by Peter BeresfordHolidays are with us again and for me it's back to the South Norfolk coast and the joys of Hemsby, Scratby, Caister and Great Yarmouth. But somehow as you'll see, switching off social work and social care is never easy.
My break comes at an important time locally. They are just closing a swathe of local post offices. The local press report the sad stories; unsuccessful campaigns, people forced into early retirement, the end of a much valued local institution and another nail in village life.
Catching up over tea
Today it's breakfast at one of my favourite Norfolk department stores - Palmers of Great Yarmouth, established in 1837. Food's to be had at reasonable prices and as he brings it over, the friendly young man who is serving, says to everyone 'Enjoy your food' with real sincerity. Bet you don't get that at Harvey Nicks! All sorts come here, families, holidaymakers like me, young and particularly older people. Older people come alone, in couples, in three generation families and sometimes in larger groups of their own. They often seem to know each other, have a chat across tables, talk about friends in common, perhaps someone who isn't too well, as well as their own health and hospital appointments, catching up over a tea or coffee. It's a warm and friendly atmosphere.
Now here comes the social care bit. This sort of scenario is exactly what government says it wants; for people to be able to live their lives and meet their needs as part of the mainstream rather than through specialist often separate social care services. It's a great idea. Improvements in attitudes and access are helping make it more possible, slowly but hopefully surely. The government has even coined another ghastly piece of jargon to describe the idea - 'place shaping'.
Social care, private profit and inequality
Place-shaping, highlighted by the Lyon's inquiry into local government, stresses 'the creative use of powers and influence to promote the general well-being of a community and its citizens'. Brilliant idea and especially important for the many long term users of health and social care who are particularly reliant on the state to ensure that they get a fair crack of the whip in a society that has increasingly majored on encouraging private profit and individual inequality.
Which brings us back to local post offices. How is current policy matching the fine words of 'place-shaping'? Not too well from a quick reading of the Great Yarmouth Mercury (August 1 2008). There's talk here of 'life-line post office branches' at the 'heart of the community for decades' closed regardless of local opposition. We read about the closing of key local shops that can't survive without the post office business that brought people to them. As the owner of Bungalow stores in Stokesby said. 'We have become friends with regular customers over the years and they are sad they won't be able to pop in for a chat.' Then, with another closure come all the traffic problems one campaigner reports because of the lack of a direct bus service and nearby parking. One local sub-postmaster adds: 'People are frustrated because they believe no one has listened to them. It is the pensioners and disabled people in the area who will be hit the hardest'.
Public policy is creating barriers
So much for 'place-shaping'. But this is just one expression of a broader issue. We know that social work and social care aren't enough on their own. But addressing people's support needs in mainstream policy across both private and state sectors, is far from happening. Instead it looks more like the opposite. If this is to change, then policymakers will need to acknowledge that currently public policy may be creating rather than removing barriers. Thus, for example, inadequate pavement maintenance, the centralisation of shopping, increasing reliance on car driving, the inadequacy and continuing lack of access of some public transport, reduced funding for life-long learning, the weakening of rural and in some cases urban communities, the undermining of personal safety in public space and housing and employment policies, are among many issues that must be addressed if this is to be possible.
It's time the government developed routine needs assessments in relation to social care service users when developing policies over such issues. This is crucial if people are to be fully included in the mainstream without unnecessarily having to have additional help from specialist services. Meanwhile as the large new Tescos has opened at Aylsham, the local wholefood shop, where I've always got my annual supply of homemade jam and marmalade, has closed. Come on policymakers. Stop jargonising positive policy and get down to implementing it!
Catching up over tea
Today it's breakfast at one of my favourite Norfolk department stores - Palmers of Great Yarmouth, established in 1837. Food's to be had at reasonable prices and as he brings it over, the friendly young man who is serving, says to everyone 'Enjoy your food' with real sincerity. Bet you don't get that at Harvey Nicks! All sorts come here, families, holidaymakers like me, young and particularly older people. Older people come alone, in couples, in three generation families and sometimes in larger groups of their own. They often seem to know each other, have a chat across tables, talk about friends in common, perhaps someone who isn't too well, as well as their own health and hospital appointments, catching up over a tea or coffee. It's a warm and friendly atmosphere.
