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Health And Well-Being Profiling


In this paper, the purpose is to profile a neighborhood in the United Kingdom. The neighborhood will be described based on a set of factors, which are known to influence not only health but also the well-being of humans. In particular, the factors to be considered will include the socioeconomic situation of the neighborhood, the culture, and environment condition, education, employment and unemployment, living and working conditions, water and sanitation, housing, as well as, agriculture and food production. To facilitate this purpose, the neighborhood selected is Westminster. This is an inner London borough and tends to occupy the largest part of the Greater London’s central area. To the west, the neighborhood adjoins the ancient London city. To the east are Chelsea and the Royal Borough of Kensington. It is bordered to the south by River Thames.

The Westminster neighborhood has a population of close to 228, 198 people. The largest portion of this population is between the ages of 20 and 39 years. As such, they account for 45 percent of the entire Westminster neighborhood population. The population of people below the age of 20 years account for only 15 percent while the older community equals 12 percent of the aggregate population size. The number of males exceeds that of the female population. The mobility of the Westminster neighborhood is relatively high, and this is said to cause changeable population dynamics. Westminster neighborhood is the most diverse in England, in terms of ethnicity. Almost half of the residents are White British. A fifth comes from outside the UK. Other important groupings in the city include the Black African, Black Caribbean, Irish, Indians and Chinese. The main language spoken in the neighborhood is English. However, other common dialects include Bengali, Albanian, Kurdish, French, Spanish, Yoruba, and Somali. The Westminster neighborhood’s diversity is mirrored in its commercial profile. As such, the neighborhood has been documented as one of the most prestigious business locations in Europe. It houses many multinational company headquarters. Close to 40 percent of the hotels in the Greater London is located in this neighborhood. There is also a host of small-scale businesses. There is also a diverse voluntary sector along with a fragile community sector. The high population in the Westminster neighborhood, along with people who visit the area on a daily basis, is known to stimulate the local economy. While this is the case, the population, especially when the mobility is high, usually stretches the neighborhood’s infrastructure to its limits. Tourism has increasingly become an essential industry in the Westminster neighborhood. Indeed, the neighborhood harbors some of the most prestigious landmarks in London and such include the Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. Each year, more than 4 million people, both from within and outside the Westminster neighborhood, often visit these destination tourist centers. When the visitation is high, the hospitality industry’s performance also swells, as well. The Westminster neighborhood’s city council often expresses its commitment to maintain the neighborhood’s position as an internationally renowned cultural, tourist, entertainment center. The Westminster neighborhood harbors concert halls, galleries, museums, and specialist art collections. It is also an entertainment hub, given that it has more than 2.590 pubs, bars, and restaurants. Some of the premises have night café license while at least 500 facilities have dance and music authorisations. The neighborhood is also known for its casino business.

There are at least 52,000 workplaces in the neighborhood, which provides, at least, employment opportunities for over 700,000 people. This means that the Westminster neighborhood comprises of at least 17 percent of the London employment, and 3.5 percent of the Great Britain’s. Despite the case, the employment distribution is not even throughout the Westminster neighborhood. The St. James Ward has the largest employment location as compared to the West End Ward. Combined, these two wards provide employment location for about 60 percent of the entire employed population, and at least 9.3 percent of all employees in the Greater London. More than 15,920 residents in the Westminster neighborhood are not employed. This translates into 8.2 percent unemployment rate. The London unemployment rate stands at 10 percent, which necessarily means that that of the Westminster neighborhood is lower. 53 percent of the population has been claiming workless benefits for the past five years. Of the claimants, 44 percent have dependent children.

The majority of the people in the neighborhood attends and completes their formal education in the Westminster schools rather than outside. However, a considerable portion is privately educated. Most schools in this region tend to measure a student’s personal, emotional and social development, language, communication, literacy and language skills. In 2012, the average score of these skills for all the primary school students was 65 percent. At least, 81 percent of the resident learners that attend the neighborhood primary schools have achieved at least level four of their key stage 2 for not only mathematics but also English. At the secondary school level, in 2012, at least, 69 percent of the students achieved at least five GSE grades A to C. The grades had improved by 60 percent when compared to the performance in 2011.

