When you first think of Essex, quality of life may not be the first words to spring to mind, but the county council aims to change that! Earlier this year, the county council became the first local authority in the country to set up a department dedicated to improving resident's quality of life. Cllr Jeremy Lucas became Essex's cabinet member for heritage, arts, culture and quality of life, while the unit comprises of the head of the unit, Dan Gascoyne and policy officer Dan Gilby. The unit has been spearheading the debate about quality of life in the county by offering residents £10,000 for a winning idea which will do just that. The council has also conducted a survey to find out what people like about living in Essex, which found some surprising results (see box). It is holding a conference on ‘tackling the barriers to a better quality of life' on November 5 and 6, with a range of speakers, including design expert Wayne Hemingway and MP John Gummer. The conference will be looking at finding intelligent responses to climate change, sustainable places, integrated working for children and young people and creating a lasting legacy for the London 2012 Olympic Games. The county council is now embarking on a string on new initiatives, including sharing chief executive Joanna Killian and integrating back and front and back office functions, where appropriate, with Brentwood DC. Ms Killian says the council is also planning to roll out 29 ‘lean and efficient' TASCCs (Teams Around Schools, Children and Communities), which will include staff from different existing teams, all working together. Other initiatives include the Carousel Children's Centre in Braintree. This partnership between Essex CC and 4Children has transformed a derelict school into a bustling children's centre which is now open six days a week. The council has also produced an urban place supplement to ensure all future developments are as sustainable as possible. The supplement also looks at how developers should deal with issues like parking, accessibility and public spaces. ‘Our customers care about the environment they live in,' says Ms Killian. ‘I want a very different focus in our organisation; to encourage out staff and elected members to always think about what makes people excited about living in Essex. Council leader Lord Hanningfield pointed to a recent project the county council conducted with Radio 5 Live in Braintree. Residents in two wards were asked to choose a project they would like to spend £50,000 to improve the local community. The Essex CC leader said more residents voted in the poll than in the recent local elections and opted for improving the walkway along the canal. ‘People love living in Essex and we are helping people to do that,' he says. ‘One of the ideas we have been talking about is replacing the trees which have died in the pavements. Some of these things are really quite simple.' Ms Killian agrees that, for a lot of people, improving their quality of life can sometimes require small changes rather than larger, more grander ideas. ‘Our partners in the police have been doing a lot of research about people's perceptions about crime,' she says. ‘Extra streetlights, in perception terms, can make a dramatic difference.' Part of the ‘quality of life' agenda for Lord Hanningfield is to get council departments and other public agencies to take a more ‘holistic' approach. ‘Councils get obsessed with service delivery, within each sector. Everyone is under siege,' he adds. ‘It's quite a job to stand back and see how everyone can all work together. ‘In getting this message across, we want to show we do care for everyone in the community. ‘We have 30,000 people people who we directly look after, but we also want to look after the other 1.5m people who live in Essex.' Cllr Lucas, the cabinet member for quality of life, adds: ‘We need to get to a situation where any council department which is proposing a new initiative will not only look at the business case, environmental impact, but will also look at how it will help impact the quality of life. Then we will have done our job.' The cabinet members adds that he hopes this year's £10,000 competition will not ‘be a one off' and that the county council will also be able to take up some of the other suggestions that have been made to improve people's day-to-day lives. There's a great desire to try and understand what people really want,' says Cllr Lucas. Mr Gascoyne adds that the issue itself ‘is not rocket science'. ‘We are talking about quality of life being available for everyone,' he says. ‘We have to be realistic about what it means. It's about helping people understand the role of the local authority is to make the whole of Essex a priority.' In many ways, the county council's focus on quality of life echoes the demands in Westminster for councils to embrace double devolution, place shaping and community kitties. Their vision of an expanded role is good news, not just for the people who live in Essex, but also for the councillors and officers who serve them. Our survey said... 73% of respondents said they are proud to live in Essex. 72% said living in Essex has a positive impact on their quality of life. 81% said they are satisfied with their local area. 51% of people said the countryside and the coast were the things they liked most about living in Essex, while 20% said people and community and 11% chose good public services.
