Fairness for you

Fairness at the heart of decision-making; an economy supporting prosperity and promoting fairness in working lives and practices; accessibility to affordable energy and decent affordable homes.

You can download a full copy of the  Achieving Preston's Priorities (APP) 2023/24 (PDF) [1MB] document here.

What actions are we taking?

Embedding Fairness in the Council's Strategic Planning

The Council is committed to ensuring that its budget and strategic decision-making processes reflect the principles of fairness and ensure that the budget reflects the priorities set out in the Achieving Preston's Priorities.

The principles in the Fairness Charter underpin all of the Council's activities.

Community Wealth Building - Leading Resilience and Recovery in Preston

We continue to progress this agenda through innovative and progressive dialogue and action with anchor institutions and community partners.

Key work streams within this agenda include:

Social Value

Social value plays an integral role in the Council's Community Wealth Building Agenda.

Significant strides have been made in progressing this work over the last 12 months, working with partners to establish the Preston Towns Fund Social Value Framework and ongoing work with local NHS partners to develop an anchor network focused on delivering social value across Central Lancashire.

A Social Value Procurement Framework to deliver social value through the Council's own procurement activity will be launched in 2023 and we continue to lead the long-standing Procurement Practitioners group with members from our anchor institutions.

The delivery of social value through the Central Lancashire Employment and Skills Supplementary Planning Document is being actively monitored to ensure that local residents benefit from the training opportunities which developers commit to as part of the planning process.

Co-operatives

The Council's commitment to co-operative development has focused on social and economic inclusion, including working in partnership with black and minority communities.

A new programme, Advancing a Shared Economy on Preston, is exploring cooperative and collaborative approaches to promote decarbonisation, address social needs and promote cooperative education in Preston. The establishment of the Leighton Street Traveller Site co-operative is a significant achievement.

Real Living Wage

The Council is a proud to be an accredited Living Wage Foundation Employer and actively encourages other employers to join us in paying the Real Living Wage.

Together with partners, we are leading the Preston Real Wage initiative to promote and increase the number of Preston businesses and organisations paying their employees a fair wage and we are working towards Preston becoming a Living Wage City.

Mutual Bank

The North West Mutual Bank is currently seeking interested parties to move forward the business plan.

The North West Mutual is a community bank and its aim is to create a new, ethical, trustworthy, customer owned bank serving all the people, small businesses and local organisations of the North West of England.

Financial Inclusion

Those organisations in receipt of Financial Inclusion Grants continue to provide local communities with support and advice.

Help in Preston (HIP) website

The Help in Preston website has attracted 15,879 page views, from 23 June to 30 November 2022.

There continues to be approximately 75% returning users (1,466) and 25% new users (1,295).

Cost-of-Living Hub (COLH)

Help in Preston was established in 2019, over the last four years the site has developed considerably, and we were well placed to develop and publish a COLH area towards the end of August. This area has seen a high level of traffic, notably a big upturn in people looking for food support.

For example, from 23 September to 30 November (9 weeks) enquiries for food support totalled 1,523 (169 per week). Whilst the COLH was not established until end August it is possible to compare this level of traffic with the numbers of people seeking food support during June to August which was approximately 67 per week.

HIP Noticeboard and Events Pages continue to develop content and we plan to publish an equality events calendar in Spring.

Advice Services provide a free and confidential telephone service offering in depth advice on welfare benefits and debt.

Financial inclusion surgeries are held at:

• St Matthews
• Pukhar
• Ascension Church
• Sion Park
• Children and Family Wellbeing Centre
• Millbank
• Community Gateway Association, Harbour House
• Deepdale Hub
• Tanterton Community Centre.

The officer also attends appointments booked by other referring organisations, for example, primary schools and community organisations.

The advisers continue to support clients through the benefit and debt journey, including representation at tribunals and face-to-face tribunals starting to be scheduled.

In recent times Covid-19 has focused attention on those most in need and the team formed the foundation stone of the Council's response to the crisis, in the form of a Vulnerable Support line, covering personal budgeting support and welfare, together with many other needs (isolation, food bank, prescriptions etc).

The Vulnerable Support line continues to be manned by Advice Services staff and the Contact Centre.

A third round of funding was made available to Local Authorities for Household Support Fund 3 and Preston were the first local authority to go live on 9 November 2022.

