Our Southwark 2030 Vision
This is the vision for everything the we do and will drive all of our work.
Residents told us that a good life is a life that is rewarding and enjoyable in which you are valued, respected and safe from harm, feel connected with people who matter to you and have purpose in your life.
The foundations for a good life in Southwark are good jobs, good incomes, good health, good homes, a good education and a good environment.
To achieve our vision, three principles will guide our work, through six goals that have been co-designed with residents and partners that will help us deliver our vision.
Read our full strategy here (pdf, 20.5mb).
Our 3 Principles
Reducing Inequality
The significant inequality in Southwark holds our whole community back. We are determined to ensure everyone can access the opportunities, resources, and power they need to thrive. To live a good life, we all need things like a decent job and a warm home. But, right now, we don’t all have the same access to these essentials. There is a growing body of evidence that almost everything – from life expectancy to mental illness, violence to illiteracy – is affected not by how wealthy a society is, but how equal it is. The harmony and prosperity we all look for in Southwark relies on a more equal society.
Empowering People
There are huge strengths and assets in people and organisations across our borough. We want to empower these strengths in everyone – from growing skills and resilience to enabling participation and leadership. This principle puts residents in the driving seat of their own lives. With a small amount of support, we know that people will be better able to put their strengths in to practice and create better outcomes.
We want to focus on supporting people in areas that will make their lives better, such as healthy living and caring for their children. We know we will empower people if we help develop skills to support employment, coach budding entrepreneurs, and provide opportunities for people to be involved in their neighbourhoods. So we will focus on the work that will empower people to live a good life.
Investing in Prevention
Too much of our time and funding is currently spent on solving problems which have already happened – acute illness, crime, worklessness. We will invest our time, capacity and resources towards early help so that residents can live empowered, healthy and fulfilling lives. We want to focus our resources towards helping people to live a good life. This means creating the conditions in which people and places thrive, and where communities and organisations can access support, relationships and practical help when they need it. Decisions about resources will be directed towards support and interventions which prevent rather than respond to crises.
Our 6 Goals
1. Decent homes for all
Our residents told us that they love living in Southwark, but too many of those residents struggle with the cost of a good home. We are building more homes than any other area, making record investments in maintaining and improving social housing, creating new affordable homes, supporting those in private rented tenancies and continuing our work to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping.
2. A good start in life
Residents described the devastating impact of the pandemic on key years of development, increased numbers living in poverty due to the cost-of-living crisis, and the growth of mental issues caused by many aspects of modern society.
We are continuing to support improved health for children in Southwark and investing in support for young people’s wellbeing, social, educational and employment opportunities, with a particular focus on improving outcomes for children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
3. A safer Southwark
Safety emerged as one of the highest priority issues for Southwark residents. We will make our borough safer by tackling crime and antisocial behaviour hotspots, we will reduce violence against women, children and young people, and improve trust and confidence in local policing.
4. A strong and fair economy
Residents recognise the strength of Southwark's economy but are concerned that not everyone can benefit from it. We will create more good jobs and apprenticeships, and help Southwark residents into them, support people out of poverty and low pay and ensure our town centres thrive and serve the whole community.
5. Staying well
Residents told us they face challenges in staying healthy due to the cost of living and are concerned about the rise in mental health issues. We will ensure that every child and adult can get the mental health support they need when they need it, that more people stay well, reducing the inequalities in health across our community and improve the wellbeing of people with long term conditions or disabilities and their carers’.
6. A healthy environment
Many residents said climate was the right priority for Southwark. We will create more green spaces and biodiversity for our community to enjoy, help people and businesses switch to healthy, clean and green transport and make our buildings energy efficient with clean, green power.
