Funding was used to offer the provision of a Learning Support Assistant (LSA) or Higher Level Teaching Assistant (HLTA) (with or without special needs training dependant on the needs of the child) to attend chosen activities with a special needs child. The family are able to select the activities their child wishes to attend whereby a suitable LSA or HLTA is sourced to support the child at the activity.  A pool of staff was recruited on a casual basis during holiday periods to support the project. Staff were also offered the opportunity to support children within their own school enabling access and support before and after school clubs. The LSA arrives early at the activity to meet the family on arrival and stays to provide a hand over to the family at the end. To date support has been provided for 4 children who now attend activities each holiday. The families are delighted with the service and appreciative of the support and respite. The children themselves enjoy the activities and are able to mix with all children to enjoy a positive experience. This scheme has also facilitated support of Traveller children accessing activities. Two LSAs accompanied a mini bus of children who were collected from their site to participate in a full day sports activity whilst enjoying the support of the LSAs attending with them. The project has provided a positive experience for special needs children in a mainstream activity. Outcomes for the children include improved social skills and the ability to participate as part of a team/community and improved confidence and self esteem at school and home. Valuable respite for families has been provided which leads to a more settled and happy family environment. 10 children have benefited from this scheme to date.

In 2002 a need was identified for supporting local parents, Billericay Parents Forum evolved to provide that support through positive parenting courses, open meetings and drop-in sessions. Following a year’s pilot a programme was bought and adapted to local needs; parents were trained to lead the courses. A team of trained and highly professional local parents now deliver the free courses, in 4 stages, to parents of children and young people aged 0 – 19 years, in a variety of venues including schools and community halls. Open meetings include topics requested by parents such as healthy eating, drugs and alcohol, finance, storytelling, knife crime, emotional well-being, language development and grandparents.  Since the project started, it has delivered over 65 courses and reached well over 800 families, enabling parents to support one another. Many others have used other services provided. The service continues to grow and develop new initiatives to meet local needs such as transition sessions for parents of pupils transferring to secondary schools, dads’ courses and a drop-in centre for new mothers and their babies.

Evaluation received from parents (before and after every course) shows that parenting confidence is raised, children’s behaviour improves, communication and relationships are better and family life is calmer. Parents value the courses highly and appreciate the course leaders’ understanding of raising children, often commenting that it has made a real difference to their family. The project has recently received an award from the National Academy of Parenting Practitioners for work with parents that are innovative, sustainable and unique within the Eastern Region.

Challenges

Educational attainment at both primary and secondary school level falls below the Essex average. In 2009 Basildon was ranked 6th of the 12 Essex districts for secondary school children achieving 5 or more grades A*-C at GCSE. In 2009 67.5% of pupils achieved 5 or more grades A*-C, the Essex average was 68.2% and the national average was 70%. Basildon has the fourth lowest results with only 43.8% of KS4 pupils in the District obtaining 5+ A* to C grades including English and maths. The disparity of achievement between the New Town schools and those in Billericay and Wickford are considerable. Less than 15% of Barstable school pupils achieved 5+ A* to C grades including English and maths and half do not achieve A* to C in English and maths. Twice as many boys have no GCSE qualifications than girls; the wards of greatest concentration are Fryerns, Vange, Lee Chapel North and St Martins. (Barstable and Chalvedon schools have merged together to create Basildon Lower and Upper Academy).

There are 9 Local Education Authority controlled secondary schools within Basildon. Beauchamps High School was the best performer in 2009; 95% of pupils achieving 5 or more A*-C GCSEs (5th highest rate out of 75 Essex schools for which results are available). The James Hornsby High School was the worst in 2009; with a pass-rate of 51% (9th worst in Essex for schools which results are available). 5 schools scored below the Essex average of 68%. Six of the seven schools for which results are available recorded an improvement in their results from 2008 to 2009. 

Basildon had the 6th highest rate of ethnic minority pupils in Essex; 10.1% compared to an Essex average of 9.6%. This rate has increased from 6.9% in 2005.

