The second element of Oneplace is the Area Assessment which focuses on what the Wakefield Together partners are achieving together across the whole district.

The Area Assessment report says that Wakefield Together has a good understanding of the big issues affecting people in Wakefield and many of the things people have identified as important have seen big improvements.

For example crime has fallen, children do well at school, streets and public spaces are cleaner and older people are able to live independently. Overall, real progress has been made in our three priority areas of healthier communities, safer and stronger communities and skills enterprise and work.

Green flags have been introduced to highlight our major achievements and innovation. The district’s partners have been awarded a prestigious green flag for their work in bringing communities closer together by developing nature reserves, including using former industrial sites.

Other major achievements made in the Wakefield district are highlighted in the Area Assessment report and include:  

• Good progress on regeneration projects
• Fewer neighbourhoods are now among most deprived in England
• Residents are happier with where they live in the district compared to two years ago
• Wakefield is becoming safer and crime is falling
• Fewer young people are involved in crime
• Young people enjoy education and the GCSE pass rate is above average
• Good joint working to create new employment opportunities
• more people in Wakefield quit smoking in 2008/09 than anywhere else in Yorkshire and Humber
• The district is cleaner and greener – litter, graffiti and fly-tipping is reducing and is now lower than most other areas in the country
• People have better access to nature and green spaces
• Wakefield is the second most active district in the region, with a quarter of all adults taking part in sport and active recreation
• When people are ready to leave hospital they are not delayed waiting for social care
• People now have quicker access to see health professionals like doctors and NHS dentists
• The quality of social housing is mostly good
• WDH is working well to improve the standard of its housing stock, going beyond Government standard
• The fire service has succeeded in reducing arson over the 12 months
• Work on two new state-of-the-art hospitals in the district is well underway 

In areas where action is needed, red flags are given and none have been awarded to Wakefield, which is good news. In fact, Wakefield was one of only eight areas in Yorkshire and Humber to have no red flags and one of only five in the region to have been awarded more green flags than red.

However, we know there is more to do and joint areas for improvement include more work to tackle inequalities and the perception of anti-social behaviour in the district.

Oneplace Area assessment reports  

• A copy of the summary version of the Oneplace area assessment report can be downloaded via 'Related downloads'
• A more detailed version of the Oneplace area assessment report can downloaded via 'Related downloads'  

For more detail on the Oneplace results for Wakefield Together, please visit www.wakefieldtogether.org.uk

For more details on the Oneplace assessment framework, please visit http://oneplace.audit-commission.gov.uk/Pages/default.aspx