Have your say and make loneliness a priority in Yorkshire's biggest city

Then exectuive member for adults, Coun Adam Ogilvie, committed to including loneliness in the strategy in 2014. Picture Bruce Rollinson

Leeds Council was one of nine local authorities that came under fire in 2014 for failing to mention loneliness in its Health and Wellbeing Strategy. The lack of safeguarding for loneliness initiatives in these documents, which guide policy and funding decisions, prompted the start of The Yorkshire Post’s award-winning Loneliness: The Hidden Epidemic campaign.

Coun Adam Ogilvie, who was then Leeds Council’s executive member for adults, pledged in August 2014 that loneliness would be cemented “more explicitly” in its next strategy.

It has now opened a consultation on what exactly will be included in the new document, which will be published in the spring.

The consultation papers say: “Social isolation and loneliness can have a significant detrimental effect on people’s health. This is particularly true for vulnerable groups and people with high levels of health need. We want a city where no one is lonely and there are a range of opportunities for people to live healthy, active and fulfilling lives.”

Coun Lisa Mulherin, chair of the Leeds Health and Wellbeing Board, said: “Leeds takes social isolation extremely seriously and we have many projects across the city enabling people to tackle loneliness. At our ‘Unloneliness’ conference in July 2015 we gathered together leading specialists in loneliness, local people, health and care staff, councillors and representatives from across the third sector to build links to reduce loneliness across the city.

“As we point out in our consultation, social isolation and loneliness can have a significant detrimental effect on people’s health.

“So the health and wellbeing board wants to see strong, engaged and well connected communities – because we understand the relationships and resources which exist within communities are building blocks for good health and the biggest resource which we have for health and wellbeing in Leeds.

“The next health and wellbeing strategy for the city is now open for a final round of engagement, and we are asking for input from as many people and organisations around Leeds as possible to make sure the voices of city are heard and represented fairly in the refreshed strategy. Let us know what you think.”

To take part visit www.inspiringchangeleeds.org/get-involved, emailing [email protected] or joining the conversation on Twitter with #LeedsChanges and #MyNHSLeeds