In March 2010, Basildon had the 2nd highest rate of children NEET (Not in Employment Education or Training) in Essex 13.4%, compared to an Essex average of just under 7% (Essex Connexions Team, Data Services, SCF, May 2009). Basildon’s average rate for the year 2009-10 was 12.5%; 2nd highest in Essex, and above both the County and national averages. 

In 2008, Basildon was ranked 10th out of the 12 Essex districts (with 1 being the best), for working-age population with no qualifications; 18% of the working age population had no qualifications, compared to a county average of 14.1%.

Basildon had the 2nd lowest rate of working age adults with NVQ level 1 qualifications in Essex; 75.1% compared to a County average of 77.9%. 59.6% of Braintree’s working age population had an NVQ level 2 qualification (ranked 9th in Essex and below the County average of 62.2%). 39.6% have an NVQ level 3 qualification (ranked 8th in Essex, below the county average of 40.9%). 20.2% of working-age adults are qualified to NVQ level 4 or above (ranked 9th in Essex), this compares to an Essex average of 23.6%. 

A wealth of apprenticeships are available within the District or are in easy travelling distance, however many young people lack the entry requirements to take them up.  This challenge is further exacerbated by a lack of opportunities locally to re-sit key exams.  There is also an identified need in some parts of the District to raise the aspirations of children, young people and their families.

Projects

The LSC supported a new construction and engineering apprenticeship centre, which opened in Basildon in November 2007. Basildon trade school offers 8 week courses in bricklaying, electricity and plumbing for young people year 9 and above and 16 and 17 year olds who are unemployed. Teaching is provided by Prospects college and local businesses (e.g. Lovells). Over 150 people have attended the trade school in the 3 years it has been running and some firms offer apprenticeships. From the LAA Performance Reward Grant Basildon LSP funded the Trade School £110K, Between February 2009 and March 2010.  3 eight week sessions and 1 two week session were delivered by trades people and college instructors from participating companies and colleges.  The young people built feed boxes for a local stable and benches and picnic benches for donation within the community. An awards evening was hosted by Essex County Council on 6^th November 09 when 17 of the youngsters were presented with their Trade School Certificates of Attendance and the Skills Section of their Duke of Edinburgh award.  They were also awarded with the Essex Youth Achievement Award. A spreadsheet was drawn up at the end of 2009 listing all the young people who had attended the trade school from the very first session in 2005.  From this it was determined that 97.5% went on to employment/education and 96.2% still remained in employment/education.

Basildon Action on Learning Partnership are holding a Skills fest at the Basildon Festival in 2010, this interactive skills event was first held in 2009.  This event was very well received, with an estimated 3,000 people, including 600 young people, attending. Activities included tasters in bricklaying, carpentry, nail techniques, hairstyling, disc jockeying, a rowing machine competition, giant operation game and interactive science exhibits delivered by 20 partners.

The New Futures Consortium involving seven local secondary schools in the Basildon Billericay and Wickford area has worked with pre-16s on programmes of vocational education covering key sector skills identified as important to the Basildon area and future economic growth.  This programme has been in place over ten years and has catered for more than 800 (c 80 per year) young people identified as being in danger of becoming NEET, post-16.  The outcome of this programme suggests that over 60% of these students have gone on into Further Education, Employment with training, or full time employment, Post-16. This trend continues and the numbers of students involved in alternative education programmes in the Basildon Billericay and Wickford area increases year-on-year. Apart from an ESF grant in 2003-05, this programme has not received any additional support funding from any external source.

Performance Reward Grant funding has been attracted to enable up to 60 year 10-11 students to achieve qualifications (e.g. European Computer Driving License) through tutor led and on-line courses at the ITEC centre.

The LSP and Basildon Council funded and delivered ‘Your Future ’09 careers event for NEET young people aged 16-24.  The event was held on October 2, 2009 at the Towngate Theatre. Partners provided information, advice, and guidance and offered seminars in topics such as CV writing and interviewing.  The event included a motivational speech from double Olympic Gold Medallist and six-time world champion rower James Cracknell, an Army climbing wall, the Connexions mobile bus, construction and nail technician tasters, the Heart FM Angels and prize draws for a laptop.  200 young people attended the event which was delivered by 30 partner organisations.  Partners provided 286 information, advice, and guidance sessions on the day.  15 young people signed up to part-time courses, 4 signed up to full-time courses, and 1 gained full-time employment.  149 completed intake forms seeking opportunities in learning, employment, work experience, or volunteering. 27 people received information about Finance, 18 received help with interviewing, 16 received help with CV writing and 17 (including 8 adults) received information on self employment or starting a business.

