The Melksham Seniors 55+ Forum has pledged £3,000 to match the sum pledged by the Melksham Area Board, to take the age friendly initiative to the next level.
The area board, at its meeting on 13th November, received a report from cllr Jon Hubbard on the outcome of a recent stakeholder meeting held at the Melksham Assembly Hall. It featured discussions on a range of issues affecting older people under the themes of: supported living; work and financial security; combatting social exclusion; transport and accessibility; health and wellbeing; and end of life care.
Melksham is a member of the UK Network of Age-Friendly Communities and was the first, and still one of the very few, market towns signed up to a framework for making towns and cities more age-friendly.
The next step will be the production of a three-year Age-Friendly Action Plan, with recommendations for short, medium and long-term actions and the identification of resources to ensure the future sustainability and impact of the programme. The consultancy project has five components:
1. Research and collation of all consultation outcomes to date, including relevant strategies and associated implementation plans and delivery reports, as relevant to the domains of the age friendly framework and the wishes of local stakeholders
2. An evaluation of current management arrangements and recommendations to build a collaborative multi-agency approach across the public, private and voluntary sectors locally to take forward this work
3. An investigation of the funding environment and opportunities to resource this programme of work on a sustainable basis
4. Engagement and consultation with stakeholders through events, surveys and other methods, as appropriate, to develop a shared programme of work
5. The presentation of findings to the steering group and partners, to include a three-year Age-Friendly Action Plan with short, medium and long term outcomes, together with recommendations for next steps.
The steering group will be looking for a consultant/organisation with experience in developing older people’s policy and engaging with older people’s stakeholder organisations.
The area board has agreed to invite the local town and parish councils to partner and to co-sponsor the project.
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