Council Leader's Blog: Love St Helens

One thing that always amazes me about St Helens Borough is how supportive everyone is of each other.  Whether that is residents, community members, local businesses and of course our many partner agencies and members from the voluntary, community and faith sectors.

And that is in part why the Reverend Shuttleworth from St Helens Parish Church, myself and a number of other partners and key people from across the borough created the Love St Helens campaign.

The campaign is a celebration of all the things that are great about St Helens.  It's often very easy to do the town down and be negative about all the things that are going on to try to improve and develop it.  But we've got a lot to celebrate here in St Helens.  A borough rich in heritage, with a great sporting legacy, beautiful green open spaces and parks, strong communities who support each other, great schools and good connectivity to two big iconic cities.  There's a lot to love about St Helens.  And this campaign encourages people to see just what they've got, celebrate it, and share the love for it.  

Right across the borough there are local people, community groups, partners and of course our mighty Saint's men's and women's teams who are supporting the campaign, and you can join in too, by posting photos, poems, comments, memories, pictures - whatever you like, to show just what St Helens means to you.  You can do this by simply going to the council website on www.sthelens.gov.uk/LoveStHelens - and download your photos, comments etc.

So please spread the word, share what you love about our borough - and lets all talk up St Helens and what we all love about it.

However, we also understand that things can go wrong from time to time. So that's why we have also launched our #WithYouForYou campaign, you can report any issue on our website www.sthelens.gov.uk or call 01744 676789 we are here to help.

Back in June the council launched its Borough Strategy Annual Report which highlighted a successful year of achievements and developments.  Some of the standout successes have been the continued roll out of our family hubs programme and the launch of a new South St Helens Community Hub in Four Acre, the continued progression of the transformation of our two town centres, the work to bring back the historic Earlestown Town Hall into public use, the development of tech enable care to help vulnerable people stay in their own homes for longer, the delivery of new affordable homes and the opening of improved 5g sports fields and much more.

And our reputation is growing - with endorsements from not one but four independent national bodies.  Following the Good rating, from Ofsted for our Children's Services in 2023, we've continued to receive Good ratings, while in May this year the councils Adult Social Care service also received a rating of Good from the Quality Care Commission.  These two ratings, means St Helens is the only borough with the Liverpool City Region to currently hold a Good rating for both its Children's Services and Adult Social Care Services. 

Also, this year, an inspection by a team of independent assessors from the Local Government Association found the council to be totally transformed for the better in the last five years and reported that the council was now equipped and positioned to best serve the residents of the borough effectively.  Finally in a recent report, the council's independent financial auditors Grant Thornton, confirmed that the council has robust measures in place to ensure the continued economic and efficient use of resources. In addition, the council was the first metropolitan council in England to have last year's accounts signed off, yet another indication of auditor's confidence in the council and its financial position.

And for me, perhaps one of the greatest acknowledgments that St Helens is really putting itself on the map, was to have the Prime Minister, Sir Kier Starmer, drop into the St Helens based Glass Futures recently. I was delighted to welcome Sir Kier and show him first hand the fantastic work the centre of excellence is doing for the future of the glass and foundation industries. The Prime Minister was particularly pleased to meet with the apprentices and hear how our plans for inclusive economic growth and regeneration will bring even more high-quality jobs in hi-tech manufacturing to the borough.

We've so much to be proud about and we're continuing to deliver on the things that matter most to our residents and communities.

Thank you for reading my blog.  #LoveStHelens

Anthony.