Challenges

The latest available data shows that Basildon’s unemployment rate was consistently below the national average, but above the regional average from 2005-2008, it has since been getting closer to the national average as the effects of the recession take hold (ONS Annual Population Survey). 

Basildon has an above-average rate of job seekers allowance claimants; 4.2% of the working-age population, compared to an Essex average of 3.3% and a national average of 4.1%. 

The ONS Annual Population Survey shows that the proportion of residents in skilled trades, professional and elementary occupations has increased above the district average over the last 4 years.

The District has a large number of high value jobs, however these are difficult to access by residents who have one of the lowest levels of skills in Essex and find themselves stuck in low value employment. Engagement of Higher Education institutions and the private sector will need to be addressed.

Local companies need to build up their capacity in the recession and need to look to internationalise their operations such as finding new technology and global suppliers and markets.

The District has a large number of global companies and Foreign Direct Investment making the District vulnerable to global changes and pressures. Increased support is required to existing companies to ensure retention and future investments.

New approaches are needed to reach those who are economically inactive such as working through Registered Social Landlords (RSLs), voluntary and community groups. The Learning Ambassador programme was successful in achieving this but has no further funding.

Closer links with Essex Adult Community Education would benefit this whole area of work

Projects

Performance Reward Grant funding attracted to train Community Learning Ambassadors who can signpost economically excluded residents into training and employment opportunities. Targets include 1,000 local people being referred to learning, training or employment opportunities with 300 engaged in learning as a result of the initiative.

Development of a Targeted Training and Recruitment policy to ensure local people will be able to benefit from physical developments through developer and Section 106 agreements.

50K accessed through Section 106 agreement to set up Basildon Education and Skills Training (BEST) to identify residents and match them with employment opportunities from new development.

Working with RSLs to identify and attract economic inactive residents to take up skills training.

A number of initiatives have been launched by the Basildon Renaissance Partnership to support local businesses through the recession. These have included: Business Assist e-mail address launched which allows businesses to receive help advice and guidance from a network of specialist sources including Business Link East, Universities and business support agencies. In the first 2 months, 47 businesses received advice.

Development of an Innovation Programme to identify the innovative capacity of firms and the opportunities to innovate and create high skilled employment

Completion of an Innovation Centre feasibility Study.

Challenges

Basildon had the 6th highest percentage of recycling and composting per capita in Essex between 2008 and 2009; 38.6%, narrowly missing the recycling target of 39% set in the Local Area Agreement. 

The Basildon District covers an area of approximately 110 square kilometres (sq km), which includes 72 sq km of green space, 4.7 sq km of domestic development, 2.3 sq km of non domestic development and 6.6 sq km of road. Basildon has poorer air quality than the surrounding Districts with higher carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, particulates, sulphur dioxide and benzene levels. Basildon has the 2^nd largest carbon footprint of Districts in Essex.

Projects

700K warm and healthy homes funding has been secured.

Basildon Green Business Forum (BGBF) – in 2007/8 alone, eleven local businesses achieved cost reductions of £1 million through reducing their carbon footprints and diverted 20million tonnes of waste from landfill. In 2008, the BGBF engaged with businesses and the community in a novel way by attracting visitors to an ‘Art Challenge’, which was timed to coincide with World Environment Day. It promoted the green agenda to residents and raised awareness of its own free services amongst the business community.  An audience of 250,000 passed through the exhibition staged in Eastgate Shopping Centre over the course of a fortnight.

More than £5 million has been invested to turn Wat Tyler Country Park into a major centre for education, heritage and nature conservation.  At the heart of the scheme are plans to restore part of a former explosives factory into a £2.7m heritage interpretation centre powered by renewable energy. A new RSPB centre will also be created at the site.

Climate change process is further driving this agenda with authorities embedding policy to minimise adverse impacts.

The Environment Partnership has recently applied for LSP funding to hold a workshop with Public Sector partners to consider opportunities to reduce CO₂ emissions and learn from the private sector, through involvement of local businesses working with the BGBF.

Challenges

Basildon has the 2nd highest crime rate in Essex; the majority of offences are property related including car crime and criminal damage. The estimated yearly cost of crime in the District is over £50 million. The victims of crime are often disadvantaged to begin with, more likely to be young, unemployed or living in areas of high physical disorder. Despite this, crime levels have reduced in the District over the past 3 years and the severity and frequency of offences varies from ward to ward across the District. Over the last two years fear of crime has also decreased, however 16.7% of respondents to our local survey still believe they are likely or very likely to be a victim of crime in the next 12 months which is disproportionately higher than actual crime trends would suggest.

Since 1 September 2009 155 different individuals have been named in relation to Dwelling Burglary in Basildon, 37 of whom would be assessed as priority burglary offenders (15 of these are current classified as Persistent Priority Offenders). 37 is a significant number of offenders committing one specific offence.  Burglary Dwelling is the current crime of choice (Vehicle Crime reduced by 11% last year and has reduced by 43% over the last 3 years - All Crime was reduced by 8.5% last year and has reduced by 18.4% over the last 3 years - Dwelling Burglary has only reduced by 15 offences (1.3%) over the last 3 years).

Shoplifting has the highest number of incidents within the District accounting for 12% of all the crimes committed. The cumulative figure shows that the top ten crimes make up 71% of all crimes committed in Basildon. Five of the crimes which make up the top ten crimes in Basildon feature as priorities for the Community Safety Partnership. The crimes and their prevalence have changed since the last financial year whereby, the most prevalent crime was damage to a motor vehicle and shoplifting came second on the list of high volume crime. 

1. Domestic Burglary – Basildon has the 3rd highest rates of domestic Burglary in Essex and it remains a constant issue within the District. As a result, Burglary features as a concern in the fear of crime survey, 65% of respondents viewed Burglary as a very serious of fairly serious concern.
2. Criminal Damage – is frequently seen as a minor crime, but neglected physical environments are unsafe, cause fear and undermine pride in the local community. Criminal damage can also be seen as a catalyst to other forms of anti- social behaviour and crime. When compared to the Essex average, Basildon had a larger rate of criminal damage offences.
3. Violent Crime – Though relatively low in number, violent offences have a very serious and often long term affect on victims and the resident population as a whole, between April and September 2009 there were 49 serious violent offences committed.
4. Domestic Violence – On the whole the number of domestic abuse offences has risen. Between April and September there have been 116 more offences than the same period last year. In 2009, the greatest form of domestic abuse was Actual Bodily Harm (43%).
5. Hate Crime – The numbers of hate crime reported are low, however we believe that the reporting of hate crime is under-reported and that this figure could be considerably higher. Further work will be carried out by the Community Safety Partnership in the coming months to better understand the local drivers of hate crime and potential interventions.

In 2008, Basildon had the 6th highest number of Killed or Seriously Injured (KSI) casualties in Essex (63 compared to an Essex average of around 60). The district had the 3rd lowest number of KSI causalities per capita (37.37 per 100,000 population compared to a County average of over 50 per 100,000 population). 

The number of KSI casualties in Basildon is on target (baseline 1994-1998) for 2010; after the 3rd quarter of 2009 there have been 34 KSI casualties, 13 fewer than at the same stage last year and 17 less than the target for this period.

Projects

The Basildon LSP awarded £212K to support the expansion of the CCTV network in Basildon (NI 17, LI 7.2) since May 2009; the eight CCTV cameras covering Basildon Town Centre have been monitored 24 hours a day by three dedicated operators. As a result of the pro-active relationship the CCTV operators have with the police, there have been 9 directly attributable arrests in the last 3 months. The cameras also recorded 650 occurrences ranging from suspicious behaviour to antisocial behaviour.

As part of the Home Office funded Operation Vigilance programme running between October 2009 and March 2010, the Basildon Community Safety Partnership developed operation Brightshadow. Between October and December 2009 this operation targeted persistent offenders within the Basildon District.  Analysis shows that Brightshadow was effective and the number of burglaries would have been higher without that Operation (results analysis suggests there would have been 31 more offences - this would have represented a 4.9% increase in offending over the same period last year). Operation Brightshadow has had a positive impact on not just burglary dwelling offence levels but also on all offences where Police presence would act as a deterrent.  During 6 out of 7 deployments, the number of burglary dwelling offences has decreased when compared to previous weeks and on all occasion there has not been a corresponding increase in overnight.

In September the ‘Challenge 25’ age-restricted sales campaign was launched across Basildon District. The project was funded by the Basildon Community Safety Partnership and was a joint initiative between Basildon Council, Trading Standards and Essex Police. Aimed at driving down the sales of age-restricted products to under-age customers, the campaign targeted all retailers selling these types of products across the District with a ‘Challenge 25’ campaign pack. Visits were made by Trading Standards to each relevant retail outlet to promote the campaign messages and encourage sign up to the voluntary challenge 25 contract. Those outlets signed up to the scheme then used the packs, which included badges, posters, window stickers and shelf wobblers to promote the need for ID.  The campaign also encouraged retailers to promote the dangers of ‘proxy sales’, where people above the legal age limit buy age-restricted goods for under-age people. This part of the campaign highlighted the potential £80 fixed penalty fine or £5000 fine if the case goes to court. 75% of retailers selling age-restricted products signed up for the scheme with 106 out of the 136 in Basildon signing up to the contract and using the promotional material. Free training sessions were offered to the retailers to help their staff improve confidence when asking for ID if they suspect a buyer to be under 25. The effectiveness of the campaign has been measured by Trading Standards carrying out unannounced test purchasing with the retailers. An example of this is in Laindon, an area where the project group concentrated intensely, and after 15 retailers were tested, only 1 sale to an under-age buyer occurred.

The Basildon LSP awarded £140K to recruit a partnership communication coordinator to improve partnership working and raise awareness of partnership working with residents. The Co-ordinator has worked with the Community Safety Partnership to develop a Communications Strategy and reassurance campaigns to address resident perceptions and fear of crime. The post has developed a communications plans for the partnership and is managing a series of events and publicity campaigns with the local community, which has resulted in improved perception of partnerships within the District and better communication across the partnership structure. In July 2009 the Co-ordinator organised a Together Against Crime event, held in Basildon town centre, which included stands from a range of partners. Two smaller-scale events were held in Billericay and Wickford before Christmas. There was coverage in the local media explaining the partnership working of the Community Safety Partnership.

The Community Safety Partnership and wider LSP have been involved in the development of two “Total Place” projects aimed at improving current service delivery across a range of partners, enhanced efficiency and effectiveness and a holistic approach to Offender Management and Family Intervention. Operation Vigilance has provided the resource to research and develop an Integrated Offender Management programme for the Basildon District. The aim of the programme will be to deliver sustainable crime reduction through a properly integrated multi-agency approach to dealing with offenders both in terms of rehabilitation but also enforcement. The Family Intervention project will utilise £64K of LAA funding from the LSP, £40K from other local partners and match funding by the DfE to target high risk / high cost families. The project will employ multi skilled intervention workers to work with families to moderate high risk lifestyles and assist them to access services aimed at encouraging them to make a contribution to society and improve their quality of life, whilst reducing the burden of high maintenance families to the public purse.

During 2009 the Council promoted two campaigns designed to reduce the harm caused by alcohol misuse and associated anti-social behaviour through a combination of education and enforcement initiatives. The DrinkWise campaign focused on the personal responsibilities of individuals, providing information, signposting and advice to the public that highlighted the importance of sensible drinking. The Age Restricted Sales Campaign was more concerned with supporting businesses in order to promote good retailing practices, there by preventing sales to young people of restricted products. To date, over 73% of premises have signed up to the age restricted sales campaign, receiving a pack promoting the campaign that can be displayed at their premises. Free training sessions have also been held by the Council on age related sales and responsible alcohol retailing, which have been attended by 34 suppliers.

A youth engagement centre was opened in January 2009 in the grounds of the first Basildon Academy school and is called “The Linx”. This is supported by £80K partner funding, including £20K from Basildon’s Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership. The centre will act as a base to support the young people of Basildon in achieving their full potential and overcoming any problems in their personal development. The centre will be used as a venue for the fire service's hugely popular fire break scheme - a drive against arson - and its young fire-fighter courses. Funding has been attracted to run three firebreak courses in 2009 and a further 2 in 2010 (with approximate 12 participants per course). There are currently 20 young people participating in the young fire-fighter course which results in an Assessment and Qualification Alliance (AQA) award. The course aims to reduce anti-social behaviour and improve young people’s self esteem. Partnership working with the local TASCC (team around schools children and families), and integrated support services enables targeted young people to be referred to these courses. Other organisations such as Connexions, V Inspired, ECC Integrated Youth Service, Essex Police, St George’s Community Housing and Basildon Council have all signed up to deliver education programmes from the centre. This will include supporting young people on subjects such as how to give up smoking, drug and alcohol abuse and sexual health issues as well as Prison, No Way and Junior Community Warden courses. It will also provide support to young parents with parenting classes and advise on issues such as domestic violence. The police will also run an anger management course from the centre.

The Basildon Women’s Aid. LPF Project delivers interventions that deal with the severe effects of domestic abuse to resident families, using group exercises in a safe space. The objectives are to develop an understanding of the meaning and effects of domestic abuse, encourage and develop awareness of childhood issues that affect current behaviour, raise self-esteem and confidence enabling personal issues to be dealt with appropriately and develop understanding of behavioural problems manifested by children and young people. Evidence to date suggests families are being supported to overcome their difficulties. An example of impact is where the work of the project for both mother and child has led to a better relationship, so far avoiding possible care. The family has now moved on to their own new tenancy and continue to receive help through the Outreach Centre but are all still together and school attendance has improved considerably.

Basildon Community Safety Partnership contributed £15k to fund a programme of youth intervention activity with Basildon Positive Futures programme, hosted by Basildon Catch-22. Positive Futures also received £10k to work in partnership Basildon’s Community Safety Action Zone to provide young person led intervention activities to engage and motivate young people. The range of activities include accredited music based courses for young people at risk of becoming or are Not in Employment Education or Training (NEET), which provided the young people with a recognised qualification and aspirations to access further education. Over the duration of the project over 600 young people took part in these activities and 72 NEET gained accredited qualifications.

The Basildon Community Safety Partnership were successful in attracting £50K to fund a Community SOS Bus. The funding was made available through the Government's recently launched Community Cash back scheme, where money from criminals seized assets such as confiscated cash or property is reinvested, meaning that criminals are paying for a valuable resource for the community. The grant will help to fund the purchase and equipping of a bus as a triage facility for weekend nights at the Festival Leisure Park in Basildon. This will help to reduce the number of people taken to hospital as a result of drink, drugs or minor injuries. The new SOS Bus will also be available to be used as mobile centre for various organisations to make use of during the day across the whole of the district, offering benefits advice, housing advice, crime prevention, medical advice and drink / drug advice.

Challenges 

In June 2009, the average house price in Basildon was £201,786, which was the 6th highest in Essex, above the regional (£199,634), but below the national (£224,064) averages. Gypsy and Travellers - Basildon has 115 authorised pitches (including 8 with temporary planning permission), which currently accommodate 210 caravans (highest number in Essex) and 81 unauthorised pitches, which accommodate 214 caravans (the highest number in the East of England) (source: Jan 2010 gypsy count).

Transport can pose a challenge to securing the continued social inclusion of older people, especially in a context of rising fuel costs and slow recovery from the recession.  The Council’s Community Transport provider has recently had to increase its prices significantly due to a loss of funding from other sources.

Projects

Start Bright Children’s centre has been successful in engaging with dads and male carers through specialist groups, and has seen an increase in dads attending other baby groups. Staff have up-skilled local people to make services sustainable, and parents are now running services such as a parent and toddler group and credit union themselves. The centre has also been awarded the Full Core Offer national standard for children’s centres, one month ahead of schedule.

The community development team in partnership with Swan Housing have worked with residents from Five Links to form a residents association with the aim of ensuring services reflect the needs of local people. The residents association have recently been successful in securing £33,800 from GOEast to deliver services to the local community which include: an information shop/ internet café, a community newsletter, a Five Links media project, a Pimp my Bike project, basic IT skills training for older residents and healthy eating, cooking and budgeting training. The aim of these funded projects is to enhance the leadership and voice of the local community, as well as improving the perceptions of service delivery.  Many of these models have been proven to have worked in the past, with the Pimp My Bike project, for instance, having won a High Sheriff’s award in March 2010. Outcomes so far have included improved perceptions of crime and anti-social behaviour, improved access to local services, increased skills within the local community and enhanced sense of community cohesion and empowerment. The Council has recently been successful in obtaining funding for a family intervention project.

The George Hurd Centre has continued to be successful. Membership has now increased to 1,400; the range of activities has been expanded to include 8 new classes and the meals income increased by £2K during the 2008/2009 financial year. In its annual customer satisfaction survey (carried out in January and February 2009), the Welfare Catering service achieved a 93% satisfaction rate and demand for meals is now so high that a third sitting has had to be introduced.  The service also achieved a 5-star “Scores on the Doors” rating from the Council’s Environmental Health service in 2009/10. The centre is a base for Basildon District Volunteer Carers, the Volunteer Centre, Wickford Talking Newspaper and the Council for Voluntary Services and negotiations are currently taking place with Age Concern, which will mean the centre is fully occupied and offering what is essentially a one-stop-shop to our older, more frail and vulnerable residents. Community usage is also increasing, especially for wedding receptions and other local family celebrations. A new scooter shelter has been introduced, in partnership with Lovells and at the request of service users.

Basildon LSP, through Swan Housing, is implementing a new service to assist young people at risk of tenancy breaches to develop the life skills or social awareness needed to sustain a tenancy.

The Catch22 Young Parent Support. LPF Project gives young parents the skills, resources and support they need to change their behaviour, recover their confidence and get their lives back on track. The Young Parents Support Service provides ante and postnatal support to young parents who are not accessing traditional support in their communities. They offer a combination of group work, peer groups and individual therapeutic support on an ongoing and flexible basis. The aim of project is to break the cycle of deprivation and isolation being a young parent can represent, provide vital networks for emotional and practical support, facilitate parenting support via tailored workshops to develop young parent’s confidence and self esteem and build aspirations for a future return to Education, Training and Employment (ETE). It is beginning to have an impact on the young people attending the range of support, with examples of young people accessing training and longer term college courses.

Performance Reward Grant funding has been secured to run a programme of conservation work parties which will include recruiting volunteers. This will include running a training programme for volunteers to increase their transferable skills. The establishment of further “Friends” groups for local open spaces is also planned.

Basildon Council’s Boom Room project has a team of six volunteers supporting it to provide a musical outlet for young people in the community and the Royal Kingdom Youth Club, the Northlands Park Events Group and Credit Union are completely managed by community volunteers.

Basildon Council also provides some £30,000 project funding per annum to voluntary and community organisations, as well as having Service Level Agreements with third sector organisations worth almost £345,000 per annum. A new post of Funding Officer has also been created within the Council’s Sustainable Communities Service to administer not only the Council’s own grant schemes and Service Level Agreements, but also to support voluntary and community sector organisations to identify and apply for other sources of funding.

‘Pimp My Bike’ is a youth educational and diversionary project that is held in the Basildon district, it teaches young people how to repair and improve bicycles, including maintenance skills, the law in regard to cycling, personal riding safety, positive riding etiquette and correct attitude and understanding of responsibly as a rider. The sessions are led by an expert volunteer in the bike maintenance field and facilitators provide a fun, yet informal approach to education. By being a ‘hands-on’ project, we encourage young people who have maybe found mainstream education difficult in the past, to fully immerse themselves in this learning and skills enhancing opportunity. During the life of the project, facilitators worked with 12 at risk young people.