Residents and businesses come together for first Stockport Inequalities Summit

Stockport Council hosted the borough’s first Inequalities Summit, bringing together business, residents and community groups to discuss how inequality can be tackled in the borough.

The summit comes following Stockport Council’s pledge to strive for a fairer and more inclusive borough within the One Stockport Borough Plan, and help reduce the divide between outcomes in the most affluent and most deprived communities.

Keynote speakers at the Summit, held virtually on Friday 10th December, included Professor Sir Michael Marmot, UCL lecturer and author of ‘Build Back Fairer: The Covid-19 Marmot Review’, as well as Professor Arpana Verma from the University of Manchester and Start Point Stockport’s Founder, Nicola Wallace-Dean.

The event concluded with guests, including council representatives, making pledges on an organisational and individual level to fight inequality and make Stockport a fairer and more inclusive place to live and work.

Through One Stockport, the council and its partners will also continue to raise awareness of the fantastic work going on in the borough to tackle inequality One Stockport celebrates Stockport’s businesses, community groups and individuals via its website and social media channels.

Councillor Amanda Peers, Cabinet Member for Inclusive Neighbourhoods at Stockport Council, commented:

“I’m very pleased with the success of our first ever virtual Inequalities Summit: I would like to thank everyone who took the time to participate, we had some great feedback from those attending. The Summit allowed community groups and businesses to make connections across the borough, and get involved in some crucial conversations regarding inequality in Stockport. The very valuable contribution made by Professor Sir Michael Marmot demonstrated the stark realities and impact of inequalities on society and it is everyone’s responsibility to try to address this in Stockport.”

“We know that there is still lots of work to be done, and the Summit opened up a dialogue between the council and residents, and allowed us to focus on the next steps we need to take to start building a more equitable, inclusive borough.”

Jo McGrath, Chief Executive at Sector 3, the organisation representing the borough’s charitable and social enterprise sector, added:

“This was a fantastic day full of interesting discussion. We must work together across sectors and community groups if we are truly going to make a difference and tackle inequality in Stockport, and this Summit felt like the start of something very exciting. It was interesting to listen to the different pledges by people from all sections of the community at the conclusion of the day: there’s definitely something we can all do to help make Stockport a fairer and more inclusive place to be.”

For those unable to attend the Summit on the day, recordings of the events can be accessed on request by contacting Stockport Council.