The Household Support fund 3 will close on 31 March 2023. The award from the DWP was £610,000 with the criteria set that each council must take a proactive approach towards clients who have not received any other Cost of Living Payment through the Department for Works and Pension (DWP).

Total spend figures are not available, as the scheme has not come to an end, but indications are that a full spend will be achieved helping people with energy, food and wider essentials.

The government has announced that funding will be made available from April 2023 until March 2024 but no figures or final guidance has been provided to Local Authorities.

Equality, Fairness and Social Justice

Equality, Fairness and Social Justice are key principles for Preston City Council.

We have always worked to ensure that we provide excellent, accessible services to our communities.

We continue to support staff to complete Equality and Human Rights Impact Assessments (EHRIA) and to provide updates to the project management area on the Councils internal intranet.

We are in the process of developing a:

• Retrospective Equality and Human Rights Impact Assessment (EHRIA) - Preston's response to Covid-19
• Cost-of-Living EHRIA.

We are currently working with the Inclusion Reference Group (IRG) Chairs to amalgamate with the members of the Financial Inclusion Group (FIG) and will be inviting members to meetings in February/ March 2023 where we will share the above documents.

We are currently developing a corporate equality calendar which will highlight the key events the council supports including national Holocaust Memorial Day and Remembering Srebrenica commemoration.

Preston City Council together with the Preston and Western Lancashire Racial Equality and Diversity Council continue to work in partnership with Show Racism the Red Card (SRTRC) and Preston North End Community and Education Trust (PNECET) to offer free anti-racist workshops for pupils and teachers to Preston schools.

The delivery schedule of these sessions is November 2022 - March 2023. We will update in the Spring on the main outputs from these sessions.

We continue to work with our partners to mark other key equality events, including Wellfest which incorporates WMHD etc.

Making Homes from Houses

Activity has started to resume post COVID and the successful partnership with Community Gateway Housing Association (CGA) continues. In total 34 properties have been acquired so far and are undergoing refurbishment; of these 27 are already reoccupied.

A further 7 properties are under offer or going through conveyancing. Prior to Making Homes from Houses bringing these houses back into use, these properties had been empty for a total of 112 years, one property alone had been empty for 13 years.

To date, the Council have invested £820k of developer contributions into this project. Alongside the investment of £3.3 m from CGA and Homes England, this is a significant boost to the provision of affordable housing in Preston. The national Empty Homes Network have recognised the excellent and innovative work of the Council in delivering this project with three awards, including Partnership of the Year.

Looking ahead, phase 3 of the project was awarded to CGA in 2022. This phase will continue until the allocated sum of £800k is fully committed.

Affordable Warmth

Preston continues to support vulnerable households in fuel poverty. During 2020/22 107 households were assisted, bringing the total for the last three-year funding stream to 910 households now living in warmer, more energy efficient homes. The measures installed included the provision of new boilers and central heating systems, cavity wall insulation and loft insulation, representing £600k of funding levered into the City.

Looking ahead, various funding streams are in place through to the end of 2022/23 so that more Preston households will continue to benefit, although the types of measures being funded are now moving away from fossil fuel heating systems to a wider range of alternative forms of heating and more efficient insulation.

The Affordable Warmth Fund from Lancashire County Council will be delivered over the winter months to complement existing funding streams and in the first few weeks had already replaced defective boiler and heating systems in 5 homes. During 2023/24 and 24/25 the UKSPF will provide additional funding for Preston households.

Installations of these new measures commenced in Lancashire in August 2022 and continue to grow in number. Final data on the completed measures is expected to be available soon. The measures currently being installed require the use of specialist contractors; all those appointed are based in Lancashire, and one in Preston, which also adds a community wealth building perspective to the current programme of work.

All work in this area is delivered via the Lancashire collaborative partnership of CHiL, Cosy Homes in Lancashire. The contract for a delivery partner to work with CHiL expires early in 2023 so a full procurement exercise is currently underway to ensure a smooth transition between contracts is in place and there is no interruption to the delivery of this vital programme.

In 2023/24 and 2024/25 UKSPF funding will be used to support community providers of energy efficiency advice to households facing the current cost of living crisis.

Accessible and Affordable Leisure Services

Preston City Council continues to work with the Leisure Operator Better (GLL) to ensure that accessible leisure facilities are provided at a local level.

As an advocate for our communities we support all opportunities to access grant funding from the Government, National Governing bodies and industry partners to improve leisure facilities in the city.