Housing is also a major factor to consider when describing a neighborhood. At present, it is reported that the Westminster neighborhood has a total of 105,772 residential properties. There is a higher likelihood that the Westminster neighborhood residents will rent a privately owned house rather than build their residential property or even live in the social rented sector. About 43 percent of the residents in Westminster neighborhood that live in their properties are often lessees. Houses in this region are managed by housing agencies. The largest agency is City West Homes, which is said to manage about 21,300 units across this particular city. As at August 2014, one and two household rental residents were more expensive when compared to the London average. The average median rent for a single bed household was going for approximately £425 for a single week. A two-bed household was costing £609. The average property price in the Westminster neighborhood exceeded that of the London’s average. A single property at present costs just over £1,069,429. Between the year 2012 and 2014, there were more than 81 mortgage repossession claims and a further 1,129 landlord repossessions. However, in 2015, the landlord repossession has gone up by at least 40 percent. The City Council of the Westminster neighborhood revealed that at least 2 percent of the properties had remained vacant or empty for a long period. Additionally, the records showed that more than 6,800 properties were second homes in the Westminster neighborhood. This represents 6 percent of all the Westminster neighborhood households. Approximately 34,721 residents whose main home is located in the Westminster neighborhood have a second or even a third, address elsewhere within and without the United Kingdom. This accounts for 16 percent of the Westminster neighborhood residents. The London average with respect to people with such characteristics is 6 percent. The Westminster neighborhood has more than 722 communal establishments. These establishments harbor more than 6,188 people. Some of the major communal establishments include the medical and care establishments with a population of 65 people, hotel, guest house, youth hostel and B&B with a population of 294, and Hostel or temporary homeless shelter, which is occupied by at least 29 people. Still within the context of housing, the household composition is also an important consideration. In the neighborhood, the most common size of household is one person. While there are a large proportion of single households, several families live in the neighborhood. Of these households, 10 percent are single-parent households. An additional 34 percent are living as a couple, whether cohabiting, married or in a civil partnership. On top of this, it has been reported that 51 percent of the households have just the right count of bedrooms that matches their composition. A further 38 percent are found to be under-occupying their properties while 12 percent of the households are overcrowded. The issue of overcrowding, seems to match the overall London overcrowding situation.

The Westminster neighborhood is committed towards the protection, the enhancement along with the management of the region’s natural environment to ensure that sustainable living environment is provided to the locals. There is a host of programs and initiatives established which assist in facilitating major improvements of the neighborhood’s environment. One of such initiatives is the energy conservation, air quality, and climate change program. The city council is said to be implementing activities associated with the Green Action Plan. Also, the council has been carrying out the Air Quality Monitoring Study, which commenced in 2004. The survey monitors air specific contaminants including carbon monoxide. As a result, essential projects to guarantee air quality for the area’s residents have been established. There are also several recycling and waste reduction programs. A good example of such is the Zero Waste Challenge, which seeks to minimise the wastes generated in the neighborhood and to maximise the reuse, recycling, as well as, the material or energy recovery. Of the Greater London region, the Westminster neighborhood has the lowest environment issues and incidents, and this has majorly been attributed to the designation of the city as an Air Quality Management Area.

The Westminster neighborhood is one of the areas in the Greater London that provides its residents with reliable, clean, and safe water. The neighborhood is also recorded as being the best in treating sewer effluent. The city council in the neighborhood has partnered with specialists in the water and sanitation area. It has also worked with contractors to locate the water lines and force mains. These contractors are supposed to assess all the pumping stations on a daily basis, establish new pumps at strategic places and in residential across the neighborhood and at the same time, conduct any repair where necessary. Also, they are required to read water meters. The Westminster neighborhood, through its city council, usually provide public water services to all its residents, as well as, the surrounding areas within the county. Most of the water used in the city comes from River Chauga. Each day, about 2 million gallons of water are consumed. Also, the Westminster neighborhood provides wastewater collection services to all the residents within the city limits. The waste water, undergoes treatment at the Coneross Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant. The plant is said to have a capacity of treating 7 million gallons each day.

The reality of agriculture and food production in the Westminster neighborhood is also an interesting one. 62 percent of the food used in the neighborhood is produced within. Farming mostly occurs in boroughs. In these areas, large tracts of land, both commercial and private, are found. The commercial lands usually produce products for the factorial procession. On the other hand, the private farms’ produce is meant to feed the households. Most farmers in this region often exercise what is called mixed farming. As such, they usually grow plants and rear domestic animals. While the private farmers use their farm produce to feed their families, they usually sell the surplus to the local markets, which are strategically located throughout the neighborhood.