PROJECT aimed at improving Droitwich West and the lives of its residents is ‘making a great start’ according to Wychavon District Council’s deputy leader.
Droitwich West Aspirations, which will take three years to complete, is set to build pride, improve life chances, increase physical activity and offer healthy living advice.
At Monday’s town council meeting the project lead David Manning, along with Wychavon’s deputy leader, Coun Lynne Duffy, explained to councillors the work completed so far.
This included litter picks, bollard and underpass painting, a revamped footbridge and generally making the area look cleaner and tidier.
The project has been developed because, although the district was recently voted the third best place to live in the country it was also rated third worst in England last year in the Social Mobility Index.
The index looks at differences in areas where children grow up and the chances they have of doing well at school, finding a good job and having a decent standing of living.
Wychavon District Council’s Executive Board invested £115,000 into Droitwich West as part of an overall £230,000 investment using New Homes Bonus funding, with the other £115,000 going towards the Rural Communities Programme.
Mr Manning said: “We have been impressed by the response and what we have achieved so far.
“Westlands is not a place that is out of control and from our survey 80 per cent people said they enjoyed living in the area.
“We want to make it a place people can be proud of.”
David also touched on how they planned to work with schools in identifying children in need of additional support and seeing what extra interventions could take place to develop their life chances.
Wychavon is also working with local youth group DAFFY on litter picks and reaching out to young people.
A community fun day took place in the summer which featured various activities including Wychavon’s climbing wall. It was well attended by the local community.
Coun Duffy said: “It was fantastic to tell the town council more about the project, it is making a great start and to give the town council this information first hand is really brilliant.
“I look forward to seeing how all the partners can work together to really improve the lives of those living on the Westlands estate.
“We all need to start talking more positively about the area to give back pride to those who live there.”
The next steps for Wychavon are to investigate what more could be done to have the most impact in the area, from improving the physical environment to changing attitudes to education and getting partners working more closely together.
