East Devon District Council says that improving the health and wellbeing of residents is a priority integral to every council service in the year ahead.

While people may be living longer lives, they are not necessarily in better health - this is something that East Devon District Council (EDDC) is seeking to improve.

At a recent Cabinet meeting, members agreed to an action plan for the year ahead.

The priorities for the year ahead are:

• Helping more people to be healthy and stay healthy
• Enhancing self-care and supporting community resilience
• Integrating and improving support for people in their homes

Councillor Dan Ledger, EDDC portfolio holder for Sustainable Homes and Communities said: "Our activities across East Devon District Council all aim to ensure that people want to live, work, visit and enjoy being in East Devon.

"Our health directly influences our quality of life and that of our families and those around us.

"A golden thread which runs through the council's activities is our work to make a positive difference to the health and wellbeing of our residents and communities across the district.

"We aim to work together with local people to create an outstanding community, economy and environment, now and for future generations.

"I hope that our Plan for the coming year helps to show the contribution our services are making to our health and wellbeing."

Some examples of how health and wellbeing can be enhanced through the work of the council include:

• Volunteering opportunities with the Countryside Team and outreach projects by Thelma Hulbert Gallery
• Various teams working together to support access to healthy food and nutritional awareness
• Working with Devon County Council, local NHS organisations and community groups on schemes to support good health of residents
• Meeting increasing demand from homeless households
• Streetscene planning health and wellbeing events in our parks

The council hopes by looking forward, having a joined up approach across council services and by working closely with partners, the authority can better achieve goals to enhance public health.

The Public Health Implementation Plan 2023/2024 adopted by the council can be read here: https://eastdevon.gov.uk/media/yypfeieo/ph-implementation-plan-2023-24.pdf