This theme is about communities in the physical sense - places that facilitate the connected communities we have described. This might be street layouts and green spaces that encourage people to go outside, exercise and play; facilities for activities, meetings and discussion; and, importantly, places in which people feel that they and their families are safe and secure.
In Views from Rotherham, litter and flytipping were identified as major problems across the borough and "tidy with clean streets and well-maintained parks and green spaces" emerged as the number one priority in the consultation that took place at Rotherham Show in September 2015.
Many respondees also reported feeling unsafe or generally not welcome, particularly in parts of the town centre. This echoed the results of the Rotherham "voice of the child" lifestyle survey 2015, conducted with year 7 and year 10 secondary school pupils, in which only 16% reported feeling safe in the town centre, 37% safe in their community and 43% when travelling to and from school (although these had increased from 2014 when the results were 10%, 33% and 27% respectively).
Increasingly, many local organisations are exploring a more community or "locality" based approach to some aspects of their service delivery. This includes family support services in the council's "Early Help" locality teams, community-based models of health care, and local policing teams. This theme will look at how these and other local services can dovetail effectively, though it is an aspect we will consider in more depth as part of the longterm strategy.
The other dimension to "welcoming places" is considering Rotherham as a whole and picking up on people's concerns about our poor reputation and the need to restore pride in the borough. To start to address this, our revamped partnership communications will look at ways of highlighting good news stories and generally establishing a more positive image for the town.