The mayor should take the lead in developing and implementing a West Yorkshire Integration Strategy, including prioritising and valuing the role of social interaction such as through Yorkshire St Pauli’s Football For All and Chapel FM’s No Bystanders project. Building on learning from Migration Yorkshire’s Communities Up Close research, this strategy should aim to understand and focus on each separate neighbourhood in West Yorkshire.
Based on Same Skies’ Markets project & Migration Yorkshire’s research, the strategy must recognise the impact of the loss of community spaces in recent years and its impact on social contact at the local level. Both newcomers & longstanding residents lose out when community assets are squeezed and the solution must involve all of us together. That solution must involve local communities being able to take a lead & share what makes them proud of their area & their identity. This means empowerment
This is not a stated responsibility of the West Yorkshire mayor but could be an initiative that the mayor takes after election by using their functional power of competence. This would involve lobbying and public advocacy around asylum and migration. In Greater Manchester, the Mayor has catalysed local partnerships and convened instrumental discussions, for example, moving towards the development of a Greater Manchester Integration Strategy.
This content is created by the open source Your Priorities citizen engagement platform designed by the non profit Citizens Foundation