July 2024
The Green Group welcomes the opportunity to consult on the draft Age-Friendly Action Plan and efforts on behalf of the council to transform Lambeth into “a place that enables people to age well and live a good later life”. However, some of the domains within the plan require additional actions to ensure the best possible outcomes for older residents.
According to Age UK “only 3% of UK housing is accessible to people with restricted mobility”. Councillors have spoken to older residents who are limited in their daily activities by stairs on council-owned estates, or who have had to reject permanent housing offers due to a lack of a walk-in shower.
Additionally, large numbers of people over 60 regularly report feeling cold in their homes, turning off their heating due to running costs and cutting back on other essentials to pay energy bills. The Action Plan needs to go further to ensure ageing residents have secure, accessible and warm homes that they can afford.
Overall, the Greens support any transport policies that promote alternative modes of transport over private vehicle use. Public transport is an important mode for older people to maintain independence and engage in the community. However, two thirds of older people cannot reach a hospital within 30 minutes using public transport. Lambeth needs to ensure community transport is equipped to fill any gaps in services and that there are no barriers to access, including working with TfL to install more toilets at transport assets in the borough.
Additionally, all planning processes should incorporate age-friendly principles and engage with residents who are most-affected. Councillors hear from older constituents regularly that they value safe places to meet, organise and engage socially, such as the Woodlawns Centre in Streatham. Resources should be allocated to improving and increasing the number of these types of facilities to benefit and enrich our communities.
Digital exclusion is a major issue faced by many older people in Lambeth. According to the Centre for Better Aging, “only half of people in the UK over the age of 75 have (digital) skills and 43% of internet users aged 65 and over are limited in the activities they carry out while online.” Many of the communication strategies in the plan rely on digital distribution. Lambeth needs to ensure that there are adequate offline information sources and that person-to-person advice is available for those who need it.
The age-friendly communication domain should also seek to develop a resource for free financial guidance for older people. This should include pension credit uptake information as mentioned in the draft action plan, but be expanded to cover other topics. This may include scam awareness, cost-of-living resources, scrutinising financial products and digital banking training.
Finally, the council needs to increase its focus on anti-ageism in the local community. Only one of the draft outcomes on the plan addresses this point, and minimally. The plan references the World Health Organisation’s Age-friendly Cities Framework, but excludes “respect” from its domains. This is a crucial ingredient in the social inclusion of older people in Lambeth.
Older people contribute more unpaid care labour than any other age group. This might take the form of formal volunteering but may also be child care or shopping for a neighbour. They also experience the highest levels of “belonging and satisfaction with their local areas” and spend money on local businesses. Lambeth needs to acknowledge the role of older people in our borough and reverse negative stereotypes of them as being “burdensome” or “a drain” on services. Age-friendly policy must be based on respect for ageing and the experiences and contributions of older people in order to be truly inclusive.
Therefore, the Greens recommend including the following actions in the plan:
- Prioritise retrofit of council-owned properties to improve energy efficiency standards to EPC-B.
- To ensure all council-owned properties meet the accessibility requirements of the estate residents.
- To explore and promote alternative housing options including intergenerational cohabitation.
- Support and social workers should be trained and enabled to recognise issues of cold, damp and mould in homes and initiate referrals to repairs and maintenance services.
- Ensure that alternative transport services are available where national providers fail to meet the needs of older residents.
- Explore and implement innovative community transport schemes, such as community car schemes, group transport, and shopmobility.
- Ensure that information on all transport services and schedules is easily accessible to those without use of a smartphone or the internet.
- Working with TfL to install more toilets at transport assets in the borough.
- Maintaining pedestrian areas and cycleways to improve accessibility and safety of all users.
- Expanding pedestrianisation and traffic-calming measures.
- Reduce the age cut-off for the Active Lambeth concession for older residents to 60 years.
- All parklets and rest spaces should have accessibility considerations such as shelter and lighting.
- The Planning Officer appointed as the Age Friendly representative has appropriate training and regular and meaningful interaction with age-friendly stakeholders and forums.
- More meeting spaces and community centres should be made available for residents.
- Prevent the closure of the Lambeth Walk Medical Practice and ensure health services are accessible to local residents.
- All digital communications, consultations, engagement and service provision are supported by offline literature with sufficient distribution resources.
- Resist over-adoption of apps for service use (such as libraries, leisure and parking) and keep digital services streamlined and in one place wherever possible.
- Ensure person-to-person advice is available to those who need it, including by telephone.
- Offer free financial guidance, including community seminars, targeted at older residents to help address poverty, the cost-of-living crisis and raise awareness of scams and dubious financial products.
- Adding “respect” back into Lambeth’s draft plan domains and investing in campaigns to acknowledge and promote the contribution of older people in our borough.
Councillor Scott Ainslie & Councillor Nicole Griffiths
Streatham St Leonard’s Ward