Older people can have their say on making Wigan community a good place to live

People aged 75 and over spend at least 80 per cent of their time at home or in the surrounding area, and the rapidly ageing population means that by 2040 more than 40 per cent of the UK population will be aged 50 and over.

So Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) is engaging with older residents across the city-region to ensure neighbourhoods are good places for people in their later years to live.

The Ageing in Place Pathfinder – a partnership programme led by GMCA – is investing £4m over a three-year period in nine neighbourhoods within Greater Manchester to improve residents’ quality of life as they grow older.

Among the areas identified by local authorities and other partners as places that would benefit is Worsley Mesnes.

In these neighbourhoods, resident-led partnerships between local organisations and older people will produce action plans to deliver improvements to services, activities, projects and the physical environment.

By putting inclusivity and older people’s voices at the heart of the work, the Pathfinder aims to make meaningful and lasting changes to help residents age well.

GMCA is also working with policymakers, developers, architects, academics and older people to increase the quality and quantity of age-friendly housing across the city-region.

An interdisciplinary housing, planning and ageing group, chaired by Greater Manchester Ageing Hub, has produced a guide with a list of age-friendly factors for architects, planners and developers to consider when creating new or retrofit urban developments.

Coun Arooj Shah, GMCA lead for equalities and communities, said: “We cannot ignore the fact that our population is ageing and action needs to be taken to ensure that Greater Manchester is accessible and welcoming to people of all ages.

“Our homes and communities are of increased importance to us as we grow older, so it is vital that we put place and neighbourhood at the heart of our decision-making.

“By engaging with older people and key stakeholders at a local level, we can significantly improve the lives of residents in mid to later life across our city-region.”