Gateshead Health and Wellbeing Strategy

Our health and wellbeing is influenced by where we live, and the communities and homes we live in. 
Using place shaping approaches, our vision is that Gateshead will be a more prosperous, attractive and sustainable place to live, with improved quality of life and thriving communities. 

Our residents will feel safe and secure, and supported in their communities. Gateshead will have connected local communities, with healthy neighbourhoods and high streets, strong community networks, local assets and access to services. Our residents will feel proud of where they live.

The action we will take

We will:

• develop policies, with a Health and Wellbeing in all Policies approach, embedding use of health impact assessment, to reduce the scale and effect of climate change and health inequalities 
• support the development of quality community activities, prioritising neighbourhoods with greatest need, remove barriers to community participation and support people to be involved locally 
• focus on strengthening community safety and preventing crime and anti-social behaviour
• make sure that all residents can feel part of local, vibrant communities where they can socialise, enjoy their local surroundings, and take part in sport, exercise, cultural and creative activities
• make it easier for residents to live healthy lives by improving access to environments that support health, such as shops that sell healthy and affordable food, community services, and green spaces. Working to reduce exposure to harmful environments
• move the delivery of our services closer to where people live in communities, working with local residents to make sure that support is easy to find and use
• make sure the provision of good quality, secure, affordable homes, offers housing choice to residents and meets current and future housing needs 
• intervene early to tackle and prevent homelessness, working in partnership with local organisations to better understand its root causes and how we address them
• make Gateshead accessible to all, achieving a shift to sustainable, public transport and active forms of travel

We will deliver this through:

• Gateshead's Local Plan
• Regeneration Plan 
• Housing Strategy
• Neighbourhood health plans and community based support
• North East Transport Plan
• Gateshead Transport strategy (in development)
• Licencing policy framework
• Volunteering and local VCSE organisations
• Strategic Housing Board
• Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy
• Culture strategy (in development)
• Gateshead Domestic Abuse Strategy and Action Plan
• Youth Justice Board
• Communities, Neighbourhoods and Localities Teams

We know we will have made a difference when:

• local communities and social networks are strong
• there is strong sense of pride in place 
• social connections are improved for groups in need
• all residents have access to a secure, high quality and affordable home
• no one is sleeping rough or living in unsuitable accommodation
• homelessness is a rare occurrence and where it does occur, there are positive outcomes for people
• all communities have access to good quality environments
• Gateshead has low levels of crime and anti-social behaviour