The Government says that local councils and their local strategic partnerships must produce a community strategy for their area. This is described as a long-term vision (10 to 15 years) for improving the social, economic and environmental wellbeing of a local area. In Leeds, this means the whole of the metropolitan district and not just the city centre.
The second Vision for Leeds is the community strategy for the city, building on the first Vision for Leeds that was published in July 1999 (Vision for Leeds – A Strategy for Sustainable Development). It also aims to answer the following important questions.
- What sort of city should Leeds be in the future?
- What are the main priorities for action?
- How will communities, groups and agencies work together to deliver what is needed?
To meet the challenges which lie ahead for the city, the Vision for Leeds has three main aims.
- Going up a league as a city – making Leeds an internationally competitive city, the best place in the country to live, work and learn, with a high quality of life for everyone.
- Narrowing the gap between the most disadvantaged people and communities and the rest of the city.
- Developing Leeds’ role as the regional capital, contributing to the national economy as a competitive European city, supporting and supported by a region that is becoming increasingly prosperous.
The Vision for Leeds is based on the principles of sustainable development - making sure everyone has a better quality of life now and for generations to come. Its purpose is to guide the work of all the partners to make sure that we achieve our long-term aims. All the partners will publish their own strategic plans in which they will outline what they will do to help deliver the Vision.
You can get a set of supporting documents containing a detailed analysis of the policy environment, statistics and the consultation results from the Leeds Initiative office, or you can download them from the Leeds Initiative website.