Partnership working to end Rough Sleeping

The Council has recently received confirmation that all of the RSI Year 4 funding has been approved and will be provided to the Council in the form of a ring- fenced grant. This is a really good opportunity to ensure that there are a maximum number of positive move-on options for those people who were accommodated through the "Everyone In" response to the Covid 19 situation. This will be enhanced via the accommodation being brought online through the Rough Sleeper Accommodation Programme.

It has been indicated that there will be an RSI year 5 with a potential for this to be a two or even three-year programme; all partners are currently reviewing delivery to identify what funding would be required in the longer term to deliver on reducing rough sleeping in the City.

The Council has recently been notified and invited to submit a 3-year funding application to continue the work around rough sleeping and the government's agenda to reduce the experience and length of time an individual spends sleeping rough. The application will contain a self-assessment tool and detailed plans for the next 3 years.

A main focus will be extending the range of accommodation options with support and developing a complex needs pathway with partners and a pathway for female rough sleepers, all underpinned by a trauma informed care approach.

Years 5, 6 and 7 were confirmed over the summer and will allow us to continue to build on the pathways away from rough sleeping linking into a recovery model and trauma informed care approach. Roles have been extended to include prevention workers to work with those in accommodation not linked to the current RSI pathway but to prevent future homelessness for single people therefore prevent them hitting the streets this will be a vital element link to the cost-of-living crisis.

We continue to work with Public Health on a specific commissioned drug and alcohol team which provides a fast track into detox and rehab both to prevent a service user losing RSI accommodation and those unable to access due to substance misuse levels. This team work specifically with RSI service users.

We now employ a Service User Involvement Worker who will work across all pathways to engage service users into training, education and employment with volunteering opportunities and a focus of meaningful use of time to assist in the recovery model.

The focus as we approach year 6 will be to build new partnerships to develop further accommodation options, these will be developed through co-production with service users and incorporate aspects learned from a recent consultation exercise with those currently on the streets who struggle to access the current pathway options. This will look at developing a First Steps project which service users can access nightly with support offered to address issues preventing access to more permanent accommodation.

Year 6 will also see a focus on developing interventions from Adult Social Care for those with more complex needs requiring specialist interventions and support.

To further support accommodation and support options the government launched the Supported Housing Accommodation Programme in December plans are currently being developed with partners to look at a scheme for women and expand our housing first model.

Accommodation for Offenders

The Council was recently successful in applying for monies from the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) to work with ex-offenders to access the private rented sector.

The Council have commissioned Calico to provide support to this client group and source accommodation within the private rented sector. This is a funded 12-month programme which commenced 1 January 2022 until 31 December 2022.

This funding came to an end on 31 December 2022; unfortunately, due to the lack of private rented sector options the programme of work has not been as successful as we envisaged mainly as landlords are selling their properties and looking at other client groups, mainly those in employment or with a rent guarantor. The fund was specifically for ex-offenders to access the private rented sector.

Though this programme with Calico recently ended the opportunity arose to develop a different approach using the original principles of providing access to private rented accommodation for ex- offenders. Confirmation has been received, 3 January 2023 that the proposals for a new project have been accepted; this is a funded programme for 2 years totalling £122,000 with £61,000 being received each year. This will build on developing relationships with the private rented sector offering incentives to accept ex-offenders.

The programme aims to employ a Support Officer on a Fixed Term Contract for 2 years to work closely on the Reducing Reoffending agenda, prisons and National Probation.

Changing Futures Programme

The Council has recently approved a funded budget increase in response to the award of funding from DLUHC to deliver the Changing Futures Programme.

The fund is for local organisations to work in partnership to better support those who experience, multiple disadvantages, including homelessness, substance misuse, mental health issues, domestic abuse, and contact with the criminal justice system.

The aim is to deliver improvements at both the individual, service and system level through stabilising then improve the individual's situation, transform local services to provide a person-centred approach and therefore reduce crisis, and test a different approach to funding, accountability and engagement between local commissioners and services.

The delivery model will be based around integrated Hubs using existing provisions. The commissioned service is now in place. Red Rose Recovery will provide the team of Navigators with live experience support and will engage with an identified cohort. This team will take on role of lead professionals linking service users with the other elements around the Changing Futures programme which includes health, housing, substance misuse services, probation and other wider partners. This programme will run from April 2022 through to December 2023.

The programme went live 1 April 2022 with a Lived Experience Team managed by Red Rose Recovery.

