A FLAGSHIP campaign encouraging people to take more responsibility for their own health, lifestyle and environment in a bid to reduce reliance on public sector services was launched in Barnsley this week.
Town Spirit is a collaboration between Barnsley Council, partner organisations, businesses, residents and communities to encourage everyone to ‘own it’ and take responsibility for where they live.
Leader of the council Coun Sir Steve Houghton said the initiative will help residents ‘not rely on public services’.
“Our direction as a council is to move from being the ultimate provider to working with people to support them to do more for themselves,” he said.
“Obviously that doesn’t mean the old lady at 95 won’t get our help. Being a Labour council, it’s in our DNA to help and support, but we want to make people independent, not dependent. We want people to be resilient, not reliant on other people to do things for us.
“We have to get the conversation with the public as to how we can do that, perhaps not as we have done it in the past.
“We got through the miners’ strike, we have got through austerity, so we know that the people of Barnsley have got it in them to get through hard times, and Town Spirit means making Barnsley a better place. We need to own it and take responsibility for our borough.”
Examples of how Town Spirit might work include supporting people to establish their own lunchtime walking group through their workplace to improve people’s health, or helping groups establish their own stop-smoking campaigns, or encouraging communities to get involved in activities like litter picking.
Town Spirit includes eight themes Build it, Love it, Achieve it, Change it, Develop it, Protect it, Live it, and Imagine it.
The scheme helps highlight services available to residents so they do not rely on public services and the council.
Diana Terris, chief executive of Barnsley Council, said: “Town Spirit gives us a clear way of sharing our work with our communities and residents.
It doesn’t show the organisations, teams or structures, just the outcomes of the hard work taking place right across the borough.
“Town Spirit isn’t just to promote council services. That simply wouldn’t work.
“The only way we’re going to build thriving communities is if we all work together.
“We really want to encourage everyone to own it; play their part, help create solutions and encourage new ways of doing things and make changes through communities coming together.”
Bob Kirton, deputy chief executive of Barnsley Hospital, attended the launch and said the idea was ‘absolutely brilliant’.
“It’s great to see these services from a different perspective. By making people responsible for their own actions and choices it takes the pressure off public services such as the NHS. I think Town Spirit is absolutely brilliant.”
Sarah Barnes, who lives and works in Barnsley as a customer service manager for Berneslai Homes, said the launch of Town Spirit made her feel proud to be from Barnsley.
She said: “This initiative is invigorating, It made me feel proud to be from Barnsley. It’s opened my eyes to the possibility that if everyone in the town did one small thing we can make the town a really good place.”
