Out of 152 boroughs in the country, Sutton is one of only ten to be awarded a ‘Gold’ rating for plans to tackle the growing issue of loneliness and social isolation, by the national ‘Campaign to End Loneliness’ network.

In Sutton South Ward, we have led the way with our Sutton South Hello! project, on which there is information on a specific page on this site, led by Heather. The top rating has only been achieved by Councils with specific targets in place to reduce loneliness and isolation within their local communities.

 Research from the Campaign to End Loneliness revealed that up to 800,000 people in England are chronically lonely. According to evidence from the Campaign to End Loneliness, social isolation has the same negative impact upon health as ‘smoking 15 cigarettes a day’, and is ‘worse than obesity’ due to an increased risk of blood clots, heart disease and dementia.  In addition, lonely people are likely to drink more alcohol and are also more prone to early admission into residential or nursing care.

As local Councillors who saw this as a specific issue in our Ward, given the more elderly population and number of people living alone, we are delighted by this national recognition. We’re committed to continuing our work in Sutton to prevent social isolation amongst our residents and combat loneliness. In Sutton our Health and Wellbeing strategy describes our priorities for taking action to improve the health and happiness of our residents and ensure that people are not isolated and instead feel included within their local communities.

The nine other councils awarded gold status are:

·         Bath and North East Somerset

·         Blackburn with Darwen 

·         Manchester 

·         North Lincolnshire

·         North Yorkshire 

·         Sheffield 

·         Thurrock 

·         York