Updated: August 2023
This plan outlines how Your Trust will continue developing into a high-performing, sustainable organisation that delivers exciting and inclusive outcomes for the people of the borough of Rochdale.
Welcome to our ambitious plan for how we will work with our community across the borough to help people live active, creative and healthy lives.
Over the last three years we have developed new ways of working and have challenged ourselves to be more collaborative with partners and communities, more environmentally sustainable and more diverse.
It has been a demanding time, but now is a great moment to grasp new opportunities to improve
our culture and leisure facilities, our specialist health skills and our work within the community.
The next two to three years will see considerable investment in facilities, particularly our culture related venues. These exciting projects will transform our offer and provide even more opportunities to engage people from all walks of life.
People are at the heart of what we do. We have committed more resources to developing
our people and achieved our ambition of paying the ‘Real Living Wage’.
I am delighted to be Chair of the Board of Trustees for Your Trust. Alongside my Board colleagues, we will support the delivery of this plan so that Your Trust, as a leading health and wellbeing charity in the borough, plays its part in delivering an active, creative and healthy future for the people of Rochdale borough.
David Gelsthorpe Chair of the Board of Trustees
I am incredibly proud to lead this amazing charity into the next phase of its journey. Whilst the pandemic was an incredibly difficult period for ourselves and our customers, the current economic situation is, in many ways, even more challenging.
We have looked carefully at our role as a charity serving the people of the borough in the context of this unique time and have begun to make changes to how we work, how we develop our staff and
how we communicate and collaborate with our customers and partners.
We now know that following the pandemic, the needs of the community are different and more acute. Latest census data shows that the borough is changing, and whilst more people are becoming active and we are engaging with new and diverse communities through our work, health inequalities are still widening.
This strengthens our purpose and drives our determination to help create
a place where everyone has access to an active and healthier lifestyle, and to meaningful creative experiences regardless of their circumstances in life and where they live.
We will deliver on that vision through our leisure centres, museum, local studies service, theatres and events, art gallery, outdoor activities, community outreach and specialist services for people with specific health needs. We cannot succeed alone and must work with partners across the system who share our passion and our vision.
We will work harder and smarter to reach people we haven’t managed to do so effectively before; adapting our products, our services and our approach generally to better understand how we should do so.
We will build on the ‘collaborative’ approach already well embedded in some parts of the charity and include more people in the decision making process and co-design of services.
We will demonstrate our commitment to the
environment by expanding our focus on reducing carbon emissions and taking action on the wider issues around sustainability generally. We will promote active travel with partners and adapt our services to do so.
This strategy signals a step change in our transformation from a leisure and cultural trust to a ‘health and wellbeing’ charity that utilises all its assets to help people live active, creative and healthy lives.
We are in the midst of yet another challenging period, but I believe the rewards of getting closer to our customers and responding to their needs will be immense. I know the team who have performed so brilliantly during recent unprecedented times will rise yet again to these challenges.
Estelle Rowe CEO of Your Trust
The Borough’s population is growing. The current population of the borough of Rochdale is 224,100, a population growth of 5.76% since 2011 (2011 –211,900).1
The percentage of the borough population residing in the 10% most deprived nationally has increased with almost a third of the population–32.5% - living in areas amongst the 10% most deprived in the country. In contrast, only 10.8% people live in areas in the least deprived quartile (75%-100%).
The borough was ranked the 15th most deprived in England based on a rank of the average scores for the LSOAs in the area (out of all 326 authorities in England), and is the 7th most deprived out of the 36 Metropolitan Districts.
There are 11 LSOAs in the 3% most deprived nationally.(75%-100%).
White people represent the largest ethnic group in the borough - 74.0% of the total population. Asian, Asian British or Asian Welsh are the second largest ethnic group – 18.5% of the total population. Rochdale has a higher percentage of people who identified their ethnic group within the “Mixed or Multiple” category increased from 1.7% to 2.4% over the last 10 years. There are currently slightly more females than males in the borough – 51% of the total and 49% males. This mirrors life expectancy data. Women in the borough live on average to 80.9 and men to 76.7 years (average for all English authorities is 83.3 females, 79.6 males).
The number of children (aged 0 - 15) and older adults (aged 65 and above) living in the borough in recent years has been rising. Children represent 21.78% of the total population and older adults 16.56%.
There are 20.9% of people in Rochdale with a long term disability or health condition, compared to 17.6% in England and 19.43% in Greater Manchester.
In Rochdale, a large proportion of the population live in deprived areas. Compared to the rest of the North West and England, Rochdale as a whole has poorer health, life expectancy and healthy life expectancy but affluent people in Rochdale have similar health outcomes to elsewhere.
Over the next 10 years, it is predicted there will be a fall in those aged 15-29 and a small rise in those aged 30- 44. The biggest expected change is in the number of people over 65. It is predicted that the number of older people in the borough will rapidly grow. This will lead to a larger proportion of elderly residents compared with those of working age.
3.3% of Rochdale residents (aged 16 and over) are unemployed compared to 4.9% in GM and 4.0% in England. 7.5% of young people are Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) compared to 6.9% in GM and 6.0% in England.
Crucial to understanding population health in Rochdale is to recognise that many adults have health conditions or challenges such as being a carer or living in poverty. Multiple complex conditions are not rare and mild to moderate mental health disorders such as depression are common. In addition to the approach for improving healthy life expectancy and tackling early deaths, a whole population wellness and wellbeing approach is advocated. This wellbeing approach includes being safe and feeling secure and will recognise people’s life challenges and encourage achievable positive changes.3
— Heywood Sports Village
— Arts & Heritage
Resource Centre
— #Thrive
—
Hollingworth Lake
Adventure & Water
Activity Centre
— Heywood Civic Centre
— Middleton Arena
— Accessible Activities
— Children & Young People
—
Littleborough
Sports Centre
— Middleton Arena
— Rochdale Leisure Centre
—
Touchstones Rochdale
— Healthy Workforce
— Holiday Activity & Food (HAF)
— Mindful Movements
— Nutrition, Exercise & Wellbeing
— Older Adults
— PE & School Sports
— Specialist Health & Wellbeing
We are a charity commissioned by our partner, Rochdale Borough Council, to deliver and provide a universal offer across the borough to support people to live active, creative, happy and healthy lives
We also bring in additional money from funders to support an even broader range of specialist services where we cater specifically for:
— People who are chronically inactive
— People with long term health conditions
— Children and young people who receive free school meals
— People with disabilities and specific needs
— Minority groups with specific needs
— Young People in care and leaving care
A place where everyone has access to an active and healthier lifestyle, and to meaningful creative experiences regardless of their circumstances in life and where they live
Objective:
Opportunities are inclusive, relevant and reflective of the rich diversity of the borough
Priorities:
Resilience
Relevant and Inclusive Community Led
Objective:
The charity is thriving, sustainable and well equipped to respond to the challenges of the next decade
Priorities:
Skilled and Empowered People Resilience and Effectiveness
Physical and Digital Assets
Governance
A place where everyone has access to an active and healthier lifestyle, and to meaningful creative experiences regardless of their circumstances in life and where they live
Objective: The charity can evidence the impact of our work to help people across the borough live their best lives
Priorities:
Understanding Our Social Value Telling Our Story Working Together Innovating Our Offer
Objective: We protect the natural environment and respond decisively to the climate emergency
Priorities: Leading Change Carbon Emissions
Energy Management and Procurement
Opportunities will be more inclusive, relevant nd reflective of the rich diversity of the borough. We will refresh and improve our processes for listening to people and the way we capture important information about the changing nature of our communities. We will make better use of this information in targeting our offer and innovating our services
Resilience
We will support the community physically, socially and mentally. We will work with partners on the effective deployment of the Prevention Strategy to help people stay healthy, happy and independent for as long as possible through the all age whole system strategy. We will use data to ensure our support is greatest where it is most needed.
Relevant and Inclusive
Our work will be locally responsive and co-operative with partners. We will seek to add value through creating and delivering opportunities which reflect the rich cultural diversity of the borough and have the health and wellbeing of our communities at its core.
Community Led
We will work in places together with key local partners with ambition to encourage people to get moving for a happier, healthier, creative, more connected Rochdale. We will actively listen to and take account of the views of our community, both existing customers and non-users creating a place based approach to delivery. We will invite local people to guide and help us in the design, development and decision making of our programmes and we will train our teams to embed this approach through all that we do.
Resilience
– Physical, social and mental health
– Prevention Strategy
– Universal yet targeted support
Relevant and Inclusive
– Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
–
Health and Wellbeing
– Collaboration
Community Led
– Place based
– Community decision making
– Consultation and Co-design approach
–
Stakeholder engagement
– Tackling inequalities
We will have processes in place to assess the quality and appropriateness of our products and services, quality and benefits of our work.
We will be able to see evidence of the impact our work in helping people across the borough to be more active, creative and healthy
Understanding Our Social Value
We are committed to continually improve the quality, ambition and impact of what we do. We will assess our progress through quality assurance including benchmarking, monitoring and evaluation. We will regularly review and report what we have learned and how we will apply that learning in the future.
Telling Our Story
We want to be recognised as a valued charity offering a vital contribution to local communities through sharing the many individual and collective stories of our customers, audiences and participants.
Working Together
We can’t change things alone. Working co-operatively with partners, funders and
stakeholders will mean we reach more people, secure investment and have the support we will need to deliver our vision for our community.
Innovating Our Offer
We operate an innovative delivery model whereby our products, services and programmes are developed to match the need of the place. Where we can we will co-create these programmes and services with current and future users to provide solutions to the needs of the community. We will continue to design our work to ensure that what we do matches the community we serve. In line with the Pivot to Health and Wellbeing emphasis, we will work to move our operations away from leisure and fitness towards a more health-focused approach.
