Copyright © 2010, ‘Our Exeter’, all rights reserved.
Lower St.David’s
on
In January, 2007, Devon County Council (DCC) introduced an initiative entitled “Connecting with Communities”. As part of this apparently commendable project a 50+ page document was produced, referred to as the ‘Exeter Baseline Profile’(EBP). The EBP contains graphs and figures for each of the political wards of Exeter. The scope of the EBP information includes, deprivation, population, economy, health-care, population age, community safety, crime (drugs, violent crime, vehicle crime and burglary) education, housing, transport, environment etc.
Based on the EBP the St.David’s ward is rated as one of the most deprived area of Exeter across the majority of categories.
As a result of this rating, one would think it reasonable to assume that these problems would be addressed by those that had seen fit to commission this report at the taxpayer’s expense. This hope is further reinforced by this quote from the EDP document, “these profiles are just a starting point for local discussion about the real needs and priorities of each community”.
It would seem that the EBP ‘starting point’ was, for St.David’s and possibly other areas, also its ‘finishing point’. ‘Our Exeter’ questions the validity of the quoted comment and prefer to base our opinions on the realities for those living in St.David’s, and the failures of every organisation to provide any meaningful and ongoing improvement where it is, undeniably, most needed.
‘Our Exeter’ will name all of those responsible for failing a community where so much was promised but rarely, if ever, delivered. Our experiences extend well beyond the boundaries of Exeter and these too will be included within the ‘Our Exeter’ remit.
Devon County and Exeter City Councils are only two aspects of the negativity that the St.David’s community have had to try and overcome in an attempt to implement improvements.
Council/community relationships and co-operation? Bring it on, we would like to experience the novel concept of those in authority responding to the wishes of the residents.
‘Our Exeter’ , whilst happy to distribute the ‘barbed-wire’, will be equally content to offer virtual ‘bouquets’ to the few that represent the flickering flame of hope in this wasteland of public service mediocrity.
If you want to check out your own area the full EBP PDF document can be downloaded here. You may also find the Mosaic Guide appendix on the same page informative.
For an example of how the system really works visit here .
Miller’s Crossing
As a consequence of events Lower St. David’s Community Association are no longer prepared to continue their community involvement and will close down.
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