Disadvantaged Communities Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Rachel Gilmour
Main Page: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)Department Debates - View all Rachel Gilmour's debates with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Disadvantaged Communities
Rachel Gilmour Excerpts(3 days, 20 hours ago)
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Mrs Brackenridge
I agree. Hon. Members will hear more about ICON’s work in my speech, because it paints a picture of our communities.
This is a project of national renewal that is designed to work with communities, to rebuild from the ground up and to restore hope and dignity to our places. It is a strategy about the huge importance of cultural capital and social infrastructure for social connections. What makes those communities special? They are resilient, largely because they have had to be. They have felt the brunt of 14 years of austerity. They have been disproportionately affected because they disproportionately rely on good public services, which were stretched to breaking point under the last Government.
Rachel Gilmour (Tiverton and Minehead) (LD)
Does the hon. Member agree that it is important to recognise the interconnected barriers in such discussions? The dearth of post-16 education and poor transport connectivity blunt young people’s ambitions and further entrench the disadvantages of which she speaks in areas such as my constituency.
Mrs Brackenridge
I absolutely agree. I signpost hon. Members to yesterday’s meeting of the Education Committee, where we heard from a representative from the National Union of Students about the clear link with the barriers that certain young people face to get to college or school. I beg hon. Members to look at that.
What makes those communities special? As I said, they have borne the brunt of 14 years of austerity. They saw Sure Start snatched away, cuts to neighbourhood policing, record NHS waiting lists, the decimation of youth services, a crisis in special educational needs and too much more. But our communities are full of potential; they are close knit and packed with people who graft and work hard.