Understanding Our Social Value
– Quality assurance
– Evaluation and monitoring
– Review and reporting
Telling Our Story
– Charitable identity
– Rich media content
Working Together
– Fundraising
– Partnerships
Our Offer
– Innovation
– Products
– Services
– Programming
– Arts Council National Portfolio Organisation status
We will be thriving, sustainable, accountable to stakeholders and well equipped to respond to the challenges of the next decade. Our people will reflect our communities, will be valued and fairly paid. Our key facilities will be fit for purpose, safe, inviting and accessible
Our people are our greatest asset. By engaging with them and recognising their talent, developing their skills and supporting their wellbeing, we will empower every individual to thrive. We will diversify our workforce to enhance our empathy with the community we serve. Our workforce will be developed towards supporting people’s health and wellbeing at every level. We will build our learning and development programme to create more local jobs and develop more leaders at all levels.
We will maintain our financial resilience and a prudent level of reserves and deploy our resources effectively supporting those who need our support most. We will utilise our charitable status to attract funding and support.
We will develop our facilities, products, services, digital channels and systems to support our goal of as many of the local community accessing Your Trust as possible, opening up a wide range of opportunities for all. We will utilise technology to be more efficient, to monitor performance and enhance the customer experience. We will proactively maintain our physical assets and seek additional funding to modernise areas that require investment.
We will ensure that our Board of Trustees is a diverse group of people reflecting our community. We will develop our systems of reporting and accountability, ensuring that internal and external stakeholders are well informed and receive the information and assurance that they need.
Skills and Empowered People
–
–
–
Staff engagement and training
Staff wellbeing
Inclusive recruitment
Resilience and Effectiveness
– Medium-term financial planning
–
External funding
– Asset management
Physical and Digital Assets
– Facility and capital development
– Digital and Systems
– Customer relationship management
Governance
–
Board recruitment and development
– Reporting and accountability
–
Risk management and assurance
We
Leading Change
We will tell our green story to highlight our reductions in our carbon footprint and the positive actions we have and will take.
We will use our position in the community to influence our customers, audiences and the wider community wherever possible. This will include active travel including walking and cycling as well as the potential for community energy hubs. We will offer a workforce EV scheme.
Carbon Emissions
We will maximise the new investment in green energy systems across the charity to be carbon neutral by 2038, and seek funding to expand this approach across all Your Trust venues. We will report on our progress annually ensuring benchmark measures for all Your Trust venues from 2022.
We support Rochdale Borough Council’s Climate Emergency pledge, and are also committed to the SME Climate Pledge to half our greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
We manage and develop our operations in ways that are environmentally sustainable enhancing our environmental and energy performance. We will develop an Energy Management Plan to outline how we will manage energy consumption, how we will procure energy and monitor the impact of our work on the environment. We will continue to educate and train staff to reduce their carbon footprint both in their professional and personal lives.
Leading Change
– Telling our green story
– Establish our role with Rochdale Borough Council and partners
– Active travel
– Influencing
Carbon Emissions
– Establish benchmark measures
– Annual reporting
– Funding
Energy Management and Procurement
– Environment and energy performance
– Waste
– Travel
– Circular economy
will have systems and processes in place that identify the impact of our decisions. The decision making process will consider our impact on the natural environment and we will have plans and programmes in place that respond decisively to the climate emergency
Regional Partnerships include Local Partnerships include Your Trust is an advocate of collaboration at a local, regional and national level in order to assist us to deliver our local, place based goals.
We work hand in hand with Rochdale Borough Council in a partnership approach that is a model of best practise according to both Arts Council England and Sport England.
We will work closely with the Rochdale Cultural Board to lead delivery of ‘Lets Create’, (ACE 10 year strategy) and are part of the Culture Co-op consortium delivering the Creative People and Places programme in the borough.
We will work together with partners
and other GM leisure trusts to support delivery of ‘Uniting the Movement’ (Sport England 10 year strategy) to help to transform lives and communities through sport and physical activity, and working with local partners will lead the delivery of the Local Pilot to build a healthier, more active community in Rochdale.
And, we work with many other organisations that share the same ethos as us to support people in the borough to live their best lives.
National (England/UK)
Arts Council England
Art Fund
CIMSPA
Community Leisure UK
DCMS
Foyle Foundation
National Academy for Social
Prescribing
National Lottery Heritage Fund
Public Health England
Sport England
UK Active
UK Creative and Cultural Skills
Without Walls
Regional (GM/NW)
10GM
Arts Council England (Creative People and Places)
GM Active
GM Arts
GMCA
GM Health and Social Care Partnership
GM Moving
Greater Manchester Integrated Care Partnership
Greater Sport
Sport England (Local Pilot)
Local (Rochdale)
Action Together
Hopwood Hall College
Northern Care Alliance
One Rochdale Health and Care
Pennine care NHS Foundation Trust
Rochdale Borough Council
Rochdale Borough Culture Network
Rochdale Business Improvement District
Rochdale Development Agency
National (England/UK) Regional (GM/NW) Local (Rochdale)
Arts Council England –Lets Create
DCMS - Culture White Paper
Levelling Up
Sport England –Uniting the Movement
GM Moving
Levelling Up
Local Industrial Strategy
Our People Our Place
Strategy for Culture and Creativity
Built Facilities Strategy
Creative Strategy (Pioneering Creativity)
Cultural Asset Strategy
Playing Pitch Strategy
Prosperous People and Places (Corp’ Plan)