Frequently asked questions

Who got the £30 million funding?

Over 160 expressions of interest were submitted, 22 areas were considered to have promising proposals and invited to submit a more detailed ‘stage two’ application. Twelve areas were then selected for interview and nine of these were awarded funding. Dudley is one of them.

The nine ‘Healthy Towns’ were selected on three criteria:

The proposals were both ambitious and comprehensive
There was fresh thinking on the changes that could be made to create healthier communities and so could provide interesting lessons for towns across England
The plans were set within a coherent framework that ensures a strategic direction also has clear support of senior officers

What's Dudley doing?

Dudley’s successful £4.5 million bid aims to encourage families to make the most of outdoor areas by transforming parks and play areas in to ‘family health hubs’.

These hubs will connect to people’s homes via safe ‘active travel corridors’ and will be complemented by a programme of activities and events.

The money targets some service reform and issues such as community safety, public toilets and lighting will also be improved.

How did Dudley's application come about?

In Dudley a partnership was created between the council and Dudley PCT to consider the best way of applying for some of the funding.

Because obesity, inactivity and lifestyle choices are borough-wide problems it was important to ensure that all areas of the borough would benefit from a health hub as part of the healthy town initiative. This approach was central to the application and was supported by the Department of Health.

What other initiatives does the healthy town project link to?

The panel that allocated the money recognised the good, innovative work already ongoing in the borough and recognised the opportunity to build on this success.

This project builds on and links to, Transforming Your Space (TYS) Liveability, BIG Children’s Play, Play Pathfinder and Parks for People.

Which Dudley parks and play areas are hubs?

The sites are:

Silver Jubilee (Coseley)
Netherton
The Dell and Fens Pool (Pensnett)
Mary Stevens Park
Huntingtree (Halesowen)

Each of the Healthy Hub sites will have a ‘Healthy Towns’ building, activities, events, walking routes, signage, an outdoor gym and toilets; as well as traffic calming measures, cycle storage, footpath and canal tow path improvements, crossing upgrades and PCSO involvement.

How was the selection of parks made?

A matrix of potential parks that fitted the above hub vision was produced; this meant that due to size, purpose and existing usage, some sites were not considered.

The sites were then grouped by area committee area, meaning that each hub was only selected against other sites within the same area. So, for example, Silver Jubilee was not compared against Mary Stevens Park as they are in different areas of the borough.

The matrix considered the following:

Site was/is part of the liveability project and therefore has a development plan and a friends group
Sites where accessibility improvements could be achieved
Proximity to schools and therefore safer routes to school opportunities
Contaminated land issues
Steps to Health activity programmes
Sites where there are staff but not dedicated park keepers, such as countryside wardens, green care depots etc

This list was not a selection criterion but was used to inform the choice. The following issues were also considered:

The prevalence of childhood and adult obesity data
Exercise participation data
The geographical location of hubs, not only in relation to each other so that catchment population didn’t overlap, but also to give the fairest spread across the borough

Was deprivation considered when deciding which parks should be considered?

The allocation of healthy town status was based primarily on innovation rather than deprivation statistics often historically used in project selection.

More specifically, the aim of the Healthy Community Challenge Fund is to work with a small number of local areas to test out different ideas that could help a healthier environment through physical activity and healthy food choices.

How was positioning of outdoor equipment decided?

Wherever possible, equipment will be placed near the hub buildings, which will enable shared use of lighting -and importantly - closer supervision of younger children and vulnerable users.

Four of the locations were approved at engagement events in the summer of 2009. Mary Stevens Park included an additional consultation where residents, park users and local pupils were invited to vote for their preferred location. The option to keep the equipment close to the pavilion building was selected by more than half of the voters.

What does the outdoor gym equipment look like?

Here are some pictures of similar equipment being used in other parks:

What about the active travel corridors?

The funding will support improved signage including electronic warning signs, traffic calming measures, cycle storage, footpath improvements, crossing upgrades, canal tow path improvements, walkzones and PCSO involvement.

When does the work start?

It’s begun! The healthy community challenge fund is for the current spending review period from 2008/09 to 2010/11. There is a detailed plan that shows anticipated expenditure for the duration of the project.

It is expected that each of the hubs will benefit from planned improvements including the outdoor gyms by the end of March 2010, with all buildings being completed by summer 2010, with a series of events and activities being launched at the same time.

