On a personal mission to tackle Derby’s inequality

In the latest edition of Marketing Derby’s Innovate Magazine, we sit down with Councillor Baggy Shanker for his first in-depth interview since becoming leader of Derby City Council earlier this year.

Councillor Shanker became the new leader following May’s local elections in which Labour secured enough seats to form a minority administration, which will be in place for the next four years.

The theme of the autumn edition of Innovate centres around the inequalities that exist in Derby and the lack of social mobility.

And in his interview, Councillor Shanker explains why he feels so personally invested in tackling the city’s inequality challenge.

Councillor Shanker was inspired to enter politics because of the influence of his parents and the values they instilled in him and his six siblings about equality and opportunity.

And so, it weighs heavily with him that the place where his mother and father proudly set up home after emigrating from the Punjab remains one of the worst areas in the UK for social mobility.

In simple terms, the gap between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’ in Derby is alarmingly wide – financially, in health terms and even in how long people can expect to live.

Councillor Shanker is determined things need to change – not least the 10- year difference in life expectancy between those living in our most and least disadvantaged districts.

He told Innovate: “The divide is too big and unfortunately appears to be getting bigger – not just in terms of incomes but also in life expectancy.

“For a relatively compact city, where in 20 minutes you can get from one end of the city to the other, the life expectancy difference just can’t be right.

“It’s depressing, it’s worrying, it’s blatantly unfair.”

While some are able to benefit from a successful local economy, built on high-value engineering, and high average salaries, many are struggling in wards ranked amongst the most deprived in the country.

Councillor Shanker was born and brought up in two of the areas identified among the city’s most challenged, Arboretum and Normanton.

However, he counts himself fortunate to have been born into a supportive family and to parents who were determined to help their children achieve their potential – despite challenging circumstances.

He believes that with the “right interventions, the right education, the right support”, the city can help close the inequality gap.

According to Councillor Shanker, one of the keys to affecting long-term change is to inspire young people from an early age.

He told Innovate: “It’s about inspiring people as early as possible so they can make a success of their education.

“If we can get that inspiration into a child’s head at that young age, it will motivate children to say, ‘There is something different. I’ll get my head down at school, do that extra bit of work in the evening at home  and the outcomes for me could be completely different to what they have been for my parents’.

“It’s making that change. There is so much that the State and the council can do to help, but once that change is made within a person themselves, that, I think, will be the biggest driver to reduce the inequality gap.”

To read the full interview visit https://heyzine.com/flip-book/428478c2ea.html#page/5 .