alexandra ward v

And the conditions and complexities that may deem these families a “troubled family” Emily, Shelly and Nazmul

Alexandra ward within Oldham is a well-known area,not only for the community and the local small businesswithin the area, but also for the Victorian town parkbuilt by the community of Oldham during the cottonfamine.

Alexandra’s population has a high amount of people from aPakistani origin, and this particular ward is often involvedwithin violent attacks to do with a clash between Asian, andwhite communities. In reports from BBC news in 2001 itwas said that Oldham had many “no-go” zones for whitepeople, due to this controversy. Alexandra ward was one of theareas, where signs where posted within locations such asGlodwick making comments such as “whites enter at your ownrisk” (BBC, 2001).

(Tes, 2017) There are 4 local primary schools within the Alexandra ward and only 1 local children’s centre,however there are no local youth programmes or centres, which could be an explanation as to why youths withinthe Alexandra ward are known to be involved with crime and anti-social behaviour.

The Alexandra ward has three local labour councillors to support and lead the local communities.Zahid ShaidChauhan Mushtaq jenny Harrison

(fotosearch, 2018) Within Oldham the average employment rate is 58.2% but within the Alexander ward it is only 46.7%. The Alexandra ward is below Oldham’s average median household income. These figures can be evidential in supporting that many families within the Alexandra ward would be eligible for support within the Troubled Families Programme.

(fotosearch, 2018)A wide range of properties within theAlexandra ward are receiving counciltax reductions and/or housing benefitswhich comes to 47.4% of Alexandra’s 13,020 people population

(fotosearch, 2018)Within the population of Alexandra ward 36% have pre- pay energy meters and altogether 15.3% are in fuel poverty. However, there is apparent accessibility for allOldham residents for guidance, home visits and advice TheWarm home Oldham Scheme which was built in 2013 tohelp with small energy saving measures, tariff advice andthey have so far helped over 4500 people within Oldham stay efficiently warm and fuelled within their home (Oldham Council, Warm Homes Oldham, 2018).

(fotosearch, 2018)Only 34% of Alexandra’s population can afford to keep their homes in decent state of repair, dependant on the term decent this statistic can show that many of Alexandra’s families are living within debt, facinghomelessness or that children may be living within unfair conditions in their home.

(ManchesterEvening News, 2017)Within Oldham A locality plan was set out to help enable Oldham deliver significantimprovements within the health and well being of their residents, with all partnerswithin the plan sharing an ambition to see the greatest improvements in resident’shealth and well-being by 2020 (Oldham Council, The Oldham Locality Plan, 2016).However, despite these plans and ambitions to support residents, families andchildren within the Alexandra ward there have the lowest life expectancy rate ofwomen at 76.0% in the whole of Oldham (OldhamCouncil, Oldham Ward Profiles,2016). Despite claims by the Oldham Locality plan defining one of the main goals ofthe plan was to gear the health and social care systems within Oldham towards agreater well being and a prevention of ill health in residents (Oldham Council, TheOldham Locality Plan, 2016).

(fotosearch, 2018) Within Alexandra’s ward there are high levels of single person households at 34.5% of their population, and lone parent households at a percentage of 18.6%. A large percentage of households within the Alexandra ward have three or more children at 12.1 %(OldhamCouncil, Oldham Ward Profiles, 2016). However, despite the number of lone parents and households with many children, there is only one local children’s centre to help provide guidance and social experiences for both parents and children within the community.

Many family homes within Alexandra’s ward are overcrowded, however on the hand within this ward there are actually many vacantproperties around the area that are either over priced or not available. (fotosearch, 2018)

With 20.6% of Alexandra wardspopulation dependant on out ofwork benefit claims, and thewards educational attainment andskill levels being significantly lowand below Oldham’s average maybe altogether connected. Accordingto the Improving lives: HelpingWorkless Families governmentdocument Children within worklessfamilies are actually almosttwice as likely to fail all aspectsof their education.

(fotosearch, 2018)Two aspects that are a common feature within thelives of workless families is conflict and poor health,as these problems accompany unemployment and canlead to drug and alcohol dependencies or homelessness itis no surprise that all these aspects make it harder forparents to return to work, but then also makes homeenvironments difficult for children to grow up in(improving lives: helping workless families, 2017).

All together these some up the reasons for the high amount ofhealth issues within the Alexandra ward. Alexandra ward havethe highest proportion of residents with a limiting long-termillness and or disability within Oldham at 22.0 %(OldhamCouncil, Oldham Ward Profiles, 2016). Thesefigures show the amount of workless families with low incomeand the possible continuous cycle of children within the homesthen continuing this cycle with the statistics of their education.

