The health and well-being of communities along the River Leven is at the very heart of our Programme.
Mounting pressures being placed on the health and well-being of many of these communities have been growing over the years, mainly as a result of high levels of deprivation.
As a nation, we’re all experiencing a cost-of-living crisis with energy price increases pushing more people into fuel poverty, and inflation causing basic necessities to become unaffordable for some. This is unlikely to change anytime soon and is placing more pressures of people’s physical and mental health.
The Covid pandemic has added to economic turbulence but has also resulted in changes in how we interact with our natural surroundings.
Throughout the pandemic, many of us were using this time to reconnect with nature. However, with restrictions limiting how far people could travel, this allowed people to experience local parks and walks around there local community. This also exposed a lack of accessible greenspace and nature in some of our communities, impacting on people’s health and well-being during this unprecedented time.
With more people having a newfound appreciation of nature, this is a pivotal time to explore the use of our natural environment to deliver better health and well-being outcomes.
Developing health and well-being opportunities within the River Leven area
We are currently working with a range of health professionals and organisations to identify current or upcoming projects that could be delivered for, and with, communities along the River Leven.
There are currently lots of projects in Levenmouth focused on developing better connections, either through improved transport links or enabling people to get around easier and safer by foot, cycling, wheeling and scooting through a joined up active travel network. It is our intention that health and well-being opportunities be incorporated into these projects and any others we are involved in.
There are also a number of activities and projects that we have already identified which are happening within the Levenmouth catchment area. We are looking at ways in which these may become part of the Programme. These include: