feature: Better together
5 August 2008
Haringey Council and its partners are working together for a better borough.
Haringey Council Leader Cllr George Meehan chairs the Haringey Strategic Partnership, which oversees the collective effort.
“Haringey is a good place to be, and we want it to be even better,” he says. “Our vision in the strategy is to make Haringey ‘a place for diverse communities that people are proud to belong to’.
“To achieve this we need to focus our efforts in those areas where most work is needed – to tackle poverty, poor health and educational underachievement, for example.”
The council and its partners have now agreed joint targets to make a real difference for local people.
Safer together
Crime is a major area where different agencies work together.
The police have an obvious role, but the council and the NHS work together to get drug-users into effective treatment, the council and the probation service work with young offenders, and the council’s anti-social behaviour team helps residents deal with problems in their neighbourhood.
Better health
Improving health is not just a job for the NHS. The council encourages more adults to take up sport, winning money to set up extra tennis facilities, for example, while schools help tackle child health through PE and healthier school meals.
Poor housing and low income also affect health, so it is important for the council to help families into decent affordable homes. Local employers, voluntary organisations, the council and the NHS are also working together to help benefit claimants into training and jobs, with advisers in GP surgeries and community centres.
Case study: Back to work
The Haringey Guarantee scheme sees the council, employment agencies, Job Centre plus, the NHS, local firms and voluntary groups pooling resources to help people back to work. Almost 1,000 residents have been helped into training or jobs, with advisers based in GP surgeries and community centres.
At the same time the council’s neighbourhood managers have teamed up with Haringey Citizens Advice Bureau to bring benefits, money management and jobs advice to people in some of the poorest parts of the borough, through door to door leafleting and community advice sessions – raising average household incomes by £12 a week
Haringey Strategic Partnership’s three year targets are set out in the Local Area Agreement 2008-11. To see the full Agreement or to find out more please visit our Local Area Agreement webpage, email hsp@haringey.gov.uk or call the LAA team on 020 8489 4533.
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