A new strategic vision for Barking and Dagenham, titled It Starts Here: Partnerships for Change, has been unveiled, aiming to foster a borough where residents are proud to live, work, study, and stay. The comprehensive plan, developed through extensive consultation with residents, community groups, and partner organisations, outlines ten key missions designed to address critical areas of borough life.

The vision, presented to the Health & Wellbeing Board and ICB Sub-Committee on Tuesday 21 July 2026, is underpinned by a People, Place, and Partnerships approach. It emphasizes collaboration with key partners including the NHS, Metropolitan Police, and the Voluntary, Community, Faith, and Social Enterprise (VCFSE) sector. The plan was detailed in the Public reports pack for the Health & Wellbeing Board and ICB Sub-Committee meeting.

A diverse group of individuals engaged in a discussion around a table, with one person gesturing and others listening intently.
Community members in discussionSource: Health & Wellbeing Board papers, 21 July 2026

Key missions within the strategy include:

  • Healthy and thriving children: Focusing on school readiness and addressing childhood obesity. Progress is measured by the Percentage of children achieving a good level of development at the end of Reception and the Percentage of children in Reception who are either overweight or living with obesity.

    Dashboard showing National Child Measurement Programme data for Barking & Dagenham.
    National Child Measurement Programme dataSource: Health & Wellbeing Board papers, 21 July 2026

  • Building financial resilience: Tackling child poverty and supporting households facing financial shocks. To achieve this, Barking and Dagenham plans to establish a multi-agency anti-poverty partnership group to coordinate a place-based approach and drive delivery of the 'Foundations for Change: Tackling Poverty 2025/26' strategy. The Crisis Resilience Fund (CRF) will be utilised to channel support into new services and programmes, strengthen community financial resilience, increase the capacity of the VCFSE sector, and fund targeted employment support. The CRF will also be combined with the Public Health Grant to address health and poverty concurrently.

  • Access to good work: Creating pathways to employment and supporting residents with long-term health conditions back into the workforce. The strategy identifies dormant talent and untapped potential, a lack of soft skills development, and system fragmentation as key barriers. To overcome these, the plan includes supporting aspirations through upskilling and re-skilling, providing targeted employment support for specific cohorts, engaging employers to promote inclusion and diversity, and coordinating employment and learning offers through a neighbourhood model.

  • Preventing and managing long-term health conditions: Promoting healthier lifestyles and early intervention. The key outcome measures for this mission are Healthy life expectancy at birth (males) and Healthy life expectancy at birth (females).

  • Independent living: Ensuring residents can maintain their independence for longer through reablement services and care technology. The strategy plans to embed a new therapy-led reablement service and modernize care technology, with over 4,500 residents currently supported by such solutions.

  • Zero tolerance to domestic abuse: Addressing high rates of domestic abuse and supporting survivors. Barking and Dagenham has the highest rate per 1,000 of reported domestic abuse in London. Interventions include a new Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy, deepening partnerships with the NHS and Police, improving coordination of commissioned services, and securing funding from various sources. A Multi-agency tasking and coordination (MATAC) approach will be introduced to monitor perpetrators and prevent reoffending, alongside a grassroots behaviour change campaign.

  • Feeling safe: Enhancing community safety through visible policing, environmental improvements, and tackling hate crime. Key metrics include Police recorded anti-social behaviour incidents per 1,000 population and Victim based crime per 1,000 population.

  • Better homes: Improving the quality and energy efficiency of social housing stock and addressing homelessness. The relevant metric is Non-decent local authority dwellings as a proportion of the total council housing stock.

  • Clean neighbourhoods: Driving up recycling rates and tackling waste generation and fly-tipping. Progress is tracked through Percentage of household waste sent for reuse, recycling and composting and Total fly-tipping fines (£).

  • Culture and heritage placemaking: Leveraging the borough's cultural and industrial heritage for regeneration and community pride. This mission aims to develop cultural and heritage clusters, support the Culture and Heritage Strategy 2024-2030, and leverage nationally significant heritage sites. Initial projects include Eastbrook Studios, Wharf Studios, the Ice House Quarter, and Linton Road.

A woman in a hijab smiles warmly while interacting with another person, suggesting community engagement and positive dialogue.
Community engagementSource: Health & Wellbeing Board papers, 21 July 2026

The strategy also highlights progress in public health, with the National Child Measurement Programme for 2024-25 showing a decline in the percentage of children classified as above a healthy weight in Reception year, with Barking and Dagenham's Reception-aged children now having a lower rate than the national average. However, Year 6 children in the borough remain above both London and England averages for this metric, though the rate has fallen for the third consecutive year.

These initiatives collectively aim to drive improvements through existing partnership boards and governance mechanisms, with a strong focus on prevention and early intervention to create a healthier and more resilient Barking and Dagenham. The full details of the agenda and reports can be found in the Public reports pack and the Agenda frontsheet.