Now here comes the social care bit. This sort of scenario is exactly what government says it wants; for people to be able to live their lives and meet their needs as part of the mainstream rather than through specialist often separate social care services. It's a great idea. Improvements in attitudes and access are helping make it more possible, slowly but hopefully surely. The government has even coined another ghastly piece of jargon to describe the idea - 'place shaping'.
Social care, private profit and inequality
Place-shaping, highlighted by the Lyon's inquiry into local government, stresses 'the creative use of powers and influence to promote the general well-being of a community and its citizens'. Brilliant idea and especially important for the many long term users of health and social care who are particularly reliant on the state to ensure that they get a fair crack of the whip in a society that has increasingly majored on encouraging private profit and individual inequality.
Which brings us back to local post offices. How is current policy matching the fine words of 'place-shaping'? Not too well from a quick reading of the Great Yarmouth Mercury (August 1 2008). There's talk here of 'life-line post office branches' at the 'heart of the community for decades' closed regardless of local opposition. We read about the closing of key local shops that can't survive without the post office business that brought people to them. As the owner of Bungalow stores in Stokesby said. 'We have become friends with regular customers over the years and they are sad they won't be able to pop in for a chat.' Then, with another closure come all the traffic problems one campaigner reports because of the lack of a direct bus service and nearby parking. One local sub-postmaster adds: 'People are frustrated because they believe no one has listened to them. It is the pensioners and disabled people in the area who will be hit the hardest'.
Public policy is creating barriers
So much for 'place-shaping'. But this is just one expression of a broader issue. We know that social work and social care aren't enough on their own. But addressing people's support needs in mainstream policy across both private and state sectors, is far from happening. Instead it looks more like the opposite. If this is to change, then policymakers will need to acknowledge that currently public policy may be creating rather than removing barriers. Thus, for example, inadequate pavement maintenance, the centralisation of shopping, increasing reliance on car driving, the inadequacy and continuing lack of access of some public transport, reduced funding for life-long learning, the weakening of rural and in some cases urban communities, the undermining of personal safety in public space and housing and employment policies, are among many issues that must be addressed if this is to be possible.
It's time the government developed routine needs assessments in relation to social care service users when developing policies over such issues. This is crucial if people are to be fully included in the mainstream without unnecessarily having to have additional help from specialist services. Meanwhile as the large new Tescos has opened at Aylsham, the local wholefood shop, where I've always got my annual supply of homemade jam and marmalade, has closed. Come on policymakers. Stop jargonising positive policy and get down to implementing it!
Peter Beresford refers to the link between a Tescos opening and a wholefood shop closing.
Last year at a public meeting to promote the Sustainable Communities Bill, John McDonnell MP spoke of what to local bypass campaigners in the 1990s had been an unintended consequence of having their request for a local bypass fulfilled. "Tescos built stores at either end, Sainsburys one in the middle, and village shops were then forced to close because they could not compete."
Like Peter Beresford, Green Party Male Principal Speaker Derek Wall writes incisive blogs and advocates for holistic solutions. On account of earlier campaigning involving nonviolent direct action against 'Tescopoly', he has been barred for life from every Tesco.
Alan Wheatley
Disability Spokesperson for London Green Party
While I agree with the idea of forming communities like this, I think it's important not to get too carried away with the idea that big companies and the like are necessarily bad and unwelcoming to old people. Picking up on your department store example - I used to work in a cafe in a family-run department store in Cardiff, and there was nothing but contempt for all the customers, be they young or old. By contrast, there's barely a supermarket cafe in the land that doesn't have a regular clientele of older people who know and chat to the staff.
The fact is that most town centres lost their 'character' in these terms - of small, family-run businesses and a nebulous concept of community - long ago. Rather than dreaming in 'blank slate' terms of recreating communities, which by this point is surely an impossible task, there's more chance of getting results by engaging with what actually exists in town centres now?