Gedling Community Profile

Following Gedling Borough Council’s assessment as a ‘Good’ Local Authority under the Audit Commission’s Comprehensive Performance Assessment in 2003, a Key Improvement Task identified for the Council was the need to develop a ‘Community Profile’. This piece of work has been produced in response to that need.

The Gedling Community Profile sets out the current ‘State of the Borough’ and comprises a wide range of statistical information. The purpose of the community profile is to help the Council deliver its priorities, inform decision making, and direct resource allocation. It is intended that the profile will be available to council officers, councillors, partner organisations, Borough residents, and anyone wishing to find out more about the Borough.

The profile is divided into two sections. The first section is an area profile providing a statistical overview of the Borough. This comprises demographic information (population size, age, ethnicity, religion, marital status, birth rate, death rate, and household data) Indices of Multiple Deprivation statistics, and unemployment figures. Information is given at Borough and Ward level for demographic and unemployment figures, and at a sub-ward level known as Super Output Areas (SOAs) for the Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD).

SOAs are used to breakdown Wards according to the size of their population. One SOA has a population of between 1,000 and 1,500 people. It is therefore possible for Wards to constitute one or numerous SOAs. For example, in Gedling the Bestwood Village Ward has just one SOA, whilst the Carlton Hill Ward has five. The area profile also provides IMD information at a Borough level.

The second section is made up of four profiles. Three of these reflect Gedling Borough Council’s three key priorities. These are as follows:

• Improve community safety.
• Develop facilities, activities, and a safe environment for children and young people.
• Improve the Borough’s appearance.

The fourth profile is concerned with other key improvement tasks regarding Decent Homes; waste recycling; accessible customer friendly services; and residents being well informed about the work of the Council. A suite of indicators has been compiled for each profile, and targets have been set for each indicator. Each profile aims to do the following:

• Establish a baseline of data for which performance against targets can be measured, and future improvement targets can be set.
• Identify patterns and trends over space and time.
• Identify gaps in the provision of data.
• Assess the impact of work being carried out and the progress being made in addressing the Council’s three priorities.
• Identify the Borough’s most disadvantaged and vulnerable communities.

The Community Profile is dynamic and will be continually updated and developed over time, as and when new information is made available. In addition to the ongoing monitoring and maintenance of the profile, six monthly updates and an annual full review of the profile will be produced.

To find out more about the Community Profile please contact Policy Officer in the Cabinet Office on 0115 901 3688 or cabinetoffice@gedling.gov.uk