A newly launched action plan aims to make Barnet a place in which people can age well

Three older people walk happily arm in arm through a city street — Photo by Philippe Leone on Unsplash

A local partnership has launched a call to action to make Barnet a place where everyone can age well.

The Age Friendly Barnet Partnership, which is made up of local organisations, council members and residents and led by Age UK Barnet, drew up the action plan after 1,000 Barent residents completed a survey exploring barriers to ageing well in the borough.

The action plan, which was launched at artsdepot on March 6th, focuses on seven areas of life and ways that local organisations and bodies might contribute to an age-friendly borough.

The seven areas explored in the call to action are:

Challenging ageism
Public spaces and safety
Transport and active travel
Activities and socialisation
Housing and home support
Work and volunteering
Community information and digital inclusion

The Age-Friendly survey identified a number of key issues, including:

Only 60% of all over 55s agreed with that there are enough accessible and enjoyable activities in the borough.
61% of men over the age of 55 in the borough agree that there are enough public toilets in Barnet compared to only 29% of women.
Of residents over the age of 55 who are not in paid employment, only 34% agreed that they felt confident that they could get a job if they wanted.
62% of adults aged 55+ agreed that they feel confident with using digital technology. However, only 35% of the 85+ age-group agreed with this statement.

Age UK Barnet CEO Helen Newman said: ‘This is community-focused and community-organised; the call for action is a living document in which the voices of residents can regularly feed into throughout the project.’

Over the next two years, the Age-friendly Barnet Partnership will be responsible for the delivery of eight projects to address the issues identified.

Age-friendly coordinator Pippa Mannerings said: ‘The projects which this plan outlines were thought up in our Age-friendly Barnet focus groups last summer. We hope that our attention to the voices of older residents can make this a powerful movement across the borough and beyond’.

The plan also calls other bodies, including Barnet Council to take action on the issues addressed in the plan.

Barnet Council’s Age-friendly Champion, Cllr Gill Sargeant says: ‘The asks of this project cannot be achieved by any one of us alone, we need every resident, every organisation and every stakeholder to work together to make sure that Barnet is a great place to grow older in’.

The Age Friendly Action Plan can be found here: https://www.ageuk.org.uk/bp-assets/globalassets/barnet/original-blocks/products/afb-call-for-action-march-2024.pdf

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