Who will look after the equipment?

The council’s parks service will continue to look after the facilities. The money to do this is already in place through the directorate’s annual budget.

Parks will also cover the costs to heat and light hub buildings although it is anticipated that revenue will also be generated through the hire of the facilities to community groups in the future.

What about the risk of criminal behaviour including vandalism?

We recognise that there is always a risk of vandalism.

However, previous projects similar to this one show that the change in environment can often mitigate the risk of anti-social behaviour as young people become engaged in the project.

We have strong partnership links with the police who have committed to helping the project wherever possible. A park warden will also be appointed at each of the parks to supervise the area and we are hopeful that lighting from the neighbouring hub building and other increased usage will also help to offset risk.

How many people will be employed to work on the project?

13 people will be appointed to work on the project. Five of these appointments will continue after the initial project has come to an end as they will become full time park wardens. However, there will be complimentary support from the council, PCT and the community itself to further develop the use of the buildings and activities.

Will this really make a difference?

Evaluation and time will tell. The aim is to increase community activity hours over the next two and a half years. The funding will allow us to make better use of some of our parks and play areas.

Ward Councillors, Friends Groups, Community Groups and all park users will play an ongoing key role in developing the use of the new facilities and the other complimentary activities that should be to the benefit of the whole borough.

How will you evaluate the project?

In addition to local evaluation by the community, ward councillors, the PCT and council officers, the programme will be independently evaluated via Worcester University. They will liaise with the Department of Health’s evaluation team to measure changes in the following:

Physical activity levels
Park use
Perceptions of safety
Walking and cycling levels
Diet status

How does the play pathfinder and extended schools programme fit in with healthy towns?

Dudley borough has received £2.6 million from Play Pathfinder, which is refreshing and refurbishing 28 play areas.

The Play Pathfinder will also see the development of a new-staffed indoor and outdoor adventure play ground facility situated at Sycamore Green.

What about extended schools?

Extended schools services are also contributing to the healthy town agenda through the development of a number of activities and initiatives that have been developed in partnership with a number of different agencies.

A major project to put playground markings into primary and secondary schools as well as children’s centres has been implemented. The intention is to include this provision into parks too where possible.

A comprehensive training programme has run alongside this project whereby staff and parents have been and will continue to be trained to play with children and encourage physical activity. A series of competitions is to be established so that activity may be co-ordinated, embedded and linked between the different venues.

A specific programme for babies and new parents is being devised to encourage parents from a very young age to take part in activity with their children, e.g. in buggies, baby slings etc. This is unique and is being developed and implemented over the summer to support post natal mums in regaining their pre-pregnancy weight, support the bonding process with their babies and introduce babies to physical activity as early as possibl

Children’s centre staff are also engaged in a number of projects working in partnership with health particularly to support parents with programmes such as Jumping Beans and Healthy Eating/Get Cooking programmes to also support the obesity strategy and healthy towns agenda.

All children’s centres are baby friendly and are in the process of identifying breast feeding buddies to support health in the obesity agenda through effective breastfeeding support networks.

Discussions are underway with the ‘Healthy Towns’ team to support breastfeeding areas within parks and open spaces.

Why is Healthy Towns great for Dudley?

We are one of just nine areas to be successful in our bid and through the initiative we will see £4.5 million of investment in the borough.

Working together the council and NHS Dudley are striving to reduce childhood obesity levels in Dudley.

We aim to do this through encouraging our families to be active outdoors in our borough parks and also through promoting key messages about healthy lifestyles and eating.

Why is Partnership working so important?

Add the £4.5 million healthy town money together with the £2.5 million play path pathfinder money plus funding secured through schemes such as BIG’s Transforming Your Space, Liveability, LEAP and the Take 5 fruit and veg scheme, that’s £15 million worth of improvement secured for the borough and going towards improvements people’s lives.

What's Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives?

In Britain almost two thirds of adults and a third of children are either overweight or obese.

By 2050 it is predicted these figures will rise to almost nine in ten adults and two thirds of children unless there is intervention.

In January 2008, the government published Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives, which sets out the first steps in meeting the obesity challenge. The initial focus is on children, with the aim of reducing their obesity levels to those of 2000 – by 2020.

To test different approaches, a £30 million fund has been set up. An invitation was issued to local areas (PCT’s and their local authority partners) to submit an expression of interest in becoming a healthy town.