We now have our first small hub in Preston and the team are working across the Central and West locality providing a different approach to support services with a trauma informed care approach. We have twice weekly professional meetings to discuss cases and referrals through a multi-disciplinary approach, the aim being to provide a wraparound service for our most vulnerable and challenging citizens. Those receiving the support are referred to as beneficiaries as they take control of their own recovery.

The next phase of this programme is the element which will provide the legacy, System Changes. All partners involved have a desire to embed this change.

Since going live in April 2022 the programme has had 187 referrals, 157 of which have been accepted onto the programme, with 27 seen exiting the programmes following contact from the Team. At present the team are supporting 130 beneficiaries and even with the expansion of the team referrals had to be closed for the last 2 weeks of December.

Due to delays in aspects of the programme and partners unable to recruit we are in a position to look to repurpose the programmes and will be adding a Social Worker and Housing Specialist to the team. The aim as we approach the final year of funding is to look at sustainability and the legacy of system changes.

Supported Housing Improvement Programme (SHIP)

It was recently announced that we were successful in our joint bid with Lancaster City Council in applying for funds to look at improving the growing number of supported accommodation across both cities. There is little strategic input as these providers don't require permission to develop supported housing, a model mainly built on shared housing located in some of our more deprived wards with an increase being seen in ASB and criminal activity.

The funding will cover a 3-year programme of work; we are currently in the mobilisation phase.

The approach will consist of a specialised team made up of a Housing Benefit Officer, Housing Standards Officer and Housing Support Officer. The aim is to work proactively to ensure good practice across this sector and ensure the more vulnerable residents accessing this type of accommodation receive the support that is being funded through housing benefits and introduce regulations into an area of housing vastly unregulated.

Employability and Upskilling Communities

Work clubs

The Community Engagement team continue to support a network of 8 work clubs across the City run by various partner organisations and volunteers and also develop new work clubs where appropriate (since the last APP update, the number has reduced from 9 to 8 as a result of a change at Millbank Wellbeing Centre who continue to offer employability support but not in the form of a work club).

Our aim is to provide practical support to ensure work clubs are set up successfully, able to deliver their aims and improve employment prospects for Preston residents.

We continue to circulate our weekly email alert with up-to-date Preston job opportunities, training, volunteering and apprenticeship vacancies to all work clubs who share this with their members. 

The Help in Preston website is also updated weekly, with links to live, local vacancies.

A work club network group meeting is hosted by the Community Engagement officer, bringing training providers, work clubs, housing organisations and community partners together to share best practice, information and inform partners about local training opportunities.

We are currently working with community partners in Fishwick and Plungington to support them in developing more activities around employability.

We are also exploring the opportunities of delivering Job Fairs at the Community Hub in Fishwick, Intact and with Community Gateway Association.

Maximising new employment opportunities

The Community Engagement team continues to work with the Planning Department and relevant partners to provide support to developers in completing the adopted Central Lancashire Employment and Skills Supplementary Planning Document.

Calico will provide assessment, implementation and monitoring of Employment and Skills Statements. This service, for which developers will be charged, will ensure that they meet their commitments and that conditions attached to the approval of planning permissions are adhered to. Providing this support increases the engagement of developers and thereby increases the opportunities for Preston residents to obtain appropriate training and employment through new developments.

We continue to circulate new employment opportunities as part of the weekly bulletin, and we are aware that this has resulted in work club participants gaining employment.

We continue to support Lancashire Teaching Hospital Foundation Trust (LTHFT) with their recruitment community outreach.

In October a second Job Fair was held at Sahara which was well attended (the first was in March as detailed in the last APP update). 28 people in total from Fishwick and St Matthews wards gained employment as a result of the jobs fair and in addition, a further 36 from outside those two wards. In December, we supported LTHFT to do an outreach session on the Flag Market using their LIFE bus which was well attended by the public despite being close to Christmas.

Discussions took place with HR, Chamber of Commerce and Job Centre Plus to set up Kickstart opportunities within the Council to create new work opportunities for 16-24 year olds on Universal Credit who are at risk of long-term unemployment. Four young people were given Kickstart placements in total, one within the Communications Team and three with the Harris Museum. Unfortunately, none of them were able to secure a permanent position at the end of their placement but did gain valuable experience to support their CV and future job applications.

Officers have continued to work in partnership with officers from LCC Schools Department, and also with Community Gateway, attending events at nurseries and schools to promote the Help in Preston website and refer parents to the relevant support such as jobs bulletins/work clubs/food support/ finance advice pages.

