Is my SOA a Sustainable Community?

The Communities and Local Government Department define a sustainable communitie as "places where people want to live and work, now and in the future. They meet the diverse needs of existing and future residents, are sensitive to their environment, and contribute to a high quality of life. They are safe and inclusive, well planned, built and run, and offer equality of opportunity and good services for all" (link)

The Egan Wheel shows the areas that a sustainable community should include. These are things such as good transport services, environmental provisions, economic opportunities and more.

I live in the Super Output Area of Milton Keynes 010B and I am going to see how this area compares with the Egan Wheel of Sustainable Communities.

Governance - Notice is given to residents when a building project is intended. For example in the park by my house a flood-lit astroturf pitch has been built. We were sent letters of this, and opposed it because of the light pollution, as did many people in our street but they still went ahead with it. They said it would be beneficial for the community but really it is only used for teenagers to get drunk in and to play with mopeds in. In this respect the SOA is unsustainable because residents cannot be heard.

On another note though the road by our house was lowered to 40 from 60 a few years ago after years of crashes. This has been enforced a little with police speed cameras turning up about 3 times. People still speed though and one person died on the road in September 2008. This is not sustainable.

Transport and Connectivity - Being in Milton Keynes it is fairly easy to get around because of the grid system. The SOA is situated on the V4 (Watling Street) which links very well with the town centre by car. There are also buses that are supposed to be every 10 minutes which go to town and to Wolverton as well as places such as the hospital. In reality though they do not come every 10 minutes as I know only too well from experience. In the next town along from Stony Stratford is Wolverton where there is a train station. To make my SOA more sustainable I think better transport links with the station and with the town centre could be made.

Services - The amount of services available in Stony Stratford is very good. The High Street has many pubs, restaurants (take-aways and eat-in), travel agents, estate agents, chemists, butchers, hotels, a small supermarket and independent shops. There are also schools, a park, and a health centre. In this respect my SOA is very sustainable.

Environmental - Over 50% of the SOA is green space (link. In recent years recycling bins have been placed which has reduced the amount of litter and reduced the amount of waste going to landfill. There is also a nature reserve in the SOA which provides clean open spaces for everyone to enjoy - however, the A5 runs through it and the Stony Stratford ring road is next to it. Trees have been planted to block most of the noise which has worked. In Environmental terms my SOA is also fairly sustainable.

Equity - According to the 2001 census 7.2% of people in my SOA were not born in the UK. (link) Compared to England's average of 9.2% it is only a little below. This data is 9 years out of date however and I think that there may now be more people living here that were not born in the UK. Still, my SOA has a significant amount of people born outside of the UK. I think that they have all of the same opportunities as everyone else living here. The shops enmploy these people and their children attend the local schools, there is no discrimination.

There is also an Adult Education Centre in Stony Stratford which allows adults to improve their education - giving them equal opportunities. This is a sustainable SOA in terms of equity.

Economy - as I have mentioned before Stony Stratford has a thiriving economic hub that is the High Street and surrounding area. This provides many jobs and opportunities for everyone. For the size town it is it has more than enough economic oppoutunities, making it very sustainable. It is also close to the Centre:MK with even more opportunities. Stony Stratford has many independent shops also, showing that it is possible to start up a new business here and be successful.

Houseing - My SOA has an array of bungalows, flats, terraces, semi-detached houses and detached houses. (link. This means that there is something for everyone to afford. There are also lots of open spaces for people to enjoy as I have mentioned before. This is a sustainable area in terms of housing.

Social and Cultural - Stony Stratford has a good community feel. There are always markets and fetes organised by parish councils and schools. This gives everyone a sense of place. Stony is also quite a safe place. There is a police station near by in Wolverton and there are often police officers patrolling.

Overall I think my SOA is fairly sustainable in that there are a lot of open spaces, generally there is a good community feel, there are lots of economic and recreational opportunities for everyone and it is a generally safe area. Some things can be done to improve this but it is definitely more good than bad.

I live in the Constituency of Milton Keynes South West. Our council (Milton Keynes County Council) is made up of councillors who are affiliated with all three of the main parties. LibDem and Tory dominate the council and yet our MP, Phyllis Starkey, is Labour.

Stony Stratford, where I live, have 3 councillors - all Conservative (not that I am..). The next ward along, Wolverton, has 2 Labour councillors and one LibDem. Milton Keynes is very varied in its political affiliations but within the wards tend to be the same party.

A few weeks ago our MP knocked on our door and asked us if she could count on our vote and said that she trusts that we are happy with all the things that they are doing for ud locally. This obviously hit a nerve with my mum who, completely out of character, started challenging Phyllis Starkey. My mum is a teacher in a local primary school and they are often struggling due to lack of funding etc and the catchment area for this school includes some of the more deprived estates of MK so she hears stories of how the council aren't providing for basis needs. Phyllis Starkey had little to say to this challenge. Instead our MP tried to change the subject, as she saw me and my sister, and said that they were making it easier and creating more spaces for young people to go to university. My mum replied with saying how unfair it was to send us into the 'big wide world' with such debt and not really seeing evidence of how this debt has benefitted is - seeing as many graduates seem not to be going into jobs that they could have done when they left school.

I can see where my mum was coming from with all of these issues and I can see why she felt she had to raise these concerns. (By the way Phyllis Starkey made her excuses and left, concluding that in actual fact she could not count on our vote). My mum has said to me that this is the first year where she is unsure who to vote for. Having studied politics for a year I should say that the people who choose not to vote obviously don't care about what happens in our society and therefore should not complain about and public services etc etc. However I do not think this, I think that many people are disillusioned with the people whom we are supposed to trust to guide us in the right direction. People may feel like this for a number of reasons such as the expenses scandal or just the general lack of evidence of all this work that our local councils are supposedly doing for us (by the way I don't claim to be able to do a better job).

I do have one wish though, that they people who do not want to vote actually do go and excercise their 'right not to vote' but ruining the ballot paper. This way councils may catch on to how many disillusioned people there are instead of counting these people as 'can't be bothered'.

I am going to vote. I know who I am going to vote for. I support the LibDems because of their fair policies, they are the best of Labour and the best of Conservative and they are our best chance of getting our outdated practices changed. We claim to be a democracy but have failed to keep up with the demands of our people. A coalition government would probably be the best result of the next election - that way more people will be listened to. This has to be more fair, right? Who knows, it could happen.