Our plan

Introduction

This is the first annual plan of Rotherham Together Partnership (RTP), the borough’s new strategic partnership body. RTP comprises representatives from various local organisations working together on a range of shared priorities to improve the economic and social wellbeing of the borough.

The plan draws heavily on Views from Rotherham, an extensive consultation programme carried out in summer 2015, through which hundreds of local people were able to share their vision for the borough’s future via a series of roadshows and an online survey.

Inevitably, the consultation responses covered a multitude of issues, hopes and aspirations, but a number of themes resonated. People wanted to address Rotherham’s poor reputation and restore pride in the borough; they wanted to harness our culture of friendliness and warmth to engender a stronger sense of community spirit; and they wanted clean and safe places for themselves and their families to enjoy.

Another overarching theme for partners is to take forward the concept of a child-centred borough “where young people are supported by their families and community, and are protected from harm”. The plan will help to make this a reality by setting out a range of actions and activities that involve and benefit children, young people and their families.

These themes are central to our 2016/17 partnership plan and inform the initiatives we intend to deliver over the next twelve months, as set out in more detail below. Whilst focusing on delivering our annual plan, RTP will also use the next few months to discuss the development of a longer term vision and strategy. The themes will remain central, but partners will be taking a more strategic look at how they can best use their collective resources to deliver meaningful, sustainable change in the borough.

This ongoing discussion will not happen in isolation. We will continue to engage and involve local people and communities at every stage and are planning another consultation programme in the summer of 2016. This is part of a shift in engagement and communications that will underpin our strategy, recognising that people are likely to engage only when they are aware of what is happening and feel that they are able to contribute and influence.

We realise that Rotherham Together Partnership will only be effective and our plans and strategies will only have an impact if we work in genuine partnership.

Rotherham today

Rotherham is a borough covering 110 square miles with a population of 260,100 who mostly live in urban areas, though 72% of the area is green belt. Rotherham has 50,000 children aged 0-15 and 27,600 young people aged 16-24. The population is ageing, with 64,100 people aged over 60, of whom 21,600 are aged over 75 and 5,800 over 85. An additional 1,000 people aged over 85 are expected by 2020; a 17% increase.

Rotherham has a diverse community which includes 20,000 people from minority ethnic groups (8.1%), the largest communities being Pakistani/Kashmiri and Slovak/Czech Roma. The borough is also made up of many towns, villages and suburbs which form a wide range of geographic communities.

According to the 2015 national index of multiple deprivation (IMD), Rotherham is placed within the top 16% most deprived places in the country and our relative position has changed little since 2010. Rotherham's main challenges are people out of work, low levels of qualification and ill health. Whilst deprivation has reduced in many parts of Rotherham, it has increased and become more concentrated in the most deprived areas. Rotherham has a vibrant voluntary and community sector, comprising almost 1,400 organisations with 3,600 staff and an estimated 49,000 volunteer roles.

Rotherham lost 14,000 jobs between 2007 and 2012 but the situation is improving. The Advanced Manufacturing Park at Waverley is leading new business growth with 700 jobs already created in high technology enterprises. Of the 5,710 VAT registered businesses in Rotherham, 975 started up in 2013. Many of the borough's larger employers are public sector bodies, though current and projected future job growth is predominantly in the private sector.

Rotherham in the future

We know one of the great things about Rotherham is the people, as indicated by the impressive volunteer numbers above. When we asked, in Views from Rotherham, what people thought about the borough, the most universally liked feature was the friendly, honest people and good "community spirit".

We will harness this positive aspect of Rotherham, focusing on our strengths - what people and places can offer rather than what they need - to create a place where everyone feels connected and able to actively participate in their community for the benefit of themselves and others. We might describe this as neighbourliness, but the value of such networks where people cooperate and do things for each other is sometimes referred to as "social capital" or "community assets".

Research has shown that higher levels of social capital are associated with better health, higher educational achievement, better employment and lower crime rates. In other words, those with extensive networks are more likely to be ‘housed, healthy, hired and happy', and this is what we want to achieve; better connected communities, with people interacting more and generating a greater sense of community spirit.

Our longer term strategy will look more closely at what partners need to do to reshape services so that they are focused around people and communities, rather than organisational silos. Scarce resources will need to be targeted more effectively to support individuals, groups and places that are less resilient or face specific problems.

The complex problems faced in some families or communities often result in equally complex responses from different agencies, leading to duplication of effort and frustration on the part of those we are trying to help. This is not always easy to address, but we are committed to doing so, initially by adapting good practice from integrated programmes such as families for change (Rotherham's "troubled families" scheme).

We will also ensure we grasp opportunities presented by the devolution of powers and funding from central government, working with partners across South Yorkshire and neighbouring areas to ensure local people benefit from a growing economy.