UKSPF funding in 2023/24 will be used to extend projects delivered by Active Lancashire, Selnet and the Lancashire colleges to support those facing the greatest barriers to employment in Preston, including young people not in education, training or employment.

Armed Forces Covenant

Officers have applied for the Armed Forces Employers Recognition scheme and have been awarded the Silver award in June 2022. This demonstrates PCC's commitment to supporting service personnel and the armed forces community, ensuring they are not unfairly disadvantaged as part of recruitment and selection processes.

Preston City Council is the first local authority in Lancashire to deliver the 'One Voice' training, with two sessions which were delivered to staff in November with 42 officers attending. Further sessions will be held over the forthcoming months with eventually all staff having the opportunity to part.

The updated Covenant document requires signing and publicising to raise awareness.

Officers are working in partnership with the Armed Forces Covenant Hub and DWP to offer an Ex-Forces Work and Health Fair to the whole Armed Forces community across Lancashire. 15 DWP offices from across the county will be attending the event which will be held at UCLan on 15 February and will be open to all the armed forces community, not just ones in receipt of benefits.

Food Insecurity

A briefing report is being compiled to inform an internal discussion about the future of food insecurity work. Once agreed, this section will be updated accordingly.

Crisis Food Provision

Work is ongoing to maximise opportunities to deliver wrap around support (such as debt/financial advice and employment support) to those experiencing food crisis.

During January supported Sahara with financial inclusion sessions alongside their food provision.

Increase knowledge of cooking skills, healthy food and increase community food related resources

Food Hub Network

A Preston Food Hub Network, including a dedicated WhatsApp group with over 50 active members continues to be supported by the Council.

The network offers support to the volunteers by improving communication and sharing best practice and surplus food between markets and other food providers.

In November 2022 we released the 3rd round of the Household Support Grant. We are currently providing grants to 6 food banks, 7 hot meal providers, 5 food pantries and 19 holiday markets.

St Georges Church in the city centre and Sound Skills in Brookfield have recently joined the network and are now in receipt of the grant.

We are liaising with Deepdale United to explore ways in which the Council can continue to support with their hot meal van, providing Halal meals to families, and in partnership with Sahara.

Figures September to December: 2,520 families supported, 40,320 parcels provided, and providing a total estimate of 483,840 meals (6 food banks, 7 hot meal providers, 5 food pantries and 19 holiday markets).

Local Authority Food Development Network

We have formed a network with local authority officers working to address the food insecurity agenda to enable an opportunity to share good practice and join up resources where feasible.

At present monthly meetings take place between Preston City Council, Lancashire County Council, Lancaster City Council, South Ribble Council, Burnley Council, Pendle Council, Rossendale Council and more recently, Wyre Council.

One area which has been discussed has been a need to have demographic information on food insecurity ward by ward, and how as a network this can be carried out as part of a Lancashire wide piece of work. Preston City Council has already created an online map to highlight where all the food hubs are operating from. We are now exploring any gaps in provision, particularly within rural communities.

Community Cooking

Preston City Council has set up a new network to specifically support groups and organisations wishing to develop community cooking classes and provide an educational programme for both children and parents in areas such as cooking on a budget and healthy eating.

We are currently working closely with the following partners to provide a health and wellbeing programme of activity:

• NHS Recovery College
• UCLan Nutritional Department
• Lancashire Adult Learning
• Lets Grow Preston
• Recycling Lives
• Deepdale Grannies 
• Kind Communities to

This area of work is also part of a national network Food for Life Get Togethers, led by the UK Soil Association.

The Council is continuing to liaise with Lancashire County Council Public Health in supporting and increasing the uptake of Healthy Start Scheme.

Develop and Enhance the Local Food Economy

Conversations continue to take place between a number of community members who are interested in moving this piece of work forward.

Tackle Food Insecurity in Children and Families

Monthly zoom meetings with Lancashire County Council Public Health and the Community Engagement Team are continuing to help forward plan collaborative work.

Updated information on the Healthy Start Scheme is now available on the Help in Preston website and on the newly printed food access flyers, which also provides information on how to access other support services. In partnership with UCLan we are also exploring Experts by experience, working more closely with young people and families who are directly affected by food poverty.

Youth Employability

Community Engagement Officers continue to work alongside Preston's youth support organisations through the Youth Forum and across the city to enhance opportunities for young people to gain employment.

