Statement: Social Mobility, Community Wellbeing and Opportunities in Weymouth

The Town Council are aware of recent statements in the press about social mobility and opportunities in Weymouth. We are disappointed to read the articles as they ignore a huge amount of work going on locally to support Weymouth in the challenges it faces.

Weymouth is by no means alone in facing the issues of youth opportunity, social mobility and community wellbeing. However, the article completely fails to mention any of the work being done by councils, health organisations, housing organisations, charities, voluntary groups and communities themselves.

We have local charities supporting young people with grants to get into work and access opportunities, we have communities getting together to reduce isolation, we have voluntary groups leading walks to increase wellbeing, we have local groups reaching out to the homeless to support them, we have health colleagues working with those with substances misuse issues, we have vibrant ‘Friends of’ groups in our parks and gardens who run activities for all ages and many, many more examples. There are opportunities in our industrial and retail sectors, and these are growing in the future.

Most importantly, we have two new councils who are committed to tackling the tough issues in partnership with others including the police, health, education, housing, and the communities themselves. We welcome the focus that the decision of the select committee has brought in asking for further investment in seaside towns, but this must take into account the work local communities are doing to help themselves, because to ignore that is to ignore the biggest and most valuable local resource.

Weymouth Town Council will soon be posing a series of questions on our Facebook and Twitter feeds to find out what local people think our main areas of focus over the coming years should be. This will feed into our draft Strategic Plan, which we will be consulting on in the autumn.

There’s never been a better time to get involved in your local community, and the councillors and staff teams at Weymouth Town Council are looking forward to a future of working with the communities and partners to make Weymouth the very best it can be.