Levenshulme has been officially recognised as an age-friendly neighbourhood by the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham.
The Mayor announced the winners of his Age-Friendly Challenge during Greater Manchester’s “Doing Ageing Differently” conference. Held, in February 2019, the event brought together over 300 key figures in ageing from across the country.
Levenshulme was one of 32 areas from across Greater Manchester to be recognised by the award scheme designed to showcase the best places to grow older in the city-region.
Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester said:
“I launched this challenge last year to unearth the positive work I know is going on in Greater Manchester, to find practical examples of what age-friendly really means, and to share best practice across the city-region. The response to this challenge has been fantastic. The variety of age-friendly work displayed from all our winners clearly shows the commitment from our local communities to make sure that people in Greater Manchester are living not just longer, but happier and healthier too.”
Kate Williams from Inspired People's Project based at Levenshulme Inspire, who applied on behalf of the area said:
"This is a fantastic achievement for Levenshulme, for all of the community partners who have worked so hard and ultimately, for local older people. We really do want Levenshulme (and beyond) to be a fantastic place to grow old!"
The award recognises the hard work that organisations and older people in Levenshulme have carried out to make their area a great place to grow older.
An age-friendly neighbourhood is a place where: residents are committed to looking out for each other, older people feel they can have a say in what’s going on in their local area, and there are spaces where people can get together.
The award also showed that Levenshulme is committed to helping older people feel: independent, safe and secure, and informed about what is going on in their local area.
Submissions to Mayor’s Age-Friendly Challenge were reviewed by an expert panel chaired by Prof. Chris Phillipson from MICRA at The University of Manchester. Other panellists included representatives from Greater Manchester Older People’s Network, Ambition for Ageing, and the Centre for Ageing Better.
Notes to editors Greater Manchester is the UK’s first age-friendly city region, as recognised by the World Health Organization.
The Mayor’s Age-Friendly Challenge represents a commitment to shape a city-region that recognises the contribution older people make and the value in keeping all residents socially, physically and economically active for longer.
The challenge was launched by Andy Burnham during Greater Manchester’s Festival of Ageing in July 2018, where he called for the voluntary and community sector, public services, and older people’s groups to submit their best age-friendly schemes and help deliver more age-friendly neighbourhoods across Greater Manchester.
The Mayor’s Age-Friendly Challenge was delivered by Ambition for Ageing on behalf of Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s Ageing Hub which works to improve older people’s quality of life in Greater Manchester, addressing the challenges and embracing the opportunities the UK is facing in response to a rapidly growing older population.
Age-friendly neighbourhood information from Ambition for Ageing report Building Age-Friendly Neighbourhoods in Greater Manchester.
Comments