The Community Engagement team continue to circulate a Young People's email alert on a monthly basis, which helps to promote volunteer/work and training opportunities suitable for Young People who may find themselves struggling with their next steps due to the pandemic.

Officers are also having regular conversations with DWP and other partner organisations as to how we will set up Youth Hubs, offering outreach support in Preston for 18-24-year-olds, in a more joined up way.

Emerging Communities

The pandemic identified a gap in engagement with communities who have settled in the city. The Engagement team are working hard to make links and forge new relationships with new community contacts.

Prevention of suicide and self harm

Work is ongoing to develop and deliver a Prevention of Suicide and Self Harm plan for both Preston City Council and the city. Work will reflect the county strategy being delivered by Lancashire County Council's Public Health team.

Cost of Living

The Engagement Team are working closely with the communications team to deliver a co-ordinated approach to the cost-of-living crisis. A joint plan has been delivered with the aim to:

• raise awareness of the services already available to help people
• promote new and additional services that may be launched to help those in need
• working together, building relationships and supporting community partners to deliver front line services.
• support a long-term response to building resilience in the community, through wider messaging around Community Wealth Building and Climate Action initiatives that directly impact and help our residents.

The engagement objectives are to:

• To enable the council to support existing VCFS stakeholders on their delivery COL support to our communities;

To maintain the councils good working relationship with the VCFS stakeholders in Preston;

• To identify and develop new relationships with emerging stakeholders who may be offering COL or would like to offer COL support to communities;
• To work with the VCFS stakeholders to maximise the awareness of the COL support available to residents and businesses;
• To enable the VCFS to provide feedback to the council on the impact that the COL is having on our communities;
• To provide the council with an opportunity to liaise with the VCFS on its response to the COL and the impact of any activity.

Two stakeholder events have taken place (one in person at the Gujarat Hindu Society Centre and the second on Zoom).

Leaflets and social media posts have been created to promote the availability of support and the Help in Preston website has been updated to reflect the support available to residents and is being promoted widely.

The Lancashire County Council Warm Hub grant and charter have been promoted and the engagement team continue to identify community groups and agencies who are providing a warm space to residents.

Connected Communities

Conversations are taking place with UCLan to re-establish the Connected Communities project following the pandemic.

Working in partnership

• Faith Covenant - a joint commitment between faith communities and local authorities to a set of principles that guide engagement, aiming to remove some of the mistrust that exists and to promote open, practical working on all levels.
• Procurement Practitioners Group - a group of procurement, policy and economic development practitioners which seeks to progress procurement policy and practices by sharing knowledge and experience, while developing common actions.
• Shadow Lancashire Combined Authority (LCA) - focused around key themes such as Prosperous Lancashire, Connected Lancashire, Skilled Lancashire, Better Homes for Lancashire, Joined up Public Services for Lancashire.
• Central Lancashire Health and Wellbeing Partnership - aimed at building strong and effective partnership working between Preston, Chorley and South Ribble Councils, the NHS bodies, Lancashire County Council, the Voluntary Community and Faith Sector and other public bodies to improve local people's health and wellbeing.
• Community Safety Partnership - working with neighbouring Councils across the Police Division footprint a partnership which comes together to take action on the priorities it has identified for Preston such as: reducing offending and re-offending; harm reduction and support to communities particularly those most vulnerable and prevention and early intervention. UKSPF funding will be used during 2023/24 and 2024/25 to support the work of the partnership.

What impact are we making?

The Achieving Preston's Priorities document (PDF) [1MB] sets out the impact the Council hopes to make in each of its strategic priority areas.

During 2023/24 and beyond we are making a significant impact in the City working alongside our partners:

• Host regular virtual meetings to provide Cost of Living briefings and consult with community groups.
• Increase the number of affordable housing completions.
• Attract significant funding from the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government towards Homelessness and Rough Sleeping.
• See an increase in the procurement spend in Preston by its anchor institutions.
• Attract external funding for energy efficiency improvements in private homes.
• Provide targeted debt and welfare advice and passport DWP and Department of Health funds to help residents struggling with the cost-of-living crisis and assist them to regain control of their finances and to maximise their entitlement to benefits.
• Deliver Preston's investment plan for the UK Shared Prosperity Fund including investing in our communities, addressing the climate emergency, strengthening the local business and innovation ecosystem and supporting our most vulnerable residents back into employment.