Page 34 - Barrow Town Deal Board Agenda 14/4/2020

Barrow Town Investment Plan - Stakeholder Insight Report

Challenges for Barrow

3.5 Table 3.2 groups the summary points made by consultees in respect of identified
challenges facing Barrow structured around the Town Deal thematic areas.
3.6 In addition, some general points which don’t readily fit into the Town Deal thematic areas
were made including:

• The impact that the mass redundancies had on Barrow 20 years ago are still visible.
Barrow has struggled to address long-term wider challenges which “are a product of
both capacity and capability”. The historic financial pressures on Council services has
accentuated these issues. Recent changes in leadership in anchor institutions in the
town has supported “a shift in approach… with genuine collaboration and mutual
reinforcement of objectives for action”

• How can the spend of the migrant workforce be retained in Barrow?
• There are a lot of young people earning good money who are resident in the town but
they aren’t necessarily spending it in the area
• How can young and working age people be retained within Barrow? Often businesses
are investing in their skills and they leave to access employment opportunities
elsewhere.

• Deprivation in the town is “stubborn”. There are generations of workless households
in Barrow. Breaking this cycle is extremely challenging.

• Perceptions of a “tendency of entitlement”, low levels of ambition and drive, and a lack
of entrepreneurial leadership holding back Barrow

• Looked after children, and children living in poverty are over-represented in Barrow.
• Health inequalities are a feature of Barrow. How can we support target groups such
as children and young people, the elderly, and those with mental health problems?
Mental health issues are identified as a “massive problem” in Barrow, which is often
an invisible issue. The determinants of health include poor housing, poor environment,
deprivation, unemployment, alcoholism and drugs. The Town Investment Plan needs
to respond to these challenges by tackling underlying issues.
• Long term sickness is a feature of Barrow, and the town has a high register of ESA
claimants, particularly those with health conditions.
• Barrow is identified a area of need by Arts Council based on the amount of spend and
participation in culture

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