Despite the low rates of working families and the low-income homes Alexandra ward has a higher than average level of turn out within their local elections. However, other community cooperation’s such as volunteering are notably lower within Alexandra. Even though these community rates are low there are several charitieswithin the Alexandra ward to both help their community and for their community to volunteer within. (fotosearch, 2018)

For example, there is a programme called ambition for aging funded by the national lottery which is targeted within Alexandra ward in Oldham to help reduce social isolation and help elders to live more ‘age friendly’ in their community run byAction Together and Age UK (AgeUK, 2016). Even though these schemes are aimed to help the 50+ age range, it provides a great opportunity for children and youngpeople to not only provide social community atmospheres between families, but fora boost in the feeling of involvement within the ward for both young volunteers and families.This programme not only helps 50+ but also provides a women’s only exercise classwithin the Alexandra Ward to suit the cultural and religious values of the population of the Alexandra ward.

The well-known Alexandra park within thisward has a great value for the community with many forms of free social experiences for the community of the ward, such as •Heated conservatory •Boating lake •Fishing club •Boathouse with cafe •7 free tennis courts •3 crown green bowling greens •Children’s play area •Paddling pool •Toilets (when the gardeners are on site) •Ornamental gardens (OldhamCouncil, Alexandra Park, 2018)

(fotosearch, 2018)The total crime within Alexandra increased between2014 and 2015, with particular increases in theft,burglary, assaults and actual bodily harm(OldhamCouncil, Oldham Ward Profiles, 2016).Despite the wards antisocial behavior decreasing by7% since 2014, the ward still has the second highestrate of anti-social behavior within Oldham.

Within Alexandra ward in just the month of November 2017, there where 181 crimes reported/committed (StreetCheck, 2018). As you can see by the chart below a high percentage of crimes within the Alexandra ward are violence/sexual related crimes and anti- social behavior.(StreetCheck, 2018)

There are no places within the Alexandra ward that supportMental health specially, however In Oldham they have mentalhealth support within the Healthy Minds charity and this isaimed at people over 16 years old, who are registered with aGP in Oldham. Although this service is not within Alexandra,workers and volunteers within this charity provide at homevisits and their services are within local public transport areas(PennineCare, 2018).

Despite the opportunities to support families within Alexandra ward there are also many issues that may arise when support is being given to these families. For example, the top three languages spoken within the Alexandra ward is English, Urdu and Panjabi, despite the support being offered to families many families who do not speak English may not be able to pursue acareer or attend school and may be deemed as a troubled family. However, if the family cannotspeak English this may then create communication barriers between the support and early help interventions (localstats, 2018)

ReferencesAgeUK. (2016, december). AMBITION FOR AGEING. Retrieved febuary 7, 2018, from Age Uk:https://www.ageuk.org.uk/brandpartnerglobal/oldhamvpp/ambition%20for%20ageing%20-%20community%20newsletter%20-%20december%202016%20-%20version%201.pdfBBC. (2001, April 19). Police deny 'no-go zones' for whites. Retrieved febuary 7, 2018, from BBC news:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1285085.stmfotosearch. (2018). low income. Retrieved febuary 07, 2018, from fotosearch: https://www.fotosearch.jp/illustration/low-income.htmllocalstats. (2018). Alexandra Demographics (Oldham, England). Retrieved febuary 5, 2018, from alexandra localstats:http://alexandra.localstats.co.uk/census-demographics/england/north-west/oldham/alexandraManchesterEveningNews. (2017, march 27). tributes paid to oldham council boss. Retrieved febuary 7, 2018, from manchester eveningnews: https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/tributes-paid-oldham-council-boss-12804450Oldham Council. (2016, September). The Oldham Locality Plan. Retrieved Febuary 6, 2018, from Oldham.Gov.uk:https://www.oldham.gov.uk/downloads/file/3921/oldham_locality_plan_for_health_and_social_care_transformation_april_2016_-_march_2021Oldham Council. (2018). Warm Homes Oldham. Retrieved Febuary 5, 2018, from oldham.gov.uk:https://www.oldham.gov.uk/warm_homes_oldhamOldhamCouncil. (2016). Oldham Ward Profiles. Retrieved Febuary 5, 2018, from Oldham Partnership:http://www.oldhampartnership.org.uk/partnerships/oldham-ward-profiles/OldhamCouncil. (2018). Alexandra Park. Retrieved febuary 7, 2018, from Oldham.gov.uk:https://www.oldham.gov.uk/info/200393/parks_countryside_and_canals/676/alexandra_parkPennineCare. (2018). healthy minds oldham. Retrieved febuary 5, 2018, from pennine care: https://www.penninecare.nhs.uk/your-services/service-directory/oldham/mental-health/adults/oldham-healthy-minds/police. (2018). Crime in Oldham compared with crime in other similar areas. Retrieved Febuary 7, 2018, from police.uk:https://www.police.uk/greater-manchester/QC10/performance/compare-your-area/StreetCheck. (2018). Crimes Committed Near Alexandra Road, Oldham, OL8 2BH in November 2017. Retrieved Febuary 7, 2018, fromstreet check: https://www.streetcheck.co.uk/crime/ol82bhTes. (2017). Alexandra Park Junior School. Retrieved febuary 7, 2018, from tes: https://www.tes.com/jobs/employer/alexandra-park-junior-school-1028360