Council-led initiatives aimed to support residents in deprived areas

An updated report to the Council’s Executive committee on 11 July has claimed that several schemes are helping to improve life chances in deprived areas of the borough. The council’s Aspirations programme began in 2012, focusing on Roehampton and Putney Heath ward and the Latchmere ward, in Battersea, with targeted initiatives and a commitment to provide better housing.

The council’s Work Match service has placed 196 residents with employers in the past year, and is being based on the Alton estate, in Roehampton and Putney Heath ward, (and on the Winstanley and York Road estates, in Latchmere ward), which are being regenerated. This is according to the council, to help ensure that alongside the provision of new homes of all tenures there are on-site apprenticeships, jobs in construction, painting, decorating, site office administration and more for local people.

Regenerate, a charity based on the Alton estate, has been awarded a contract to help children and young people aged 13 to 30 in the area with skills, training and volunteering. The Street Elite project, delivered by the Change Foundation, Berkeley Foundation and Argos, uses sport and mentoring to work intensively with young people at risk of gang involvement in Roehampton, and with 26 getting a job or work-related training in the past year.

Cllr Ravi Govindia, Leader of the council, said:“The Aspirations programme is making sure that residents can make the most of opportunity, whether in employment, training, sports, or a new home. With so much change going on around them in Wandsworth, it’s only right that the council and partners help local people to seize the initiative and improve their life chances."

July 15, 2016