Groundwork North, East and West Yorkshire has won a £518,000 contract to carry out Better Start Bradford’s Better Place project.
The Better Place project will work with the local community in the Better Start Bradford areas of Bowling and Barkerend, Bradford Moor and Little Horton to identify and carry out improvements to the local environment.
The project will also look for ways to reduce exposure to harmful traffic fumes for pregnant women and small children.
Groundwork North, East and West Yorkshire will start work on the three-year Better Place project on 1 February 2018, with the aim of providing a healthier and happier environment for babies, young children and families.
Groundwork is a federation of trusts in England, Wales and Northern Ireland which work to improve the quality of the local environment, the lives of local people and the success of local businesses to create sustainable communities.
Projects include:
- tackling climate change by helping people out of fuel poverty
- helping young people to improve their local area
- building stronger communities by improving parks, playgrounds and other shared green spaces
- getting people back into work by creating green jobs
The project will be delivered in collaboration with Bradford Council, Public Health, voluntary and community sector groups and other Better Start Bradford projects.
Better Start Bradford is a £49m programme funded by the Big Lottery Fund. It runs over 20 projects that support pregnant women and families with children aged under four.
The programme represents one fifth of A Better Start, a £215m, ten-year National Lottery project focused on developing and testing new approaches to promoting good early childhood development in five areas of England.
Michaela Howell, programme director of Better Start Bradford, said, ‘As the name suggests, Better Place is all about making our local area a great place for families. The project will explore how we can help families have access to good quality parks, other green spaces and places to play, and safe walking and cycling routes where they are protected from harmful pollution. There’s so much opportunity for making sure our local area is a safer, healthier, and happier place to bring a child into the world. We are very excited about this project getting underway.’
Peter Murphy, operations director of Groundwork, added, ‘We’re looking forward to getting out in the community where we will be meeting and talking to families in the area about their needs, hopes and concerns. It’s widely accepted that a poor environment affects health and wellbeing, and that applies to babies and small children too. The Better Place project will show how improving and investing in key features of the local environment can improve children’s emotional health and fitness and set them up for life.’
